RHIP, Son.

Rich Sufficool · 2025-12-11T15:26:46Z

For those w/o military service, RHIP is an acronym for "Rank Has Its Privilege". As an E-5, I ran a prosthetics lab in the 5th Field Hospital in Bangkok. Most all the doctors were young and single. When the Datsun Fairlady Z (AKA: Nissan 240Z) was released in 1969, so many of the 'one hitch and out' doctors ordered duty free LHD Zs direct from Japan through the PX and had then delivered FOB to the San Francisco/Oakland port. When their service ended, they (we) were discharged out of Travis Air Force Base. They simply took a taxi to the docks, picked up their Z and took a lovely ride back to their home towns. I was married at the time and was committed to finishing my degree, so I envied to hell out of them, as it also didn't take long for them to show up on the Bangkok streets. Some of the more money conscious doctors had their RHD Zs delivered to our port complex, drove the hell out of them and then sold them on the Black Market for double what they paid. Thailand had a 100% duty on all vehicles not assembled in country. India was even better at 150%. The tariffs were so crazy on all foreign goods that everyone augmented their income reselling PX goods like cigarettes and alcohol and stereos. There were rations cards finally issued to limit our purchasing power but they were extremely generous. Those were the days {{{sigh}}} Anyway, I really like this Ebbro model for its precision and its nostalgia factor.

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Tony Perrone

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12/12/2025 3:58 pm

@abaucom Pretty darn cool, thanks for sharing and reliving the story for us!

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