Title says it all, I'm looking for a military vehicle and don't even know where to start.  Price does matter, but, if it's a deal I'm all in up to/around $10,000 grand.  Heck, I don't even know if that's a good price or not.  Stipulations: has to be running, require's little to no modifications/repair, four wheel drive or all wheel drive, and no tracks.  Thanks for your help and recommendations.

M715

CUCV would be up there in the running.  Not the most beastly diesel engine but still a damn good truck.  You can get repair panels and parts off of 73-87 chevy trucks and blazers IIRC.

This^
With a 12 valve Cummins retrofit.

2.5

Dodge M37


Small 4wd that is somewhat practical.


6x6s are fun but unless you actually have a place to store a medium duty truck and a legitimate "excuse" to own one they get old after a while IMO


This is where to start...

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/



You will find something that interests you there.

M1009 CUCV Blazer

Why?

It's one of the few that I wouldn't mind using as a daily driver. It has a nice ride, 3.08:1 gears for highway speeds, it gets pretty good fuel mileage, seats 4 comfortably, parts are easy to come by and most Civi Blazers of the same age are usually rusted to shit.

Wow guys! Thanks, now I've got some research to do.

710M Pinzgauer.



Fully-articulated 4x4, tube chassis, 24-volt electrics, 16-inch ground clearance and standard front and rear fully-lockable diffs.  You can shift and lock or unlock on-the-move



In proper working order, it gets gas mileage comparable to a Toyota HiLux or 4x4 Tacoma.
Surplus for about $10k.

CUCV or an Itlis.

I'd get an M35.

Seriously? Most people coudn't even afford the insurance and fuel for any of the big ones, 2.5 or 5 ton. The CUCV? The engines and axles are weak. If it's what you want just buy a civilian model with 12v electric.
My dad has an old 1944 Dodge Command Car. You can't find parts, it only gos about 45mph.

Unless you really desire a specific model, it's usually best to start with something simple.

Any Jeep is a great starter. They're inexpensive to buy, maintain and run.  They don't have much power, nor top speed, but if you know how to dirve that's not really much of an issue for most off-roading you'd do with it anyway.  Parts are eaiser to find for any Jeep than any other milveh.  Many are made today.  

The M37 is proabably what I'd recommend next.  It's larger, has pick-up truck capabilities, and parts are available.  You can get a diesel conversion for it, which really cures the fuel economy problem with most milveh's.  The diesel actually is a better engine than the original gas one, but the gas one will due if you're a purist.  Again, it's not fast, but they will go anywhere.  

The commercial-based vehicles are a good choice for some.  CUCV's, Dodge M880 series, and the Jeep M715 series.  The CUCV's are the easiest, since they are newer and parts are more available.  The Dodges are at the point of being old and worn out, and parts not really available.  The Jeep trucks are old enough to have some aftermarket support, and many of the raggedy ones have already disappeared.  The big advantage to these is the same reason the Army bought them.  Logistics is easier.  They use standard civillian tools, standard civillian parts, and behave in a mostly civillian way driving.  

Once you get into the larger trucks and stuff, you are into needing special tools.  Bigger support gear.  Heavier and larger and more expensive parts to deal with.  There can be DMV issues and insurance issues to deal with, though generally there's a way to get all that done.  Because all of it is more complicated, I wouldn't recommend one for a first starter military vehicle.  For what you've outlined as your needs, I'd stick with the lighter line.

Insurance on our M35 is less than on our daily drivers, and we only carry liability and uninsured/underinsured driver on four vehicles total as they're all too old to even consider collision.

I don't know...... My dad has a 1945 1.5 ton, his regular insurer gives him a rashin of shit over it. He finally got permishin to insure it for parade use only.  I had a 1 ton bread van I was sleeping in, state farm dropped it after a few months. My agent called and said "uh oh, they're on to us". WTF does "on to us" meen? We were paying insurance on a truck that was just parked in my yard. You would think we have the ONLY 1.5 truck and ONLY bread van in america from the way the insurance comanies around here act. I'd like to know who is giving you such a great deal, what conditions? Also, do you need anything besides "regular" registration? Do you have to stop at scale houses? I already have a class A CDL.

A Jeep is probably your best bet, but I had a 1944 MB jeep, and I restored it and enjoyed it for years before I sold it. What I have now is a 1942 Dodge WC51 Weapons Carrier. Someone else here mentioned that you cannot get parts for them, but that is not true at all-pretty much everything is just a phone call or a click away.
  I only use mine for shows. It's slow, 45mph is tops, no turn signals other than your arm, and the brakes are not up to today's standards at all. You quickly get tired of all the double-clutching involved in driving it in traffic. At a show, you have your own awning right there with you-you can sit in back in the shade, or get out of the rain. All the sides roll down to make a roomy 'tent' in back if you want to sleep overnight. Here it is:




There's the most useful military vehicle with it-a bicycle  really-the US military used lots of bikes in WW2  like this Huffman.

I wish I could find one of those!!!!

Insurer is Nationwide.  We have the 1968 M35A2C (see avatar), no restrictions on where or how much it gets driven, it just as a regular title and registration.  We also have our home, three other cars, and two motorcycles with them.  Our agent loves us.

An Itlis would be decent here in AZ. When I lived in Canada I rode in an Itlis during our firemans day parade, they took us into the water a bit, it was fun.

Way incorrect.  Have you guys priced one of them, or the parts for them in the past 20 years?  Top notch complete/restored examples routinely hit $20K.  Ratted-out one starting to pop-up from deer camps (being replaced by Mules etc.) fetch $3-5K.  Even the M-38/M38-A1 aren't give-aways either.  For that kind of scratch you could buy a M35 and run the crap out of it for a while before you broke the $15-20K barrier.

Unimog






A friend on mine was really into these as well as FJ40's and had one that resembled the pic below except it had a hard top with turret/hatch, and that thing ROCKED!

Mogs are fun but not inexpensive by any stretch.  It's far easier and cheaper to get parts for the CUCV's and 2.5 tons.

Yes, a restored WW2 jeep is expensive, but worth it-there is always a market for them when or if you want to sell. Everything is repopped,so parts are not expensive, unless you are one of those perfectionists doing an NOS restoration of a Ford GPW jeep. It's a small vehicle,easily parked in a garage, with room to spare. You don't need heavy lifting capacity to work on them-three or four guys can lift the body tub off,the frame can be picked up , turned over, or otherwise worked on by one guy. When I wasn't worried about my back, I used to pick up the engine blocks by myself,too.
  M35s are cool,no doubt, but problematical. They are big-you really should store them inside-any vehicle will deteriorate rapidly outside (unless you are somewhere like Arizona,I guess), and they aren't going to fit in your garage at home. Everything is big and heavy on them,and difficult to manage without a garage and tools that can handle the demands. A set of new tires on a Jeep costs $400. A new set of four 900x16 tires on my Weapons carrier cost $1100 last month. Imagine what 10 of the big M35 tires must cost   (although they are commonly available used) You're working with big split-rim tires and wheels,too-very dangerous if you don't know what you're doing.

I recently stumbled across this:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/64643-LOWERED!-M715-Military-PU-Restored-Modified




That is what I would buy if I was in your shoes...

U404's can be a massive fucking headache to work on as well. Some bits need huge tools and lots of torque.  The wiring overall  tends to be pretty shitty as well, excepting the Swiss variants. (that are marginal, instead of "WTF").