LAWRENCE NABHOLTZ

[RANGER]

He has been a good friend since the late 60s. Lawrence was the leading expert on WWII Jeeps. His parents helped him purchase a brand new surplus 1945 MB at the end of WWII. He spent the next 60 years researching every detail possible on the G-503 Jeep. I enjoyed many long hours on the phone with Lawrence swapping Jeep knowledge over a 30 year period. Lawrence was an Ordnance officer in the US Army during the Korean War, and his tour was akin to a kid in a candy store with all those intact Jeeps to study. He finally published "THE MILITARY JEEP" in two editions, and sent me autographed matching numbered copies of each edition.
His book pointed out features and changes that took place during the production of the MB/GPW during wartime. There have been many books printed on the WWII Jeep, but none have been able to explain the Jeep in the manner that Mr. Nabholtz has. One of the reasons is that Lawrence had "hands on" experience from nearly day one of the G-503 Jeep's existance. Another reason was that he was blessed with mechanical talent.
Present authors of G-503 books have not had the fortune to be exposed to the WWII Jeep during the era when all variations were intact and in Military service.
There are some that were critical of "The Military Jeep" as Lawrence did not provide "foot notes", and called "THE MILITARY JEEP" worthless. Lawrence was very thorough in his study of the WWII Jeep and was not prone to jump to conclusions, footnotes were not necessary as he was a perfectionist.
The WWII Jeep world got a bit smaller when Lawrence passed away in December 2005. His book continues to fill the void.