The Army M38A1 Jeep Story

1989

Re Written 5/2013* 1,301 Words

By Howard Yasgar

In 1989, our company Automotive Parts Industries, “API” was rebuilding electrical parts for Military Vehicles.

We decided to go into the military rebuilding business because it had much more potential than the automotive and marine parts rebuilding business.

There was plenty of competition in the military parts business ,but nothing like the competition in the automotive and marine business.

Japan was becoming dominant in the U.S. marketplace and Taiwan was now in the business of making copies of any parts that were popular.

The military industry also used its own parts inventory and numbering system, which was a good thing, as it eliminated any company that didn’t want to learn the system.

To rebuild military parts, you needed to find specialized people around the world that dealt exclusively in military parts.

One of the companies we dealt with was “Sarafan Truck Parts” located in Spring Valley, New York.

Sarafan dealt in in all the 1/4 -ton Jeep parts as well as 2-1/2 ton and 5-ton military truck parts.

During WW2 The government started out using the 1/4-ton Jeep they designated it as the M-38 and over the years they used several variations of the vehicle, all were referred to as M-38,¼ ton Jeeps.

By the time of the Korean war the government started using the “M38A1” , also referred to as the Jeep, it was a military model, ¼-ton Jeep but it was similar in appearance to the American Motors vehicle.

By 1989 the M38A1 was referred to as the “Korean War Era Jeep”, which had now been replaced by the “M151”, a ¼ ton vehicle made by AM General Company.

All the ¼ ton vehicles were still called “Jeeps”.

There has always been a lot of disagreement where the word “Jeep” came from, but I think it was just a short version of the description “General Purpose Vehicle”.

As each model of Jeep was discontinued, they became eagerly sought after by military vehicle restorers and collectors. This created a whole market for companies like Sarafan.

Selling parts to “Military Vehicle Collectors” became a good business, and there are several magazines devoted solely to the collector market.

Being in the military parts business, I read the collector magazines every month.

It was a good way to learn about the military parts business, and who was in it.

I saw quite a few pictures of restored military vehicles, and I thought it would be fun and challenging for me to try and restore one.

I called Michael Sarafan, for advice, and he told me that he had a nice M38A1 Jeep that was suitable for restoration. He said it was in original running condition.

Michael Sarafan said he wanted $1700.00 and it just happened that he had a friend heading to Florida that could trailer it down reasonably.

A week later We had a M38 A1 Jeep sitting in front of our building.

I knew that the M38A1 was a Korean war era vehicle, and was not as popular as the earlier M-38 models, but they looked pretty good once they were painted olive drab and had white star decals placed on them.

I started out by sending the vehicle to a Company around the corner called “Johnny & Mack” they

said they could pressure wash the undersides to make our M-38A1 perfectly clean for $150.00.

As we didn't have a way to lift the vehicle up it appeared to be a good way to clean it.

That was the first of our many disappointments.

They did pressure wash our Jeep but it was by no means clean.

At the time we had a company down the street run by Luis Cantos who was really a good

craftsman and he also was excited for the opportunity to fool around with a Military vehicle, So Luis

took on the project of doing the body work on our Jeep.

Our Jeep at first appearance looked pretty good, but once it was cleaned and sandblasted , every defect possible showed up, from rusted through panels to holes and dents everywhere.

The job went on for weeks, with new panels being welded in, and dents hammered out and filled

In with Bondo, finally the Jeep was primed, ready for painting.

We had a small building across the street from our main office on 36 Avenue that had a big roll up door and room to put the Jeep in.

I could walk over to the building and work on the vehicle for an hour or so every day, making a list of various parts that were needed.

In conversations with David Sarafan, Michaels Brother, I learned that reproduction machine gun mounts and real looking machine gun was available, so, for $900.00 I ordered one.

It mounted into the vehicle perfectly.

I drove the vehicle around the block in our neighborhood and it created quite a stir.

Everyone was staring at the machine gun with a string of bullets hanging out of it, and a few hand grenades I had hanging from the Gun Mount.

I thought that sooner or later I would have a problem, because wherever I parked the Jeep, a crowd would soon gather.

I called Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, the organization that controls gun permits, and they said someone would stop by.

Eventually two Agents showed up, both veterans of the Korean war. They loved the jeep and said it was exactly as they remembered, and no license was required.

At every red light, someone would pull up next to us with a question or comment.

I started to reply to everyone that “It's for the Movies” and that seemed to satisfy everyone.

On a Sunday afternoon, Katherine and I were driving down 36 Street by the Miami International Airport, there was no traffic, we were possibly the only vehicle on the road.

I noticed in the rear-view mirror that a police car was about a quarter of a mile behind but not gaining on us.

Then suddenly, from the front appeared another squad car with lights flashing. Only then did the one in the rear approach also with lights flashing.

Both Officers cautiously approached us.

I told them it wasn't a real machine gun and they both smiled, both had fun looking the jeep over.

By 1991 our Company was having serious financial problems, and I decided to sell the Jeep to raise some money.

I placed an ad in the Miami Herald and the first call was from a Miami Police Officer.

I had placed a price of $5000.00, but I was prepared to take $4500.00.

The police officer was a Cuban and he gave me a white envelope with $4500.00 in

cash inside.

He said he had a towing Company who was a friend that owed him some favors and they came to pick up the Jeep.

We never heard from him again but around 1994, Katherine and I were driving up Lejune Road towards Coral Gables.

There, on our right was a tiny gas station that was converted into used car lot.

Sitting in the back row was our M38A1 Jeep. The machine gun and mount had been removed.