So I bought a Jeep. Love it! Just been cruisin all around town, having a grande ole time! I have been trying to find some info on this thing...not much luck. I contacted a previous owner, waiting for a reply. I have been doing some research on the M38A1s since I bought it...far from any kind of expert, I'd say I just dipped my toe into this world of the military Jeep; though from the few things I have found on the web, my Jeep has some clear differences. Are they all civilian mods done after the fact? Are they stock? A bit of both? What is what? I figured I would find most of my answers with y'all, so I'd like your opinion on some photos I've taken in the hopes that you can enlighten me on a few things.

First things first...missing data plates and added speakers?
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There are two speakers??? on the dash, one above the steering column, and one right where the original data plate would be, I can see the little holes where the original plate seems to have been. What could these be? Then there is some sort of beige spot that looks like it had something, and what appears to be newly added "data plates" simply screwed into the middle of the dash.

Side note, I've also checked to find the original VIN plate behind the passenger's seat, just found four little holes where a small little plate would have been, I'm assuming it was taken off...

Next is this thing on the rear passenger's side...what is this little thing pokin out?
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Now the Rear...from all the pics I've seen, the M38A1 had one Jerrycan holder to the left and the spare to the right, with the tow cable plugs...I have two Jerrycan holders and spot for a spare tire in the center, no plugs or anything... I don't know what to make of this.
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I found the spot under the hood for the shovel...that's freakin sweet! On the left side, where the blackout light would have been, it has been cut off and bondo has been covered over. The only other markings (apart from the cutely painted Seoul Survivor) are on the hood, near the left fender, it says "1952 M38A2"...dont know why it would say that...what is an M38A2? I'm thinking somebody messed up. There are some numbers letters on the engine, but I really have to clean that all up to take a solid look. There is another spot to put a spare, on the drivers side, but that definitely looks like a civilian addition, it's not even OD green... There is a German bottle cap opener on the dash, that's pretty cool. Open up a bottle of Grape Nehi with that thing! It has been converted from a 24 to a 12 volt system, there are some definitely newer parts under the hood. But the owner had told me that before I bought it, so I knew about that modification. Anyway, I hope with these few pics, you can help me out. What are these things and should they be on my Jeep, has someone modded the crap out of it?

Thanks,

Nick