Willys M38A1

The M38A1 was the first Army jeep to use the Willys Hurricane F-Head 134 inline-four engine. This engine was taller than the 'Go-Devil' engine that powered the WWII era jeeps and the M38, and was the reason for restyling the body over the higher power plant.

Otherwise, the MD had a T-90 3-speed transmission, Dana 18 transfer case, either the Dana 25 or the Dana 27 front axle, and Dana 44 rear axle.

M38A1C spotter unit with .50 cal machine gun.

Basic utility version. Would regularly be equipped with M2 .50 cal machine gun and/or radio equipment and antenna-mount. On early units (1952–1953) the front grille was mounted with two 45 degree hinges, one at each frame rail, to flip it forward for maintenance.[5]

Modified version equipped with a M40A1 106mm recoilless rifle. Some units were fitted as spotters, with a .50 caliber rifle. The 50 cal. would be fired first, to ensure a first round hit with the M40 equipped unit.[6]

Several dozen M38A1s were converted, mounting a tactical nuclear Davy Crockett Weapon System, fired by a large diameter smoothbore recoilles rifle – either an M28 120mm, or an M29 155mm gun.[7] The vehicle carried two M388 projectiles, mounting the Mk-54 nuclear warhead. The range of weapon was approximately 1.25 miles (2 km), with the M28 gun, or 2.5 miles (4 km) with the M29. This vehicle/weapon combination was also referred to as the "Battle Group Atomic Delivery System", and was allocated to airborne units.

The Dutch used this M38A1 with generator and mobile welder

Just one unit is assumed to have been built,[8] originally fitted with a Harger & Valentine field arc-welding system, powered by a power take-off driven generator.[9]

M170 long wheelbase ambulance version

The M170 Frontline Ambulance variant of the M38A1, with a 20 in (51 cm) stretched wheelbase, formed the basis for the later civilian Willys CJ‑6 Jeep. The spare tire was relocated in a special wheel well on the right interior side of the vehicle, and a larger 20 US gal (76 l) fuel tank was fitted. Capacity was six seated passengers, or three lying on litters. A total of 4,155 M170 ambulances were designed and built by Kaiser Jeep of Toledo, Ohio, from the mid-1950s to the early 1960s.[10]

There is no official, nor uniform specification, for the M38A1s that where manufactured specifically for the United States Marine Corps. USMC jeeps had to be air transportable, hung under a helicopter, so they all had a reinforced rear bumper, for lift ring fitment, and most indeed had front and rear lift rings.[11] The rear lift rings were fitted (by or for USMC) in a different position, than standard jeeps had been prepared for from the factory.
Further, most USMC jeeps had more waterproofing, and roughly two thirds of them received more undercoating – to the frame exterior, under the floor and hood, and the bottom half of the firewall. For better traction, the Marine Corps started ordering limited-slip differentials, especially on the rear axle, and mostly after introduction of the M151 jeeps in the Army. USMC jeeps were painted 34052 forest green, with flat yellow numbering on the hood only. Little or no other markings were applied on USMC jeeps.[11]

Canadian variants: M38A1Cdn, M38A1Cdn2, and M38A1Cdn3, produced in Canada.

According to Canadian author David Dunlop, over 1,000 M38A1s were built by Ford of Canada in 1952/1953.[12]
Next, Kaiser Jeep of Canada Ltd started assembling Jeeps in Windsor in 1954 or in 1959, in the former Willys factory, established there in 1934. Initially building only CJ-5 jeeps, at a targeted rate of 1,000 a year, in 1967 a Canadian government contract came, to build 800 M38A1 Jeeps for the Canadian Forces at $2,789,000 CDN.[12] Unclear about 1959-69 Windsor production is how many other Jeep models and units were built for the Canadian military. Anecdotal evidence has surfaced of a domestic Canadian Navy unit, built in 1964.

The Dutch Army also used the short wheelbase M38A1 as an ambulance –
instead of the long wheelbase M170.

After initially using surplus U.S. war jeeps after World War II, a successor model was required by the Royal Netherlands Army, from the early 1950s. Wanting to support Dutch industry, a prototype four-wheel drive design by the country's only volume car and truck manufacturer DAF, the H-driven DAF YA-054, was considered, competing with U.S.-built M38A1s, a number of which had been supplied under the Mutual Defense Assistance program.[13]

The DAF proposal seemed neither better nor cheaper and lost the race, but as an economic stimulus, the American Jeeps were to be assembled in Holland[14] from knock-down kits parts, made in the U.S.A., in the "NEtherlands KAiser-Frazer" (or 'NEKAF') factory. Eventually some 24 % of the NEKAF jeep's parts were supplied by Dutch firms. Nekaf jeeps were identical to U.S. M38A1s, except for minor lighting additions.[13]

Dutch Army M38A1 MD jeep

Production spanned from 1955 to 1958, under Kaiser-Frazer (some 5,650 units), after which time production was taken over by a Dutch company, who delivered another 2,237 jeeps through 1963, still using the 'NEKAF' name, for a total of just under 8,000 units. The M38A1 Jeep eventually served with one of the longest service records in the Royal Dutch military, for more than 40 years, from 1952 until 1996, as a result of both budget constraints, and sheer longevity of the vehicles, even outlasting the DKW Mungas, which had been bought to replace them in Dutch service,[13] as well as some 1,200 DAF YA 66s supplied in the 1970s, which had little to no off-road capability, and which were decommissioned in the early 1990s.

After 1959, with American part sets, 355 Nekafs were converted to M38A1C: 106mm M40 recoilless rifle carriers, and from 1983 to 1989, forty M38A1Cs were equipped with cable-guided TOW missiles.[13]

Jeep Truck copies (variously called the Simurg or Simoorgh) produced by the firm of Sherkat-Sahami in Iran.[15]

KM-410 and Keohwa M-5GA1 versions produced in South Korea.

• 26th of July Movement: M38A1 MD version captured from the Cuban Army.
• Afghan Mujahideen: Iranian-produced Simurg or Simoorgh variants employed during the Soviet–Afghan War.[24]

United Nations (UNIFIL) peace-keeping Jeeps, operated by Dutchbat in Lebanon (1981).

• Al-Mourabitoun: M38A1 MD version.[25]
• Army of Free Lebanon (AFL): M38A1 MD version.
• Amal Movement: CJ‑5 and CJ‑8 versions.[26]
• Arab Democratic Party (Lebanon): CJ-5 and CJ-8 versions.[27]
• Progressive Socialist Party/People's Liberation Army (PLA): M38A1 MD and CJ‑5 and CJ‑8 versions.[28][29]
• Kataeb Regulatory Forces (KRF): M38A1 MD and Israeli-modified versions.[30]
• Lebanese Arab Army (LAA): M38A1 MD version.[31]
• Lebanese Forces: M38A1 MD[32] and Israeli-modified versions, and South Korean KM-410 and Keohwa M-5GA1 versions.[33][34]
•  Palestine – Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): M38A1 MD version used by the Palestinian guerrilla factions in Lebanon.[35]
• Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN): M38A1 MD and CJ‑5 versions captured from the National Guard of Nicaragua.[36]
• South Lebanon Army (SLA): M38A1C and Israeli-modified versions.
• Syrian Social Nationalist Party in Lebanon: CJ‑5 and CJ‑8 versions.[37]
• Tigers Militia: M38A1 MD version.[38][39]
• United Nations: M38A1 or CJ-5 version
• Zgharta Liberation Army (a.k.a. Marada Brigade): CJ-5 and CJ-8 versions.[40]