Chenowth Desert Patrol/Light Strike Vehicle - Pics Added
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 5:32 pm
It's amazing sometimes how things have a habit of falling in your lap. In my case, usually those things are crap, but in this case I think I came out pretty good.
I've had plans over the previous six months or so of building a SEAL Desert Patrol Vehicle. Since Chenowth is out of business and there aren't exactly a glut of used chassis's out there, I decided the way to do it was via purchasing a Chenowth 4LWD setup and build it up accordingly. I've seen several for sale over the years and usually while they might be called a Desert Patrol Vehicle, in some cases even with a correct chassis, they aren't built to spec and that disappoints me. It's almost like getting an old military jeep, painting it a shoddy green color and putting street tires on it and passing it off as correct- if you're going to do it, then do it right. So that was my intention, build it as close to spec as possible.
So fast forward to several weeks ago - I put up a WTB post here and elsewhere looking for a 4LWD setup - complete or otherwise. A managed to pick up JUSSUMGUY's very nice platform he had for sale-it'll be here Monday. I'm really stoked - Richard has been a wealth of info and a pleasure to work with and as long as he says I'm not bugging him, I'm sure I'll be in touch some more. So that's vehicle #1.
Fast forward to yesterday, I call a friend of mine for work related business and tell him what my intentions are. He tells me that he has not just a Chenowth Desert Patrol vehicle behind his shop, but has a 6 man Chenowth Advanced Light Strike Vehicle as well. While they clearly have seen better days, he said I could have them if I came to drag them away. All parts are there and they haven't run in about 5 years, but they'll be worth having-he was literally going to drag them to the scrap yard. Some people collect military jeeps, I guess I'll have a couple of SEAL buggies. I've got some poor pics and plan on waiting on posting pics until I get them next week.
So, now that you've hung in long enough to read all of the above, I'll get to my question.
Does anybody have any information on these vehicles? It seems that all of the information is from 1 source that gets constantly regurgitated - 0-30mph in 4 seconds, 200hp VW engine, blah, blah, blah. I have never seen any specifics though. There's even less info on the 6-man vehicle, what the SEALs called their "squad" vehicle.
I've asked on the military forums, Google'd every possible combination I could think of and can't seem to find anything specific on either of them. I've got an email in to Lynn Chenowth at his current business and have had no response, so I ask you folks.
- Does anybody have any specifics on these?
- How many DPV's were made? Did they all have rotating gunner seats?
- How many of the 6 man vehicles were made - I heard as little as 12, but really don't know.
- What was done to the engines? Anything special?
Granted, I suppose I'll find out the answers to some of the questions soon enough, but I'd like to learn what I can now. If anybody knows anyone who worked on these at Chenowth and they're willing to talk, I'd love to know more.
Bill
I've had plans over the previous six months or so of building a SEAL Desert Patrol Vehicle. Since Chenowth is out of business and there aren't exactly a glut of used chassis's out there, I decided the way to do it was via purchasing a Chenowth 4LWD setup and build it up accordingly. I've seen several for sale over the years and usually while they might be called a Desert Patrol Vehicle, in some cases even with a correct chassis, they aren't built to spec and that disappoints me. It's almost like getting an old military jeep, painting it a shoddy green color and putting street tires on it and passing it off as correct- if you're going to do it, then do it right. So that was my intention, build it as close to spec as possible.
So fast forward to several weeks ago - I put up a WTB post here and elsewhere looking for a 4LWD setup - complete or otherwise. A managed to pick up JUSSUMGUY's very nice platform he had for sale-it'll be here Monday. I'm really stoked - Richard has been a wealth of info and a pleasure to work with and as long as he says I'm not bugging him, I'm sure I'll be in touch some more. So that's vehicle #1.
Fast forward to yesterday, I call a friend of mine for work related business and tell him what my intentions are. He tells me that he has not just a Chenowth Desert Patrol vehicle behind his shop, but has a 6 man Chenowth Advanced Light Strike Vehicle as well. While they clearly have seen better days, he said I could have them if I came to drag them away. All parts are there and they haven't run in about 5 years, but they'll be worth having-he was literally going to drag them to the scrap yard. Some people collect military jeeps, I guess I'll have a couple of SEAL buggies. I've got some poor pics and plan on waiting on posting pics until I get them next week.
So, now that you've hung in long enough to read all of the above, I'll get to my question.
Does anybody have any information on these vehicles? It seems that all of the information is from 1 source that gets constantly regurgitated - 0-30mph in 4 seconds, 200hp VW engine, blah, blah, blah. I have never seen any specifics though. There's even less info on the 6-man vehicle, what the SEALs called their "squad" vehicle.
I've asked on the military forums, Google'd every possible combination I could think of and can't seem to find anything specific on either of them. I've got an email in to Lynn Chenowth at his current business and have had no response, so I ask you folks.
- Does anybody have any specifics on these?
- How many DPV's were made? Did they all have rotating gunner seats?
- How many of the 6 man vehicles were made - I heard as little as 12, but really don't know.
- What was done to the engines? Anything special?
Granted, I suppose I'll find out the answers to some of the questions soon enough, but I'd like to learn what I can now. If anybody knows anyone who worked on these at Chenowth and they're willing to talk, I'd love to know more.
Bill
- I suppose I could've rented a locker in town to stash them in but I didn't allow enough time in my travel schedule for that.
Well, it got picked up this morning. It's gone, on it's way to it's new home. I have very mixed emotions about it being gone. I have had it for a long time and have put many, many off road miles on it. I have some very good memories of trips and excursions that I have taken with my wife and new found friends on STF. It has been all over Wyoming, lots of mountain and desert riding in Utah, and Nevada, exploring and marking BOR courses, and pre-running the BOR courses. In all that time it has never let me down or left me stranded. I half heartedly put it up For Sale because I don't need 2 dedicated off road vehicles now that 560 is in the stable. I put an ad on the BOR website listing it for sale but didn't really push to get it sold as 560's remodel wasn't done. The Idaho trip was coming up and I needed something to take on the trip if the baja wasn't done. I figured I'd sell it in the spring. Then Bill got in touch with me and we struck a deal. I had a used unmounted body from the white one I parted that was included in the sale and i agreed to mount it for him. He didn't want the rear bypass shocks so I kept them and replaced them with a single Bilstein 6100 from the rear of 560. 
