Painting My USA Hood Numbers

GPW 270351 came to me with her original hood. I sanded down the post-war paint to find USA hood number 20735727 S on the driver’s side. The passenger side number was obliterated when the PO used bondo to cover the severe hood dents on that side of the jeep. Tom Wolboldt has confirmed that 20735727 is the original number.

All Ford GPW hood numbers were painted in blue drab throughout the war. Willy’s primarily used blue drab, but switched to flat white towards the very end of production in 1945. The reason why blue drab was used is that the photography of the day was primarily black and white. The flat blue drab color photographed quite similarly to olive drab, so that the USA numbers were hard to read. This then would have made it more difficult for our WW2 enemies to photograph the jeeps and use their intel to distinguish unit strength and location. Obviously, we can read the hood numbers on period WW2 black and white photos, so the system wasn’t perfect. In Europe, once the Allies had gained a strong foothold and numerical superiority, it was common to replace the 2″ blue drab hood numbers with 3″, or larger, white numbers for easier reading. This is why Willys changed to white at the factory at the end of production.

Many people confuse the USA number with a jeep’s serial number. They are loosely correlated, but we cannot determine an exact USA number from the serial number unless the jeep is found in a record. The Army Quartermaster Corps assigned a specific range of USA numbers to each contract with Willys or Ford. After the jeeps rolled off the production line and were test driven, they were parked in a depot yard. An Army acceptance officer, along with a paint crew, then went up and down the rows of jeeps parked for that day and painted the USA numbers in consecutive order, Because the jeeps were not parked by order of serial number, it’s was common to see jeeps with slightly lower serial numbers get higher hood numbers, and vice-versa.

By the way, all WW2 jeeps (1/4 ton trucks) have a hood number which begins with “20”. It’s one of my pet peeves to see a WW2 jeep painted in some other way, especially those purported to be original or a full restoration.

GPW 270351 was built in Dallas and it would appear that the font used at Dallas differed from other factories. The dots in U.S.A. are square and the height of the letters is 2 inch. The numbers are located 1/2″ from the bottom the of the hood. The “2” which begins the sequence is located approximately 13″ from the front of the hood and 20″ from the rear. The S is located two number spaces from the end of the 7, and the right edge of the S is located 31″ from the front of the hood and 2.75″ from the rear.

Here are five photos of my original numbers with a tape measure anchored on the edge of the hood.

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I purchased my stencils from Scott Watson at Ron Fitzpatrick Jeep Parts. Overall, I’m very happy with them. The original length of the numbers and S are 17.75″ and Scott’s are 16.75″, so they’re about an inch too short. The font’s are a good match, except for the “5”, which has an edge cut off, and the “A”, which is more squat in the original. I decanted Ron’s Blue drab paint from the rattle can, then thinned with acetone and sprayed through a Badger airbrush at 20 psi. Here are the driver’s and passenger’s sides. Fitting the driver’s side grease gun bracket screws into the numerical sequence is always tough. I think I managed to get this one fairly close.

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GPW Hood Restoration

The GPW’s hood was very challenging to restore. The previous owner of the jeep used it for ranch work and deer hunting and he must have thrown a few dozen carcasses onto the hood. The passenger side, which doesn’t have the reinforcing support of the lube chart holder and grease gun bracket supports, was dented downward about a centimeter or two. This was all hidden behind about 20 pounds of bondo. You can see the bottom of the passenger side dent below, along with the original red oxide primer under the bolt-ons.

Look how thick this bondo is. Lot’s of body warps and dents around the hood blocks and hold down clamps.

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Repairs went OK, but I was never able to shrink the metal flat. There was just too much stretching for my meager skills. Unfortunately I had to resort to bondo, myself, for the first time on this jeep. It’s maybe 1-2 mm thick, maximum. Bummer, but so be it.

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Here’s how the top side turned out.

I tinned the hood at the underside front lip, where the radiator welting screws touch. Over it’s 75+ years, the screw head nearly wore through the hood’s sheet metal. Here’s the wear area, plus the tinning, and finally the tinning on the hinge backside.

