TJ's 1941 Alaskan "Swamp Buggy"

 

Hello again Inliners from Alaska. Always enjoy your page and the effort you've put into making it a fun page for everyone. Some time back I sent photos of my 1916 Mack AC BullDog that were posted in your "Rides" section. My 2005 summer project has been revamping our Swamp Buggy that has been in our family for more than 40 years. The truck was converted into a swamp buggy using DC-3 tires by someone who started with a 1941 Jimmy CCKW 6X6.

Dad drove the CCKW's in Korea and used to give my sister and I rides in this unit when we were little kids.  Swamp buggies like this one were very popular in Alaska up until around 1970, in fact Dad and I saw one very similar to this truck just this summer in Seward Alaska that was still in use. Many of them with winches like this one were out fitted with forward mounted booms. These trucks had GM's old reliable 270 OHV 6 cylinder engine.  More than 800,000 CCKW's were produced for the war effort in just 5 years. They were not fast trucks but would and still will do an amazing amount of brutal work even some 60 years later. The cab on our truck was pretty well shot so after receiving a cab shell from a friend I decided to (if not completely restore) at least "revamp" the truck and then paint the old girl in Union Oil colors. Next year I plan to build a nice bed for the truck to finish things off. Hope you enjoy the photos.

TJ Wheelman, Anchorage, Alaska

This is "before"

 

View of DC-3 wheels used on "Swamp Buggy"

 

Front view of CCKW "Swamp Buggy"