My Mutt on the road in Vietnam

[johnfal]

Thought I would paste a couple of new photo's of my mutt out on the road in Vietnam. For those of you who have been here and have seen the traffic congestion here you might find the photo's a little strange because on the roads where these photo's were taken there was no one else just me and my Mutt, absolutely lovely.






Apologies for the markings, the wrong type and size of fonts etc have been used despite it having been in for painting three times to get them right. People here just don't understand the need to stick to a standard, if it looks OK it will do are the rules here. One day I will get it done right.

John

[mrdibbles]

Looks awesome

[tbanks]

Do you get any strange reactions from people who lived through the war?Just wondering how they feel seeing a vehicle with US markings on it.

[rickf]

Ah yes, The standard door opening bling.

Looks good, and the roads look just a bit different than I remember.

Rick

[SEABEE62]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....where is the mud and the ruts......oh....they paved it ? Nice pictures John. Seabee

[rickf]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....where is the mud and the ruts......oh....they paved it ? Nice pictures John. Seabee

Exactly what I was thinking, no red dust or mud.

Rick

[ohiomgman]

I never saw a road that looked like THAT, there....4o years ago... Vietnam Dept of Highways must have better funding?

Yeah...where's that red dust and mud at?

I never thought I would ever see a M151 that said US Army on it ...painted OD...zipping around Vietnam in 2011. My how things have changed.

[Ralph Fuller]

Great looking MUTT...thanks for taking the time to share your pictures.

[moose53]

I find it interesting that for all the guys saying only A1's were in Nam, and they never saw any A2's there, just about all the pics from there are A2's....

Jim

[toptiger]

my tour was 1968-69 so I, of course, never saw any A2 s over there, In fact the first one I ever saw in person was when I bought one about 7 years ago and it was delivered to my garage!
I think most of the 151s in my unit were straight ones, but back then I didn't have any idea that there was an A1 and wouldn't have noticed one even if I was driving it.

[rickf]

I am sure there were A2's when I was there but I was not paying attention. I never rode in them and did not pay attention to them on the streets, I was infatuated with the gun trucks.

Rick

[csmith]

NIce John, thanks for sharing, your Mutt looks great! Good to see you taking her out and about.

[csmith]

Do you get any strange reactions from people who lived through the war?Just wondering how they feel seeing a vehicle with US markings on it.

Tony, most of the mutts I have seen have US markings or sort of. It is my experience traveling there for business, they got over the war a long time before we did. I have not met anyone in my 6-8 visits that was not friendly, but my visits have been limited to the south. Everyone just wants to be successful capitolists..........

[johnfal]

Ahhh!!! the door opening bling that everyone seems notice. When I first bought my mutt I was not too keen on it either but having used the Jeep quite a lot I have actually come to appreciate it, when the family or friends climb in an out of the back they invariably step on it and it gets a little scuffed but being stainless it does not show up so much, but what it does do is protect the original metal and paint underneath it and prevents that from getting scuffed and damaged. Also if it gets too unsightly it is easy to change without me having to do anything to the body. I had thought to paint it OD so that it does not stand out so much but the more I looked at it the more I liked it as is it kind of outlines the shape of the door very nicely.

As Clell says most of the Mutts currently in use over here have the US markings, in fact it is good tourist business for those on nostalgia trips, many company's are now offering jeep tours to well know battle sites using Mutts or if they can find them Willys Jeeps all in US markings. My own personal experience is that there are three types of people here those who like them and remember them from the war with affection, those who don't and would prefer not to see them on the roads and those who don't give damn and this latter group tends to be in the majority. Occasionally I'll get an old guy come over and look at the Jeep and he will recount his experience with the Mutt either as a friendly or as the enemy but whatever their leanings they are not aggressive about it, in fact most Vietnamese are none confrontational. Hell I usually add insult to injury for some because I usually wear OD sweat shirts with US ARMY on them along with a pair of OD trousers when am working on or go out with the Mutt. The OD stuff is great for working in the workshop and here it is pretty cheap, about $3 a teeshirt so I buy them in sets of ten and wear them until they wear out and buy a new batch.

Right for those who crave to see the old red dust roads then look on. This will cost you a few beers to wash the dust out of my mouth and to quench my thirst whilst washing the old girl down.

[rickf]

Your getting closer, The dirt is right but no humongous mud filled holes. And everything within 200 yards of the road is not covered in red dust. It is a beautiful country though.

Rick