M37 gun trucks in Vietnam - Steel Soldiers::Military Vehicles Supersite

maddawg308 · 09-24-2009, 22:51

Would like to know more information about the gun trucks in Vietnam, built on the M37 3/4-ton chassis. There were a few made in country, some pics I have of them are below. There is only one reproduction M37 gun truck, the Malfunction, in existence. I would like some more detailed pics, both of Malfunction and of original ones, as I would like to build another M37 gun truck before Aberdeen next year.

Any help is appreciated.

shootiniron · 09-24-2009, 23:04

Way cool photo's!! Good to see the "other truck" getting its 15min. of fame in that role.

Bill W · 09-24-2009, 23:36

Army Tank & Automotive made some uparmored kits for the 37 but they seemed to be for export/experimental only, I have a few pic's of these in my webshots album

Misc M-37's Misc M-37's pictures from military photos on webshots

P.S. Congrats on the twins

Capt Pat · 09-25-2009, 01:17

Building one is a good idea, and there should be more info out there. The "Guntruck" books don't seem to do them justice, and mention them as almost an afterthought. I'm planning on building one as well. Have three "37's", one will be kept original, its a nice unit, one is a 'guntruck' adaptation candidate, and the third is a donor for the other two as needed.
Matter of fact, Maddawg has more pics than I've seen most places. I especially like "Godzilla" and while its not the 'neatest' obviously, I've found the one I'll built. "Godzilla" has been my 'hero' since Viet Nam. He was the topic of a strange conversation in abunker during one particular rocket attack. The talk was of what it would take to get it stopped, and the battleship "New Jersey" was mentioned as well as an AC-47 and some other things. Then along came the mention of "GZ" and what he did to Tokyo, and "what he could do in short order to a S--t hole' of a country like this", and it had us laughing hard enough we sort of forgot about what was going on outside. (that and some 'jungle juice')

Driver523 · 09-25-2009, 15:31

Great goin guys---I'll go back through my photos later and post some M-37 gun trucks--I have those above cept for one and may not have many more--I do know I have one called Mean Green I think---By the way Malfunction was my truck after the 5 ton Match Box---Malfunction started out as Wild Thing then became Malfunction then Daughter of Darkness---that white west coast mirrior on the drivers side is the give away---got some stuff to do but I'll be back later------Driver

Driver523 · 09-25-2009, 15:57

Couldn't wait--here's a few I'll post more later---one is a double but has an explanation under the photo---its the 3/4 that Lt. Baird was in during the ambush that Satans Lil Angel was destroyed in during Lam Son and is in that little deal I wrote awhile back---enjoy the pics-------Driver

WarrenD · 09-25-2009, 16:55

Looks like an interesting project. From the photos, it looks like they were all field made, each one seems a little different.

maddawg308 · 09-25-2009, 20:04

One more I found on the internet. Looks like an early one, no name and made out of field expedient diamond plate.

FrankUSMC · 09-25-2009, 20:45

Some one years ago wrote a very good story for Army Motors (MVPA) about the armor kit that was made for the M37. The story broke the kit down, and showed how it was mounted on the M37. I do remember the kit did come with alot of shims for fitting the armor.
That is the good news, the bad news is, I have been with the MVPA.....and all it's other names for over 25 years and do not have a clue what issue of Army Motors it was in.
One of the few, Frank USMC RET

papabear · 09-25-2009, 22:22

The CAMO crew is building the Daughter of Darkness (was Wild Thing...then Malfunction...then Daughter of Darkness). She is ready for the armor as I type.

So...don't anybody get M37 Guntruck happy and build the DOD or we will have to turn two 5ton GTs loose on ya!!