Matthew Hallett has restored Willys MBs, Ford GPWs and a host of military motorcycles but always hankered after a T82 Kűbelwagen
In the late 1970s, unable to afford a Jeep, Matthew Hallett stencilled a white star on the bonnet of an olive painted - and at £100, a much more affordable - Land Rover Series One 80in. Setting aside his treasured Dinky toys, which included a Kűbelwagen, Matthew began building and collecting real military motorcycles. He had been gathering a miscellany of militaria from around the age of nine and through his late teens had been glued to every episode of M*A*S*H, paying particular attention to the various models of Jeep the cast drove.
Busy with the spanners on his British motorcycles, North Wales-based Matthew paid a visit to the Malpas Vintage Rally in the late seventies on a BSA and saw what owners could do with old Jeeps. Proudly driving his smart Land Rover with its Allied Forces white star, Matthew grew desperate to get his hands on a proper World War Two Jeep.
An opportunity finally came with a redundancy payout early in Matthew’s working life and in 1980, much to the disgust of a mother anxious to see her son on a steady career path, the £500 went towards a dismantled…
