This past week I had a nice case of synchronicity. While perusing a back issue of Playset Magazine there were some photos of a Marx GPA Amphibious Jeep said to be very rare and I thought how cool it would be to have one. Only a day later, while in the midst of random fleaBay searches, I came across a shell for one of these. It wasn't in the best of shape but had potential and as it was an auction listing I placed a bid on it. I won it at $5.
There's a chunk missing out of one side, the cannon mount had a piece chipped off, and the axle supports have been removed (WTF?! Who the hell would do that??)
Also on fleaBay was the correct style repo cannon made for the GPA. The original cannons were hard plastic and the repos were resin. But here's the cool part: the repos were made in the 1990's and as such have become vintage pieces in their own right! It was a 'Buy it Now' listing and I snatched it up.
Lastest but not leastest was this job lot of Marx 5 wheel sets. I only needed two but the extras always come in handy. This was also a 'Buy it Now' listing and I went for it.
What was the chance that three separate sellers would offer the correct parts to complete a rare Marx vehicle at the same time? It was meant to be!
As for the vehicle itself, this is NOT a DUKW - it is an Amphibious Jeep!
In real life DUKW's were quite large, while these were small.
In lieu of embarking on a restoration project prior to posting, I decided to just assemble all the components and take the photos you see here, which enables me to continue with the series without interruption. I simply attached the cannon, placed the hull over the two wheel sets, and snapped the pics. They turned out well enough to give an idea of what this thing should look like.
Ed
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