‘Priest’ M7B1 105 mm Howitzer Motor Carrier

12-1944: Manufactured by Pressed Steel Car Company: Class A restored

Discovery
This example is discovered by Ivo Sr. in Germany at a scrapyard in November 2005. It was a
great found and also the first Priest Ivo Sr. discovered. In these days BAIV as a company was not existing as BAIV was founded in 2012. So, you can say that this unit was also the starting point of the company BAIV!

The search leading to this discovery took Jr. and Sr. more than a year. With many thanks to Maurice Donckers, Peter Hoss, Hans Georg Krause, Peter Lenaerds and finally Franz Plum (as being the owner) the deal could be closed.
Jr. rapidly start to find out its history.
The Priest was actually not a M7B1 but a M7B2.
Rapidly he found out that after its service in the Korean War it was shipped to France. In 1962 it was modified in by ABS (Atelier de construction de Bourges) in accordance with the M7B2 specification under contract number No 38J 6-1962.
In total ABS modified 127 M7B1 under this contract from the early sixties.
After the modification to M7B2 this Priest went into active service for the German Army in Augustdorf: 3rd Artillery Battalion 215. It became battery canon number A (in total there were 6 M7B2 in battalion A till F).
The German Army had the M7B2 in service from 1958 till 1966. Jr. was lucky to receive a lot of this information from its former crew.
What Jr. also discovered by the original markings on the rear was the original German license plate Y527 522!

From the former crew he received some pictures of the Priest in active service in Germany (See next page).

One of the pictures he also received was a picture of most probably the last parade of the Priest in Augustdorf, most probably also almost the last self-propelled drive of the Priest (below).
According to its previous crew this picture has been taken in 1965.
In 1966 the Priest went out of service and became an attribute at a training range/practice area near Gogh. We believe that the Priest was even driven to this area, because batteries were still installed and there was even gasoline in the fuel tanks! Luckily it never became a hard target training object, then it wouldn’t be in the condition as it was discovered!

In 1974 the German Army announced, under strong public pressure. that the training area must be cleaned, and all wrecks must be removed.
By tender a German company was awarded to take care for this operation (Franz Plum GmbH & Co. KG Alsdorf) and the vehicle was, after many years outside, transported to the Alsdorf scrap yard. Luckily Frans put the vehicle separate and never scraped it!

The Alsdorf Scrap Yard was located very near to a coal mining area. On the Priest (right on the picture) a huge turbine rotor was dropped on the engine deck. Due to this overload the engine bulkhead became unfortunately heavily bended. The Priest was at the Alsdorf yard for more than 3 decades where it was been viewed by many visitors.
One of them. Mr. Peter Lenaerds from Heerlen made during his visit the picture on the right.

Restoration
After its transport to The Netherlands by the end of November 2005 both Ivo’s and the team started the initial phase of the restoration. First step was a full disassembly and reconversion to an M7B1.

In these days the work was performed as a pure hobby, so time was limited and also the funding was always a problem.

Mid 2008: the hull was finished. Above a picture of the hull after it returned from the shot blasting company.

Next step was the disassembly and restoration of the suspension.

A huge amount of work due to the fact that Phosphor explosives were used as practice
training in Germany. Further the hull was completed including floor and many small accessories.

By the end of 2011 the Priest project, which was at that time almost 30% completed sold to another Dutch owner. Reason for the sale was to get funding for other projects.

As a result of the crisis, the owner ran into serious financial problems, which meant that it had to hand over the project to a museum in the north of the Netherlands.

This team finished the restoration in the period 2013-2014. In 2014 it made its first public appearance at the 70th anniversary of Operation Market Garden.