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Here are the bolt-ons to the hood, prior to painting in OD 33070. You can see the tape over the stencil on the lube chart holder and tinned areas.

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And here’s how she turned out. The inside turned out well, but the outside is still a bit rough. I’m not a fan of bondo, and my application, but she’s ready for painting her USA number and invasion star.

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Rifle Rack

Late-war jeeps came supplied by the factory with a windshield-mounted universal rifle rack. Lloyd White states that this began in September of 1943. There was also a field kit to add the rack to earlier jeeps. The universal rack was designed so that it could fit on a wide variety of vehicles. It was commonly found mounted vertically in trucks and half tracks. On jeeps the rack mounts horizontally onto special brackets welded on the inside portion of the lower windshield frame. (Photo courtesy of JeepDraw.)

The rack was mounted with two carriage bolts, with the head inside the rack, the square shank through the square mounting holes in the rack, and the washers and nuts nearest the windshield. The carriage bolts are 5/16 NC, 3/4 inch long, with both flat and split lock washers under the nuts.

The rack was sized for an M1 Garand, but had components that would allow it to hold many other rifles, including an M1 Carbine and a Thompson sub-machine gun. It’s my understanding that a June 1945 GPW or MB would have come from the factory with the canvas cover installed.

I purchased my NOS rack and cover from George at Army Jeep Parts. The canvas was rotted, unfortunately, but the rack was in great shape, with minimal surface rust. I cleaned it up, then painted it in 33070.

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Here’s the canvas she came with. As far as I know, no one makes the canvas covers. Bummer.

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Rear Seat and Rear Panel

I finished up repainting the rear seat and installing the canvas. The repairs to the J-hooks held up reasonably well when I installed the seat. I also finished my touch up painting to the rear panel.

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Finally I added the reproduction Ford hand crank and my beautiful, original Circle-N tire pump.

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Blackout Drive Light Installation and Fender Wiring

Here are a few photos of my BODL installation. She still bears her scar from one of the GPW’s many wrecks; it will make a good talking point when showing off the jeep. Installation was a breeze. All hardware is original. There are star washers under the front two bolts and just a plain washer under the rear bolt. I know that many jeep restorers struggle to get the BODL wire though the fender hat channel, but mine just slipped through after this hat channel went through so much clean up.

As long as I’m here, this is the final wiring of the fender loom connected to the headlamp, marker lights, and six-post junction block on the cowl.

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“Lubrication Order” Stencil Painting

The lube chart holders underneath the hoods of late-war jeeps were supplied by a subcontractor. They were painted in a deeper and glossier green than OD, then the “Lubrication Order” stencil was applied, painted white, and then masked before the whole assembly was painted in OD. Here’s the front side of my original holder; you can see the stencil with its darker green paint underneath.

My goal is to replicate this look. First I sanded down the prior stencil. You can see the witness mark where the original tape was located over the stencil and the glossier, darker green. It sits one inch below the lip, is 1/2″ wide, and is centered horizontally.

My next task was to find a paint match. I tried a number of enamel and acrylic paints off my modeling bench. The sample in the middle is my choice. It’s Tamiya’s XF-26, an acrylic paint. Acrylic goes down well over enamel as long as the enamel paint has completely out-gassed and cured. I airbrushed the deep green, and after it had cured, I sprayed a satin clear enamel to give the strip a glossier look.

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I then used a stencil to paint the “Lubrication Order” text. I found this stencil online here:

https://www.educraftdiversions.org/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=WWII%2DJP%2DSTENC

It’s made from thick cardstock and cut on an original stencil machine. The font is an excellent match. After locating the stencil I used flat white enamel paint shot through an airbrush. I like how the edge is slightly feathered in random ways.

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Finally, the text was covered over with an exact 1/2″ piece of tape and then OD 33070 was sprayed. Here’s how she turned out. I’m pretty happy with the result. I like the mix of satin and drab paint, the feathered edge, and the contrast of the deep green against the OD. It has a genuine feel, and looks like a good match to the original.