Post MVPA Convention

[steve1973]

I was asked by Tom (Tapper02) to post some stuff from the convention. As some of you know he is stationed in Italy and is a halftrack owner himself. So, here is a recap of the convention. There were a total of four halftracks present. They include the IDF international halftrack from the Littlefield collection now owned by the owner of Jelly Belly jelly beans, Tom Gunther's (RocnTJ) M2A1, Tim Sutter's (O.D. Hog) M2 and a M3 halftrack. I have no background on the M3 halftrack but Tom G. and Mike France seem to know some about it and where it came from.

















 I'm proud to tell you that Tom Gunther took the Gold Award in the Motorpool Class and Tim Sutter took the Silver Award in the Restored Class. I didn't get a picture of Tim but here is one of Tom and his wife with the award.



As for vendors with halftrack parts Rod shaver had a booth and an engine for sale.



John Cheney II and his replica M2HB's.



And my booth with some books and other goodies.



As for the halftrack meeting, it was great. I had a chance to meet some great new people entering into the hobby. Some as far away as England and New Zealand. Members from the club in Alaska reported success of registering and licensing their halftrack for the road. Great job guys!! Kevin Lockwood reported purchasing 57 pallets of parts from Gary. Someone had a question about a source for White truck engine lifters. Personally, every place I contacted someone had already bought them out. Another person stepped forward and said that a flathead lifter from a V-8 may work. I forget the manufacture though. Kevin Lockwood had some on the shelf and was going to look into this. Any luck Kevin?

That's about it. Lots of vehicles. Don, myself, Tom Gunther and Mike France went on the troop train trip. That was fun.





Steve A.

[Tapper02]

Great report Steve...thanks for posting!

Congrats to Tom and Tim on their awards...I'm sure the judging process was enlightening.

-Tom

[steve-0]

i think these are the lifters that may work

lasalle 37 to 40 322 engine and cadillac 36 to 48  346 engine

http://www.ebay.com/itm/302037285370

[RocnTJ]

Thanks for posting the pictures Steve.   I have been going to start a thread on the convention but just have not gotten around to it yet so I will add my thoughts here.   This is the first time I have had a MV judged at convention and here are my observations from that  experience:

1.  It was an honor to have half track experts like Kevin Lockwood, John Chaney and Roger look over my halftrack and give me their opinions on the restoration.    I enjoyed talking to all three of them and got some good suggestions on how I could improve the restoration.

2. Unlike Jeeps and some other widely judged vehicles, there is no consensus between the experts on what is correct on many parts of a halftrack.  Fortunately there were two judges and one observer and if one of the three said it was correct then the other two went along with it.   In my research, there is a lot of variation in halftracks especially in ones that were re-built to the A1 configuration depending on who did the rebuilding.   The experts seemed to agree with me on this aspect.

3. Although Kevin and John did give me some suggestions while they were doing the judging they did not share the final judging sheet with me.   I guess it is MVPA judging rules not to share this information.   I am not sure why this is because I was looking forward to reviewing this information and improving my restoration.   If this really is the rule it should be changed to share this information with the MV owner (IMHO).

4. I did not take time to prep the plated bolts that I used in the restoration.   I probably should have but it just adds another time-consuming step.  I was good about painting all of the bolt heads that showed on the out side but did not take the time to make sure they were all painted underneath the vehicle.   Some of the underside of my rear floor was also not painted.  They deducted points for unpainted metal and bolt heads.   I could have avoided this by taking a spay can of OD to the underside of my halftrack if I would have known how much they looked for this.   IMHO I sincerely doubt that every inch of metal on the underside of the halftracks got a coat of paint when they were originally built during the war but I have nothing to support this opinion.  This is an easy correction to make and if you are going to get a track judged you should take the time to make sure all bare metal has some paint on it.

5. They checked the operation of every light, gauge and electrical device on the vehicle when I came in on Wednesday.  Fortunately I had gotten just about everything working before the convention.   The only thing I did not have working was the wipers and I got points off for that even though I had all of the wiper parts in place and hooked up.    Since I did not see the judging sheet I do not know if you get credit for that or not.   I doubt that I will ever have an occasion to use the wipers  so I probably will not take the time to correct this deficiency.

