1964 Kaiser Jeep Forward Control M-679 FC-170. Extremely rare one of 6, vans that were ever made by Kaiser Corporation, they were built in 1964 it was used as a Military Ambulance Van. Other Jeep FC vehicles that were made by Kaiser Corp. that only made for Military purpose were the: M-676 a 2 door truck, M-677 4 door truck, M-678 Van has window and seats. Of the only 300 ordered, Jeep FC vehicles made by Kaiser Corp for a Military defense contract, all were diesel powered, ordered only for the USMC, made for Vietnam era. I saw one of these while I was in the service. Today only a few exist, the vans being the most rare. None of the diesel M-series FCs were ever made for civilian use, none others have ever been made since. This vehicle survived the crusher, it was in very bad wrecked and rusted condition. I spent thousands of hours, custom hand forming the replacement sheet metal, and creating the performance chassis. I am retired, I am also a Vietnam Veteran and this is my hobby, I like to save and find a better personal use for my Jeep FC Vehicle collection. My wife and I started the FC Roundup ten years ago.
This Van was headed for scrap destruction. With the help of my best friend who recently passed, I have built this vehicle to be able to be used on and off the Arizona highways, so I built it to be able to be driven safely at the same rate of speed as the flow of traffic in thedesert city of Phoenix, or up to the 11,000 foot mountains 100 miles away, most of the Arizona interstate highways are posted at 75 mph, but that is actually plus a few miles over to be safe. I chose to save this vehicle for my personal pleasure rather than to have an original museum vehicle to store and rarely find a purpose to drive. The engine started out as a 70s Chevrolet 400″ 4 bolt. Now rebuilt, bored / stroked and balanced, it is a total of 432 cubic inch, with larger valves, ported and polished heads, with the best of everything. GM overdrive automatic from a diesel, rebuilt with the Allison RV torque converter. NP-208 transfer case. Eight lug, disc brake, 3.73 axles. 37″ Goodyear MTR Military OZ tires on Centerline 10″ wheels.
Kaiser Willys Jeep Blog Story – Jesse Ybarra
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Hallo Jesse Ybarra,
I would have love to help you on this job. The challenge is enorm. You have shown the big bag of skills here
not many tradies could present.
This gives me motivation and hope in my jobs. My Willys truck is almost finished, then it is our house.
Thank you
Regards
Peter Neuhaus
Queensland
Kudo’s to you for having the patience to take on such a task. I hope that I too will be so when I start redoing my 63′ CJ.
Thanks for sharing, Shawn
That is cool as hell. Its the first time I have seen one. to bad theres only 6 made.
I will respond to some of you about why this truck is not a diesel restoration, but first I will make mention that most of what was left that was not rusted, that could be used to build this vehicle would have fit in the back of a pickup.
The original equipment engine was a 153″ Cerlist brand, 2 stroke, 2 cyle supercharged diesel engine, the choice was because the same engine was in use in the early series of Gama Goats and PT boats. These engines are in no way able to be an equal to the same size diesel engines of today that 4 stroke 4 cycle turbo diesel engines. These M-Series Forward Control (FC) made for military trucks were able to run at a total of 45 mph.
An engine was custom built 434″ GM SBC stroker, size does make a difference, with the best of everything, built to make a lot of power, 410hp / 540 lb/tq at only 2500rpm. It can do this for sustained use, for towing, it can easily be driven up the freeways up our high elevation mountain freeways, it can pass other vehicles at high speeds and cruise at 75mph, at a mere temp of 160 degrees, it may not seem very important, that it can run that cool.
For most people like Herb and Bruce, to understand better, I will explain by making a simple comparison:
In a Dodge, Ford, Chevy 1 ton diesel truck, the engine water temp needs to run at 200+degrees to maintain the correct temps for the sensors to maintain the computers that control the best combustion, and efficiency. Those mentioned vehicles also have an engine in front with fenders and a hood, those vehicles have somewhat of a streamlined body, so the faster they go up a hill with a load, the temp will be affected, until the exhaust temp controls the speed, to protect the engine at that point the engines starts to make black smoke, but the wind and high engine temp do not affect the performance.