Identification

Type & model:                        Priest M7B1
Manufacturer:                        Pressed Steel Car Company (Chicago / Hegewisch Station)
Date of acceptance:              December 1944
Serial No.:                                4376
Main Gun:                               Howitzer M2A1

Breach ID:                               M2A1 085921943, Deactivated per Dutch requirements

Original USA Registration:      USA 40152839-S

Scope of supply

1. Unit is fully restored and very complete,
2. Restoration level: Class A, involving the entire unit (disassembly to the last screw, restoration and rebuilt in accordance with factory specifications including good tracks and roadwheels),
3. Gearbox and final drives are in very good condition.
4. Good engine; Detroit 2 stroke 8V71 diesel replacing the original Ford GAA,
5. New made fuel tanks,
6. NOS radiator,
7. Full new wiring,
8. Included all accessories as indicated on the pictures,
9. Included will be a full set of documentation (operation and maintenance manuals), restoration photographical log, delivery protocol, and certificate of conformance,
10. The 105 mm Howitzer is deactivated according to EU regulations.
    In case of additional work as specified by the authorities of the receiving country we will do this at regular costs which will be charged separately,

 Scope is excluding:

• Any Ammunition,
• Firing pin and lanyard,
• Radio, intercom, tools (except what is indicated on the pictures), weapons, mines, hand granites etc.

The M7B1 is a so-called HMC (‘Howitzer Motor Carrier’) and was produced only in 1944 and 1945 by the Pressed Steal Car Company. The Priest was constructed on the same platform as the Sherman M4A3 tank.

Therefore, the M7B1 was equipped with the reliable and powerful Ford GAA V8 tank engine. The Ford GAA engine was an American all-aluminum 32-valve DOHC 60-degree V8 engine engineered and produced by the Ford Motor Company just before, and during, World War II. It featured twin Stromberg NA-Y5-G carburetors, dual magnetos and twin spark plugs making up a full dual ignition system, and crossflow induction.
It displaces 1,100 cu in (18 l) and puts out well over 1,000 pound-feet (1,400 Nm) of torque from idle to 2,200 rpm. The factory-rated output was 500 hp (370 kW) at 2,600 rpm. The GAA was one of the largest displacement mass-produced gasoline V8 engines used in land vehicles. The M7B1 was the successor of the famous M7. This HMC was successfully used by the US but also the British Artillery.
Before the M7 was available the American forces used half Tracks as self-propelled basis for the 75mm and 105mm Howitzers (GMC: Gun Motor Carriage) but this was not very successful.
Therefor the US Army decided that they require a Howitzer on a full tracked vehicle in 1941.

Starting with 2 prototypes (the T32) the “Priest” went in production in April 1942. The name Priest is given by the British. Reason; the .50 machinegun pulpit looks unmistakably on a pulpit in a church.

The M7B1 “Priest”
M7B1 Priest came later in production then the M7 and was based on the M4A3 Sherman. It was produced from March 1944 until February 1945 by the Pressed Steal Car Company.
Total No. built was 826.

Major improvement was the implementation of the GAA V8 engine which was without any doubt the best tank engine built in the US during WW-II.

This engine supplied its power via a double clutch plate system and propeller shaft to the front mounted transmission pack. The transmission used was the synchromesh type. It had 5 gears forward and 1 reverse. The synchromesh were actual unnecessarily for the Ford GAA V8 because by this type of engine you already can shift gears at 300 RPM.
The synchromesh type of gearbox was however an absolute must for the also widely used radial-engine Continental radial-engines R975-C1 and C4, which was basically a 9-cylinder air-cooled airplane engine with an output of 450 bhp which was very difficult to drive. That is why the synchromesh transmission was standardized.
The Priest in action
The M7 was used by the American and British armor divisions as Self-Propelled Artillery. The M7B1, and the later M7B2 were basically in WW-II only used by the US forces. Main advantage was flexibility, maneuverability and the Priest could give the tanks of the armored divisions artillery support on every desired moment.
The Priest was in action in North-Africa, Sicily, Italy, France, and the entire Western front up to Berlin and proved to be very reliable and successful.

The Priest M7B1 saw first action in the battle of the Bulge. There the M7B1’s proved to be very effective and reliable. Same for the campaign up to Berlin. For this reason, it was also frequently used in the post war period.
In the ‘50s, when the M7B1 was widely used in the Korean war, the elevation of the gun was inadequate to be used in the mountain area. To improve this many Priests have been modified in this period by raising the howitzer and add an extra segment in the pulpit.
This modification was standardized as the M7B2.

Lot-0129-TT-Priest-M7B1-Rev-2.0

Brochure:Lot 0129 T&T Priest M7B1 Rev 2.0

Movie: Priest M7B1 105 mm Howitzer Motor Carrier

Movie: Priest M7B1 105 mm Driving