6. They told me that they do not take off points for reproduction armor as long as it is a quality reproduction.   I was glad to hear that as I have never understood the desire to have as many original armor pieces as possible that many people have.   I preferred to spend the money on other details and making sure that all of the moving parts were in top shape rather than worry about whether the armor plate is original or not.  Whether or not a flat piece of 1/4" plate is hardened or not makes no difference in the look or function of the half track unless of course you are planning to have someone shoot at it.   I was glad to see that the experts and the MVPA agreed with me on that aspect of the restoration.

All in all it was a great experience at the convention.  I had a good time and winning a gold in motor pool class was icing on the cake.

I would also like to congratulate Tim on his Silver in restored class.   He was under his track all day on Friday cleaning and doing detail painting and I am still of the opinion that his track is one of the best restorations that I have seen.   After seeing the different judging classes - it is very hard to have a vehicle that is used on regular basis win in the restored class.    The motorpool class  is really the one that applies to those of us who drive their tracks whenever we can.   One suggestion that I would have to the MVPA is that they add silver and bronze awards to the motorpool class like they have in the restored class to encourage more people to have their vehicles judged.   It may even be good to add another class that just judges how good the vehicle runs and looks in a parade rather than worrying about all of the little details.  I made both of these suggestions to Kevin so we will see what happens.

Tom

[Tapper02]

Great report Tom and great gouge on some of the little things to prep for when entering a vehicle for judging.  I agree that it would be beneficial if the gradecard was shared with the owner...how else will you know what to correct or how to improve your vehicle for the "next time".  I guess the takeaway is to closely follow the judges around and take copious notes on what they hit you for.  Would this work though if you didn't know the judges personally?  Would they allow you to follow them around or do they prefer to judge the vehicle without the owner hanging over their shoulder?  Kevin?

Anyway, thanks again for posting this in-depth report...it's one of those things that goes a long way in improving our restorations and the hobby as a whole.

So where are your pics? 

-Tom

[col.halftrack]

 Hey all,
 It was great to meet several half-trac owners in person at the Pleasanton show.
 I wanted to respond to Tom's post. Regarding a couple items.
 The vehicle owner will be mailed the finalized score sheets for his/her vehicle. This is indeed a great benefit to the owner. The MVPA is working hard on bringing our judging process on to par with other antique / collector vehicle organizations. With the many classes of HMVs there are distinct challenges to having qualified judges and score-sheets that pertain to the vehicle type or class. Our shows often see judges asked to look over bicylces to tanks even trailers. A new judging committee was put in place with a basic set of guidelines at the MVPA Pleasanton board meeting. One of the changes outlined was a revised selection of potential awards. Motorpool class will have silver and bronze. We also added a award class for "barn find" treasures. We feel that those vehicles that retain much of their original character should be rewarded. One last observation. Indeed it is very difficult for a "driven" vehicle to place high in the restored class. The very definition of the class stipulates that the vehicle must appear as issued to the service branch as new or as a depot rebuild. Scrapes , dings, and just normal wear and tear automatically begin detracting from a 100 point score.
 All the best
 Kevin Lockwood
 Col. Halftrack
 
 

[Tapper02]

Great news Kevin…thanks for clarifying that.

-Tom

[Sierra Padre]

What is the story with the side skirts on the tan HT? First time I've seen something like that.

[steve1973]

Patton's personal halftrack had them plus other add ons. You can do a Google search for Patton's halftrack. I will try and get some photos of it posted tomorrow.
Steve A.

[steve1973]

[RocnTJ]

Thanks Kevin for the update - although you explained some of the rules to me on the judging I did not realize that I would eventually get the score sheet.   Glad to hear you are adding more awards.   I have an untouched m-725 ambulance that still has the original OD paint and markings - what is left of them after nearly 50 years.   I have been debating putting a new paint job on it but many people have urged me not too.  Maybe I will leave it as is until the next west coast convention and enter it in the barn finds category.  I found it in the back yard of a painting contractor - he was storing his pool toys in it.   Does that count as a barn find? 

On the side skirted half track - it belonged to the Berkley, CA police department for many years before being purchased by an Alameda, CA collector.   I looked at it when he was selling it four years ago to the current owner.  It is unclear whether the Berkley police added the skirts or that the halftrack came from patton's training grounds in the southern CA desert.   Truly a unique and interesting half track.  Apparently the Berkley police used it for riot control in the 50's through the 70's.

Tom