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Most people tend to associate the M201
with a plastic hood but this design was not introduced until about 1970,
several years after the production of jeeps had ceased. M201s left the
factory with canvas seat covers and a canvas hood similar but not
identical to the original WW2 design. |
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At each corner of the hood was a strap
used to both secure and tension the canvas to the footman loops mounted
on the tubular windshield cross-member at the front and the hoop at the
rear. To prevent the canvas tearing under the tension at the stitching
the strap was sewn onto a piece of quite thick waxed leather which was
in turn stitched to the canvas.
The
arrangement at the front is shown opposite and the arrangement at the
rear below.
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The canvas used was a fairly
typical French army green rather than American Olive Drab
colour. (Sahara models were fitted with a sand coloured
hood) It is rare to find an original canvas in good
condition, most were either replaced by the later plastic
type or became bleached by sunlight.
The
design included a turn buckle arrangement along the whole
length of each side. The purpose at the rear is obviously
to attach rear side screens but one can only assume that
similar roll up or roll back screens could be fitted at
the front as an alternative to more traditional opening
doors.
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| The arrangement at the rear of the jeep
(shown below) included securing straps and a flap through
which the jerrycan strap could pass. When not in use the
hood was removed from the jeep, folded and stored under
the front passenger seat. |
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| The example that I have managed to acquire
also has a couple of interesting non-standard features.
The first is that it has been fitted with what appears to
be a rear window kit. This consists of two metal frames,
one inside and one outside between which the clear vinyl
window (larger than the original) is held. The parts are
held together and secured to the canvas by a series of
small nuts and bolts. It is a well made and designed kit
that could be fitted in any workshop without the need for
specialist sewing facilities. It is difficult to tell
from photographs whether the original factory fitted
canvases had a transparent vinyl 'window' or just a
'hole' like the original WW2 design. Either way this kit
produced a larger vision panel than the original. |
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| The second non-standard feature is a second
flap in a rather odd position. The canvas underneath the
flap has been reinforced by second circular patch of
canvas (you can just make out the outline) presumably
designed to be cut to allow something (I don't know what)
to pass through the canvas to the outside. Can anybody
out there help solve this puzzle? |
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A canvas windshield cover to
compliment the hood was produced for the French Army
although I have yet to see a photograph of one actually
in use. It is pretty similar to the original WW2 design
but opens wider to accommodate the windscreen wiper
assembly and bonnet stand-off brackets. |
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