A Korean War-era military vehicle will be parked outside the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 256 on Remembrance Day, looking just the same as it did 70 years ago.
Nanaimo’s Stephen Rainforth has been restoring a 1952 Willys Jeep M38 for five years and will have a chance to display it to an appreciative crowd.
The Jeep is one of about 2,100 that were manufactured in Canada. Rainforth’s Jeep never went across the Pacific Ocean, but a historian sent him a picture of the vehicle filled with radio equipment and members of the British Columbia Regiment in Vancouver. The number 32008, visible on the licence plate in the photo, is stamped on the Jeep’s frame.
The British Columbia Regiment did not serve as a fighting unit in the Korean War, noted the regiment’s website, though its volunteers did serve there with other units. The B.C. Regiment in the mid 1950s had squadrons in Vancouver and Nanaimo, trained on Sherman tanks and at annual camps, and won the Wallace Trophy as most efficient regiment in 24 Militia Group three years running from 1954-56.
“As artillerymen, riflemen, infantrymen and tank men, and under several names, the regiment has built a proud name…” noted A Short History of the British Columbia Regiment, published in 1953. “Those who are privileged to wear its badges and to serve with it, whether in peace or in war, have a record and a tradition which must not be lightly regarded.”
Rainforth bought the Jeep from a friend in Woss, but it hadn’t been working and had been idle in a yard for years.
“He bought it to drive on the logging roads, but it broke down and it was too hard to get parts for,” Rainforth said.
He’d restored vehicles before and figured he could take on the Jeep restoration as a retirement project.
“I was probably overconfident. I figured two years and a few thousand dollars and it was five years and lots of thousands of dollars,” he said. “Everything was either twice as expensive or twice as hard to do.”
He had the motor rebuilt in Duncan – twice, as a crooked timing mark foiled the first attempt – and he joked grimly that he ended up paying $6,000 for 60 horsepower. He rebuilt the transmission himself and redid the brakes and brake lines. At some point the original 24-volt electrical system had been converted to 12V, but Rainforth converted it back to 24V. An upholstery company in the U.S. re-created the seat cushions.
Once Rainforth recognized he had a rare vehicle, it became more important to him to restore it as correctly as he could. With past auto restoration projects, he just wanted something drivable.
“This one, I wanted to go a little bit further with it,” he said.
The Willys Jeep M38 was designed to run under water, so it has a waterproof ignition, carburetor, generator and voltage regulator. It’s got “blackout lights” meant to provide minimal illumination to suit certain kinds of military operations.
Rainforth wouldn’t call himself a history buff, but he knows more than he did thanks to his project.
“When I started out, it was just a Jeep to me, but now I’m more interested in the history of it and the more I learned about the history of this particular Jeep, the more interested I became in it,” he said.
He expressed thanks to many people who helped him with the project, as he connected with a few different groups along the way including the Vancouver Island Military Vehicle Collectors Club. The restoration process was frustrating at times, but he got the Jeep out on the road this year and has brought it to a couple of small car shows. The hot rods might get more attention, but the Willys Jeep M38 “is what it is” and some kids think it’s cool and some grandpas have gotten emotional at seeing it.
Remembrance Day has always felt important to Rainforth, and this year, he’ll be honoured to be more a part of it than ever.
“We’ve got to honour our vets and remember their sacrifices,” he said. “So if this helps with that, that’s great, that’s even better.”
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editor@nanaimobulletin.com
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