Military Vehicle Internet Discussion Groups and Forums
The on-line military vehicle forums are your best form of instant help regarding MVs, a great, free resource. The people who participate in these lists range from complete newcomers to real experts with years of experience. You can join in or just read what others are saying. They invite postings showing off your project vehicle, notices for vehicles and parts, wanted or for sale, restoration and a lot of technical support.
The Military Vehicles mailing list (a.k.a. MV list or mil-veh list) is one of the oldest MV groups. At one time this was an independent email-based list, but is now part of the Trackpads Forum. It also existed for a time as a Google Group.
Chris Stansbury's Steel Soldiers has many forums established covering either specific military vehicles or common topics such as electrical components. It has grown and prospered due to an excellent arrangement and set of topics.
The Army Recognition Forum invites photos and discussion of recognition information for all types of military vehicles, worldwide.
The G-503 web site has discussion boards specifically for military jeep owners, separated by type of jeep or topic.
Yahoo Groups (formerly eGroups, formerly ONElist) has a number of discussion groups that relate to Military Vehicles, like these:
- MV List
- Military Vehicle Club
- Military Vehicle HQ
- MV Intercom, for the AM-1780 VIC-1 Combat Vehicle Intercom
- Military Vehicles of Orange County California
- Willys Tech List
- M-151 List
- Mutt Group
- CMP List (British and Commonwealth military vehicles)
- Army Radios List
Some of these groups are much more active than others and the situation chages from time to time. You should check Yahoo periodically by doing a military topic search (or other choice of keywords) to see if any new lists have been added in areas of your interest. You have to register to participate, but it is free. Interest in these groups tends to come and go depending on the topics, who is participating, and competition from other groups.
For the specifics of Dodge military trucks, there are several services available. The Dodge Power Wagon site covers the military M-37 as well as the civilian Power Wagons, legendary tough trucks. The Power Wagon Advertiser has set up a group of forums covering all aspects of civilian and military Dodge trucks. Jay's Dodge Power Wagon Site covers the civilian and military PWs and offers an ICQ chat room. The WW2 Dodge Forum was set to allow owners and enthusiasts to talk all day about old Dodges, primarily those in the 1939 - 1945 time frame.
For the Kaiser Jeep M-715, visit The M-715 Zone. They have a message board with continuously updated discussions on all kinds of topics related to the trucks. They also have archives, classified ads, and other resources which you should look at. See also the Yahoo M-715 club (above).
For World War II jeeps, there is a specialized message board which is part of the g503 web site, same as mentioned above. Their mission is questions and discussion regarding the Willys MB and Ford GPW. They also host the M-151 Message Board (See G838) for owners and fans of that 1/4 ton vehicle. Another M-151 forum is Mil + web site and forum, dedicated to the M-151 vehicle and kits to add to its functionality for better off-road performance.
If your interests are drawn to vehicles, arms, and equipment used by the Canadian Army, then the Maple Leaf Up Discussion Forum is for you. There is a related sales area and classified ad page.
For the German military Volkswagen, the Kübelwagen, here is a link to the WW-II VWs list created for the discussion of the various military Volkswagens of WW II, the civilian VWs produced during the same time, the pre-serie models that preceded them, and the production after the war, while the factory in Wolfsburg was under allied military control.
Ferret Heaven is a newsgroup intended for Ferret owners, users and admirers to exchange infornmation about all aspects of the Daimler Ferret Scout Car.
Trackpads Forum covers topics which are specifically about restoring military vehicles for historical accuracy. They provide a place for Military Vehicle Restorers to exchange restoration tips, ideas, events, news, experiences etc.
WillysTech Mailing List. An interactive mailing list dedicated to open discussion of Classic Willys Jeeps (MJ's & CJ's), Wagons, Pickups, Jeepsters, and Forward Control Vehicles.
The Mog Mailing List has hundreds of subscribers and a good message flow about Unimogs.
As the Internet grows, there are more and more very specialized forums that consolidate the interested parties in a very narrow specialty. Examples are the Classic Sno-Cat and T26 E4 M7 Allis-Chalmers Forum and OldIHC.org, dedicated to the older IHC trucks including military models. You can find more of these highly targeted resources by using search engines and by monitoring some of the more general forums for announcements of splinter groups.
Off-Road.Com has many on-line bulletin boards running on subjects across the spectrum of 4x4 interests. Most of this is not directly on-point for military vehicles, but there is cross-over. For example, there is a Hummer bulletin board with posts about the military HMMWV. There are Chevy, Dodge, and Jeep boards. Sometimes the technical advice in the archive about a commercial truck can help with your MV problem. Give them a try.
Usenet. One corner of the Internet that is often overlooked is the Usenet. It is organized into subject matter interest groups across an extremely broad range of categories, including many with a military theme. There are a number of ways to access Usenet, reviewed on this Olive-Drab.com page.