In an FC especially an M-677, M-678 or 679, the faster over 60 mph, up or down hill, the more air hits the flat front end of the FC, imagine driving a shoebox, the faster you go, the more power it takes to move against the air, so as you go faster, it is like driving with a parachutte slowing it down.
The response would be a diesel has a lot of power, and this is true, but here is the ultimate comparison, the higher temp, is not the little ripples of heat rising across the top of the hood, or the paint on the hood burning near the chipped turbo, the main difference is that 160-180 degrees is acceptable when the custom made 6 row radiator and the engine is in a small box, next to your leg, the engine is between you and the passenger. An answer to Bruce, the Perkins can not make enough power, Great in an IHC Scout, but that isn’t enough for me, I feel this much brute power is needed, power is when you can go from standing still, then up a grade and it can keep rolling at 600 rpm, at a crawl, this is also as important to be able to have low rpm while crawling down a hill. This type of brute power is also important, for economy, to be able to move under load, without having to mash down on the pedal to move a vehicle in stop and go traffic. Herb, in the mid 90s I tried very hard to have my first M-677 continue as a diesel, the only choice was for me to buy the GM Detroit 6.5T diesel crate motor, and computer trans, it did not survive, the heads cracked, I did not have enough front area for the radiator to get enough cool air, the interior heat was unbearable at slow speeds. That engine was replaced with a gas engine a GM 383 stroker, it has run great ever since.
http://thefcconnection.com/jesse_ybarra_1964_m-6771.htm
As for the Duramax/Allison, Powerstroke, Cummins, anyone should be able to look at a late model truck, look from underneath, at how long those trucks are between the wheels, that ia a lot of stuff, from the intercooler/radiator to the rear axle and the gas tank, My Ambulance is only 106″ wheelbase. if it was a pickup, maybe a longer bed, but instead it is a Van.
We do have a lot of fun at the Annual FC Roundup, in Phoenix, so I do invite anyone with an FC or FJ FleetVan to attend, this is an invitation for only for those vehicles and owners to be here, there are no exceptions, it is not just another Jeep thing.
For Bruce’s trivia, I am currently rebuilding an alluminum bodied, 1948 Willys Overland Urban Package Delivery Van, it is big (223″L x 80″W x 95″ T), after working on it for two months, it has a new chassis, and it has a fresh built Cadillac 500″ engine, and even it was not the first Willys Jeep Van.
See this Article:
http://jeeptruck.com/articles/artDE001/willys-overland-package-van-article.html
Jesse Ybarra
Super job, always liked the FC trucks, I can imagine the trials and tribulations you have gone through to completely re-do the truck from almost nothing. Trial and error rank among many challenges that need to be addressed, again excellent job. My project is ’50, Willys M38, Chevy running gear, 85% complete.
Keep showing your FC off. o!!!!!o
Wow! Awesome job, I thought that I knew Jeeps, that is a model that I never knew existed, that would be a great trivia question. Does yours have the diesel in it? If so who is the maker of the diesel? If I was a guessing man I would guess Perkins or a Detroit, possibly even a Deutz. How many hours did you have into this project? I knew the FC’s had long and short wheelbase options, never saw a van until now.
Wonderful …. Does anyone know what shape the original floorboard is ( rounded or square) … and know anyone whom has one thats not rusted out so bad that measurements can be taken??
I have 2 Kaiser Jeeps … 1 truck one Wagoneer that need metal work — in the same place ;(
WOW Jesse! That is what I call a restoration task. When you have T.L..C for a rust bucket,
your fruit’s of your labor end result’s is, love. Congrad-You & your Wife. I am, a veteran too-from the 1960″s…Water-Lilly..
everybody’s story is very cool and different on how they had restored all of their project jeeps.
Jesse Ybarra, that jeep van, that’s wicked, that looks as bad as my 53 willys cj3b, the only difference mine was totally rusted out, I got it from my cousin for free, I have to start from scratch, frame on up, even the engine was shot, my cousin didn’t change the oil in it since 1953, and it seized the engine. The total restoration project will cost probably over $20,000. Howard Keys.
Incredible work performed to save this rare vehicle! Congratulations!
Hi Herb, check out Jesse Ybarra’s photo album and there are links to his site.
Fantastic save! Would like to see more “in work” shots. Only thing that I would have done differently (IF I had the talent to re-create all that sheet metal) would have been to use a BT series Cummins.