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My name is Michael Scoggins. I live in McConnell, SC. I'm a historian with Culture and Heritage
Museums in York. Before that, I was an electronics engineer for 18 years and I worked with computer
manufacturing and testing - I was in the test department. But I've been a historian now
for 13 years working primarily with local history, colonial, revolutionary war, civil
war, early 20th century history, for this region of South Carolina. I've always loved
Jeeps. My dad was a Sergeant in the Marine Corps. He was in the Korean War at the invasion
of Inchon with McArthur and the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, the liberation of Seoul.
And after he came back home he was a motor supply sergeant. I was born on the Camp Lejeune
Marine Corps Base in 1953 and me and my mom and my brothers moved back home when I was
4 years old. My first memory of a jeep I guess was when I was about 3 or 4 years old and
my folks bought me a toy jeep for Christmas and of course I grew up in the late 50's early
60's watching war movies and the Combat television show and just fell in love with jeeps. There
was just something about jeeps, I don't know, it's almost metaphysical I guess, the way
a vehicle like that can hold your interest and your attraction. When I was in high school
I had a couple of opportunities, not to actually own one, but at least to drive jeeps. When
I was in high school, my dad came home one day with a 1945 GPW, which he was going to
buy from a friend of his. He ended up not buying it because it, it needed a lot of work
and the guy wouldn't come down on the price so he ended up giving it back to him. I also
had an Uncle who had a, uh, I think it was a 1964 CJ-5 with the V6 engine and one summer
me and my brother spent a couple of weeks at his place on the Catawba River and got
to spend some time driving that Jeep. He had us cutting down some wood on his property
and dragging the logs off so I had a, a lot of fun driving that CJ-5. In 1974 my stepdad
bought a brand new Jeep 3/4 Ton Pickup Truck and we drove the heck out of that for many
years. He ended up selling it to a friend of his who still drives it and it's still
running today. When I got my first 4-wheel drive vehicle in 1989 it was an1984 Chevy
S10 and I've still got two 4-wheel drive vehicles, an '85 Chevy S10 and a '99 Olds Bravada, they're
both 4-wheel drive, but, I always wanted a jeep of my own, preferable a military jeep
that I could work on. I had the opportunity to get this M38-A1. This is a 1964. One of
the last ones that was made, and it's one of the marine corps procurement contract jeeps,
which were specially ordered by the U.S. Marine Corps after the army contract ran out for
the M38-A1 and the marines liked it so well, that they gave the Kaiser Willys their own
spec for with a positraction axles and additional undercoating and it's probably the best built
and most rugged of the M38-A1 series, and a lot of veterans have said this was the best
military jeep that they ever drove. A friend of mine had it sitting at his house where
it had been deteriorating for, for several years. It was surplussed by the Marine Corps
I believe in the early 70's. There's a date on here that say processed one seventy four
which I believe was when it was surplussed. It's only got 20,000 miles on it, so I don't
expect it was driven a lot. There's a couple of rebuild tags on the carburetor and the
fuel pump that say it was reconditioned at Barstow, California, in uh, 1968, where some
rebuild, uh repairs were done to it. It's basically intact. It's missing a few pieces
here and there the headlights were busted when I got it so I took them out. It's missing,
uh, the cover on the battery tray, uh, but for the most part it's intact and it's still
in the original military condition, still has the 24 volt electrical system, waterproof
ignition and fuel system. Uh, I've got new batteries in it. The engine will turn over.
The starter and everything works. But uh, I'm… I don't have good compression on a
couple of the cylinders, one of the exhaust valves is stuck and so I haven't been able
to get it to crank yet. The old military tires still hold air, which is amazing considering
how old they are. Can't beat those old 6-ply non-directional tires and uh, the floorboards
are rusted, which is to be expected considering the fact that it sat outside in the South
Carolina weather for about thirty years. Its amazing to me that somebody would have one
of these and not do anything with it. But it's my goal to get it running and I want
to keep it as much original as I can. For one thing, it is a Marine Corps jeep you can
still see the serial number on the side USMC 61522 and the York County Civil Defense emblem.
It was when it was surplussed it was sold to the Civil Defense back in the Cold War
days. Course, we don't have Civil Defense anymore, but… uh, I don't expect it was
ever driven a whole lot, uh, during that time, and the Civil Defense let somebody have it
and that guy never did anything with it and then he sold it to a friend of mine and he
didn't do anything with it, so, I've had it for two years and been working on it as I
can afford it. Last year, I got my second jeep which is a 1954 CJ-3B, and it's next
door. But this one is in the best shape. The 3B has a lot of parts missing off of it. It
was used as parts for another project. This one I think will be easier to get running
if I can get the valves straightened out on it I think I can get it to crank. I've got
to do some work on the brakes and the fuel system, mostly because everything rotted away,
sitting outside for thirty plus years. But other than that, I think, uh, it's just a
matter of time and money.