By brother's estate in Alaska includes an aluminum frame, aluminum bodied jeep, year model unknown. It has matching hubs at the four axles that allow rapid deployment of a helicopter sling. Any info on it would be appreciated. The attached poll is to whether YOU would restore or wheel it. I know Big bro would have had me wheel it till it rolled.

I voted to restore, it sounds rare and I would bet the aluminum frame may not be that durable.

However it is yours, do with it what you feel is best. Don;t let any kind a of a poll change what you feel is best.

ya gotta post a link to a pic!

Sorry Cutter, no pics. We go up to Kennecott for a memorial in Late June. We'll see it then and there. I guarantee I won't let the Park Service get it or let it be scrapped. I was jawing his ear about wheelin and the Rubicon and he told me about his Jeep that was made to be helicoptered in. His neighbor confirmed its there, but no info or pix yet.

Does it look like this? This is an M422 Mighty Mite - aluminum vehicle. Super small and cool, but not much for offroading. As I recall they were designed to be air dropped and abandoned when the marines were donme with them

http://www.film.queensu.ca/CJ3B/Photos/PosterPhotos/M422.jpg

http://www.film.queensu.ca/CJ3B/Poster/M422.html

WHEEL IT!

I saw one for sale not far from my place, not sure on what they wanted but it was BEAT TO HELL. I think it was a 66 or around there. It looked cool, but I doubt you could wheel much with it as is. I crawled under the one I saw and it had a really odd independent-rear suspension.

I would also think that the aluminum frame would be hard to mount anything to if you decided to SAS it or something. I wanted it to drive around town as a DD, but it needed way too much work and I don't know how avalible parts are.

heck i'd build it. i would not use anything but the body but hey it's alum so i'd be light. cut the rear fenders back mount the rear way back. i can picture it and i think it'd look cool on a set of 38.5 sx's and a 100-105" wheelbase. 4.3L vortec under the hood with a th350 and an atlas. c&c dually 14bolt in the rear and d60 front. it would be cool and different. better exo cage it though cause i bet body parts are hard to come by. :D

Yeah, check out the specs. Air cooled 4 cyl, plastic u-joints - it wouldn't survive. On the plus side, if it is in good original shape it may be worth thousands to a military collector, those guys are nuts. I'd suggest a trip to www.g503.com forumns to see what it may be worth before you hack it up


http://www.4wdonline.com/Mil/M422/MightyMite.html

all jeeps were built to be beat, wheel the crap out of it

i'm with oldjeep, see whats its worth. it sounds like your bro wanted it wheeled. nobody says ya have to beat the shit out of it to wheel it. build something else to beat on.;)

I say sell it and use the money to pay for making an awesome rig.

i voted for restore but there is no reason that you cannot restore it to really nice quality and wheel it!! that is what jeeps are for, you dont necessarily have to beat it to death but have some fun. do you have fun restoring vehicles and taking them to shows or exploring the locale and spending time with friends and family on the trail?? that is the real judge!! what is your personality!!