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Those Jeeps look like they are in excellent condition. Are they used for tourist purposes?
Thousands of US military vehicles were left behind in S. Vietnam after the last of US forces departed in March 1973. Lots of less valuable or less strategic stuff was left behind.
I joined the US Army in 1974, and many of those that I served with had done 1 (or more) tours in SE Asia. I was in a combat engineer battalion - my platoon leader was in Vietnam during the withdrawal, trying to get heavy construction equipment (Cat D7 bulldozers, etc) and M88 tank retrievers loaded onto ships at the port of Da Nang. They did not all get loaded - many left abandoned at the port.
Those are in excellent shape. When I was an air liaison officer (ALO) the M151 had been retired for a while, in part due to the M151's lack of size and electrical power for carrying and operating the new GRC-206 radio pallet. Their mobility was excellent, they were a kick in the hindquarters to drive, but their need for gasoline versus diesel and their tendency to roll over caused their demise. They were replaced by the M998 HMMWV/Hummer which had much better capability but is/was a bear to park.
Where I work now we had a pet M151, "had" being past tense. We ops-tested their rollover tendency. Now a target.
Interesting story. M 151 was produced in large numbers. When I was in the Marine Corps we had a scaled down Jeep type vehicle called the Mighty Mite that was used in Vietnam and CONUS. I believe they had an aluminum body
Just to answer a couple of questions I seen yeah they looked in great shape. I was an army mechanic and I wanted to get much closer. I will tell you I didn't get any closer than what you saw. That was for a couple of reasons. I was there on a tour with a S Korean tourists. It was my first trip ever to Vietnam and I had to go through customs there as the only three out of the party to be looked at. My wife and I and her mother are all Americans and we took the tour from South Korea so all of the others didn't have the problem of talking to a grumpy old army NCO. Not sure of his rank but I can tell a non-com in a desk job. Anyway the picture was the very first day I was there so I even wondered where the soldiers were. I saw none. I never inquired of them as we were always on the go. Funny I kind of expected to see a lot of military soldiers around. I saw very little. I saw a lot of people having fun. We are thinking about going back again in 2022. Already in the planning stages. I never did a tour in Vietnam but I had friends who went and came back. I had kids I knew in high school that went and didn't come back. I was just a little too young. But anyway it is a great place to go visit. Da Nang was beautiful. If you go you need to request a visa in advanced and that costs money. Then you have to have a couple of extra passport pictures or you will get grumpy grumpier. LOL. That is what happened to us. Thankfully it was night and not busy. The other tour group members were waiting on us.
msgsing No it is a sheet steel body pressed into shape a unibody construction.
Tons of US military equipment still in Vietnam, most of it rusted away however or on display of propaganda purposes. Surprised that these are maintained.
I was in Vietnam also a couple years ago, I didn't make it to DaNang but was in nearby Hue. DaNang from what I understand it there international airport now. Also went to the ChuChi tunnels. They had a disabled M41 tank there. Also they had a section where you can shoot vietnam-war era weapons. I shot a Chinese AK47 which was so badly maintained they had to pull back the bolt after each shot, likely hasn't been oiled since it made it's way down from the Ho Chi Minh trail. I was tempted to strip and oil it for them "move aside guys let this American show you how to maintain an AK" (I own a WASR). They also had an M60 mounted on a jeep which was pretty cool, but didn't get a chance to fire that.
Those are in excellent shape. When I was an air liaiso n officer (ALO) the M151 had been retired for a while, in part due to the M151's lack of size and electrical power for carrying and operating the new GRC-206 radio pallet. Their mobility was excellent, they were a kick in the hindquarters to drive, but their need for gasoline versus diesel and their tendency to roll over caused their demise. They were replaced by the M998 HMMWV/Hummer which had much better capability but is/was a bear to park.
Where I work now we had a pet M151, "had" being past tense. We ops-tested their rollover tendency. Now a target.
I arrived at Camp Casey, Korea in January 73. Was assigned to S3 as a clerk. The NCOIC said I might need to drive the jeep so he called the motor pool and told the NCOIC there I was coming to see him to get an operator's permit for the M151. Motor sergeant asked me if I had a car at home and I told him it was a Mustang with a 3 speed manual. He said the jeep had the same shift pattern. He also said, this isn't your Mustang and if you drive it like one you are going to tip over. He took me to the motor pool and had me drive around it. He said just drive the speed limit and corner slowly. I parked the jeep, went into his office and he typed up my permit. Didn't drive it alot, but one day a group of us took a summer joy ride off post during lunch in the S4 jeep. I wasn't driving. We were going along a narrow path between rice paddies and managed to slide the back into a paddie. It took three of us to push it back up on the path and we and the jeep were covered with nasty mud afterwards.
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