Author Topic: Earliest known Autocar M2 for sale....  (Read 1256 times)

Selliott

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Earliest known Autocar M2 for sale....
« on: December 20, 2023, 01:04:56 PM »
Ok Gang,

After much discussion and deliberation, Corey and I have decided to part ways with "Lucky 13".  As many of you know we have worked on this project for many years and documented a lot of it here.  But life moves on and we have decided its a good time to downsize into something smaller.

"Lucky 13" is a 1941 Autocar M2 restored as an M2a1, which there was lots of evidence that it had been converted at some point in its life time.  The serial number is M2-13.  Right up front, although this is a frame off restoration, let me tell you this is NOT a museum piece, it is a working vehicle and we use it for WWII events and it shows.  The paint may have scratches, primer may show underneath the truck in some high wear areas, the fuel tanks are eBay 17 gallon tanks, and so forth and so on.  If that bothers you, this is probably not for you.  But if you are looking for one that will work like its supposed to, and you can use it in parades and re-enactments and depend on it, then this might be for you. 

Corey and I did all the work ourselves and we are proud of it, so if you have detailed questions we can get into it offline.  Here are the basics:  Original frame, front armor, engine and rear suspension to M2-13.  Windshield armor is original and frames are original one has original glass the other was replaced but cracked again at some point, but functions just fine.  All armor is original armor from the uprights behind the door forward including the doors.  Rear bed is an original M2 bed from another track and all rear armor, drivers side ammo locker, ammo locker doors and rear steps are from Paul Jacobs.  All original aluminum floors are in the cab and lower part of the bed, some diamond plate steel was used up under the locker areas, and the chain lockers are all present and in decent shape (they hold stuff just fine but have a couple thin spots here and there).  There is no passenger side small ammo locker, we just never got around to getting one as we enjoyed the extra open space.  The pulpit armor and brackets were all built by us and are very close to original as we took all measurements off of originals or had help from people on here with drawings and such.  The ring is an original M49 from Brent Mullins. 

Like I said the fuel tanks are 17 gal uprights off of Ebay and they are all plumbed under the truck with rubber fuel lines.  Gauges are all present, tach works, speedo works, oil pressure works but needs to be calibrated, but the fuel and temp gauges don't so we put a temp gauge and oil pressure gauge in the glove box.  The wiring harness was built by us and all works like it should, including all the lights and switches for the blackout driving and so forth. 

Brakes work like brakes without a booster, we have one that my brother redid that will go with the sell, we just never took the time to install it.  A couple of the wheel cylinders leak occasionally from sitting, but they were replaced along with the master at the time of rebuild.  Tracks are Israeli tracks made in 1987 and have 95%+  life left. 

The motor was gone through by Corey and I and we rebuilt everything that needed to be rebuilt including new rings and bearings and seals and gaskets, a couple of valves needed to be replaced and they were all lapped and the cylinders were honed out using the stone type hones.  Its not perfect, it still seeps around the head gasket a little and has a little exhaust leak around the manifold, but nothing bad. It starts every time and purrs like a kitten.  Has great vacuum and cylinder pressure. The only issue we have had was at a couple events after running a long time, you have to crank it for about3- 4 seconds to get it to start back up. We are used to it starting within one revolution, so 3-4 seconds is annoying. Might be a coil or something, we don't think its a fuel issue as the carb has fuel, but it will start back up and run fine, no vapor locking or anything. Besides being annoying, it has never bothered us enough to put a whole lot of effort into diagnosing. Truck runs about 185-190 the whole time and the radiator was redone by a place here in town.  Oil pressure is pegged when it starts up and runs at least 10-20 lbs at idle when hot I just cant remember exactly. 

The transmission and transfer work like they should but the do seep a little around some of the gaskets, not enough that we have to add fluid, just more of a annoyance.  The only issue with the transmission is it makes a clicking noise in reverse and that is due we think to one of the corners of one of the teeth on the reverse gear being broken off.  We are just too lazy to drop it and replace that gear.  But it works fine and stays in gear, other than the noise there are no issues. We replaced all the springs and poppet balls in the shifter when we went through it. 

There are other things I could tell ya, but if you have read all this and still want more info, lets talk on the phone.  There is NO title, so it will be a bill of sale.  We are asking $75k or best offer.  Ill try to include some pics, if it doesn't work Corey can post some later.  -  Shon

Edit:  For those of you that weren't around when we were actively restoring this HT and posting questions and updates here on halftrack.info, you can find our restoration thread here: http://halftrackinfo.com/index.php?topic=1961.0
« Last Edit: December 20, 2023, 09:58:23 PM by Selliott »
1941 Autocar M2 #13
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