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Hi all,
New member from the snowy North here. I have been a long time reader of the forum but I figured that I should finally say hello and make a post about my truck, Gertrude.
Shes a 53 M37Cdn that was purchased by my father in the 70's and used for many years as a farm truck hauling firewood etc. Since I grew up around this truck, I was pretty happy when I was given the opportunity to take it on as a project.
I don't know where her name came from, but Gertrude seems appropriate for the temperamental old beast. Overall, the truck is in good shape, just requiring a lot of overdue maintenance. I have been slowly going through the axles and brakes, and I am just now getting to the engine. I figure this is a long term project, so I put in a little time here and there when I can.
I will try to post a couple pictures once I figure out how.

Cheers everyone,

Rob

Welcome Rob, good to hear from you.
I’ll look forward to seeing pictures of Gertrude.
Is she pretty much stock now? Or has she been modified as they often get when used for farming and the like?
Cheers- Doug

hi Rob

2x on the pics
dose she still have the stock 251ci T249 with the 25in head ?

Yes, pretty well stock at the moment. It has the Canadian 251 motor and Acme T98 and most of the running gear appears to be in good shape for the age of the truck. A compression test a few months ago showed 115-120psi across the board.
It has been converted to 12v with a civilian distributor and an older remy delco alternator in place of the military generator. Pretty much all else is untouched though.
I currently have the rad out so that I can solder up a few cracks, and I am flushing the block to get some of the years and years of crud out.

Here's a pic of the cab and the data plates on the glovebox door (Appears I have one for an M43...) I'm not sure who added the PVC defroster, but it is fairly effective!
And also a picture is of my 280z which shares the shop with the M37.

nice! another datsun guy with a m37.

whats the bracket on the fire wall for ?

THATS a farm truck?!!!!! Took better care of it than some collector do of their trucks!! I will bet the bracket is for a grease gun from the shape of it.

The bracket is a brace for the spare tire mount, your truck appears to be a B-1, not a 53, And yes Rick it is a kept woman so to speak.

A bracket for the spare tire on the firewall over the engine? I think we are talking about different brackets.

Ha! Love the 510s you have, thats very cool! They look like very clean cars. You don't often see them anymore, and the ones that do come up for sale are rusty and expensive. Its too bad.
Yes, She's been well cared for!
My father had the truck stripped and repainted in the 80s, so I think that and being stored in a machine shed saved it from a lot of wear. It definitely did do some hard work though! It was the go to machine for towing logs out of the bush, or clearing trails.
As for the bracket on the firewall... I don't know. I thought maybe it was for the ignition filter/ radio suppression box the early trucks had.
I was under the impression Canadian trucks didn't have door mounted spare tires? There is the line of bolts in front of the driver's door, and a small welded latch just behind the door too, so it may have had one. It left the military with a bed mounted spare at least. There's a lot I have to learn about these trucks still.
I am inclined to believe the truck is a 53 though, as the Canadian army # stamped into the frame supports that.

Hi Rob,
Gertrude seems to have an interesting looking heating/defrost system.
What can you tell us about it?
Or is that horizontal pipe on the top of the dash something completely different? If so, what’s the scoop?

Marmalute wrote:Hi Rob,
Gertrude seems to have an interesting looking heating/defrost system.
What can you tell us about it?
Or is that horizontal pipe on the top of the dash something completely different? If so, what’s the scoop?

It is quite the contraption. There is a hot water heater core and a two speed blower motor under the glove box that blows into the Pvc pipe which directs the air to the windshield. There's also a piece of cable run through some eye bolts that when pulled will change from defrost to blowing on the feet. I think the piping was my father's idea but I could be wrong. I don't think you can control the heat, just the fan speed from the dash switch.
It doesn't warm up the fastest, but I understand that it was better that way as the windshield is less likely to crack in the winter.

I think the Canadian trucks got B1 mods in service. Mine is a 52 but has the door mounted spare and turn signals like a US B1.

rickf wrote:A bracket for the spare tire on the firewall over the engine? I think we are talking about different brackets.

I was talking about the bracket in the cab, interior drivers side, the mounting on the outside both appear to be factory for the door mount, or am I off my rocker?

The one in the engine compartment is over where the filter goes. It looks like a fire extinguisher or decontaminator bracket. Normally mounted on the passenger kick panel.