You did.

It doesn't matter how I think, or how you think. It doesn't matter what a deliberate industrial effort of a country's armed forces can do, or what some millionaire who wants to make a toy can do. The question is what was realistically possible in the situation described, at that place, at that time, with the available resources, and for a specific purpose. In evaluating the likelihood of those four vehicles existing you can't ignore things that don't nicely dovetail into your pre-determined conclusion. Looking at everything, it is charitable to describe this as falling into the "very unlikely" category.

Look, I get it. You guys want to build a model of this but you don't want to do a "what-if" because that's not as cool a real oddity, so you grasp at every possibility, every combination of circumstances, every straw to make it real. The problem is that it just doesn't stand up to any sort of challenge or scrutiny.

KL

So you believe American soldiers at that time were stupid? I guess you would have just given up.

It is not about being stupid, it is about not being stupid.
If I want a truck with an armoured body I get myself a truck which can carry the load and find some armour to put on top of it.
If I had a spare M16 half-track and a truck I would definitely not start cutting up the truck to put under the half-track.
If the truck wasn't working I would look into getting it working again. That would be a lot easier than redesigning the whole transmission of the half-track. If I was in a panic to get something moving and the half-track was operating I would continue using it.
Some units put empty M113 hulls on top of heavy trucks.
Instant wheeled APC, simple as anything.

Doing something the difficult way instead of the simple and easy way, THAT is really stupid
/ Robin

If my platoon sergeant came and got me and took me into the CO's office and I was told:

"Corporal, I just got a call from the Ordnance officer at Ft Belvoir. He wanted to know who was this Laughlin who sent four truck suspensions into his shop with a list of modifications that will take his machinists and welders the entire month, full time, to complete, and with no authorizations for materials. I told him it was no doubt a mix-up but that I would get them out of there by 1600 tomorrow. I know you were supposed go on a weekend pass tomorrow but I think it would be a better use of your time to take a truck over there and bring them back, don't you? I think you must have forgotten that you have crossed pistols on you collar, not a flaming bomb, so you will spend the remainder of your weekend studying these five field manuals on Military Police duties so that you can pass the tests Sgt Humes is going to give you at 0800 and 1600 Saturday and Sunday. Understood?"

then yeah, I would give up.

KL

Gee, Kurt at least your not a quiter here. Sounds like you were there.

So you think calling someone a "quiter" is some sort of tremendous insult, eh?

I think that stands perfectly well on its own.

KL

Well, you are, are you not?

Oh, by the way, you seem to like fantasy facts also.

Call me 'old fashioned', but I thought this forum was intended for people to share ideas on military and modelling subjects, ultimately to improve their knowledge and expertise (and to pass this on to other like-minded enthusiasts). It is somewhat frustrating to have a question hijacked by an individual's egotistical ranting. This is a hobby, and is supposed to be about sheer enjoyment of creating something. Yes, of course there is an element of historical accuracy, which is why the original query was raised. But it would be far better if the responses from certain people weren't so rude and demeaning. Let's stick to the point of the conversation.

Those Columbian vehicles look nifty. Could be an easy conversion using Dragon's M2A1 half-track and a truck kit. I love how they have the 106mm recoilless rifle.

Given the difficulty of the conversions, I think it more likely that the front body of a half-track got pulled off and put on a truck.
Wouldn't a "short" wheelbased CCWK (?) be just about the correct length to drop an M16 body on?

The IDF apparently dropped a M3 Halftrack body on a 2.5 ton REO chassis:

What an admirable way to waste time arguing over stuff that, in the "grand scheme of things" isn't worth it in the end. In my own opinion, if individual "un-conventional thinkers" never experimented with anything, we'd all still be yelling at each other from hill tops instead of using our computers or texting on our "not-so-smart-phones" in order to communicate...

Absolutely wonderful find Israel! Congrats!

Thanks, Michael!