Is it a Jeep ? Is it a Willys MB ? Is it a Hotchkiss ? Read ON

This is a Willys MB 4x4 quarter ton truck, or a lightweight reconnaissance vehicle.

It is nota `GP' vehicle. [GP = `general purpose' Ford part numbering system. `G' always for units built for Government and `P' for 80" wheelbase]. Nor, in civilian talk, is it a `jeep'.

In early 1940, the US Army was looking for a lightweight 4x4 vehicle for use as a lightweight reconnaissance vehicle. The specification list that had to be met was -

1.          A lightweight chassis
2.          Four cylinders
3.          Four wheel drive
4.          Open sides
5.          Able to convey four men
6.          Had grade-climbing ability 7. Carry a payload of 600 lbs
8.          Weigh no more than 1300 lbs.

On 27 June 1940, the Army sent out specifications to 135 manufacturers, including GM (General Motors), Willys, Ford and Bantam. Only two of these companies put forward proposals.

Firstly, Kark Probst from Bantam proposed a 20-hp engine vehicle. However, the Army wanted the vehicle to have 40-hp. They also wanted the pilot vehicle by 23 September 1940.

Karl Probst drove the Bantam BRC-40 from the factory to Camp Holabird, some 230 miles away.

Although the BRC-40 weighed 1840 lbs instead of the 1300 lbs required, a Major Lewes asked if two of his men could remove it from a ditch. Just then, a Cavalry General stepped up and said he needed it and stated that if he could lift it, his men would have it. This General was over 6ft tall and weighed 250 lbs. He walked over to the Bantam and single-handedly lifted the back end off the ground.

And so, the contract was awarded to Bantam. However, the Bantam could not produce 16,000 units by July 1941 and Bantam were told to give the plans of their BRC-40 prototype to its competitors, Ford Willys. For doing so, as a bonus for Bantam, the American Government awarded them the contract to build all the jeep trailers for the Army for the duration of World War II.

Willys produced the 'MA' and Ford produced the 'G'P. In January 1942, the jeep was standardised to enable parts to fit all three models and the standard grill that you can still see in this vehicle in front of you today was produced.

In 1942, the standardised jeep was produced as the Willys'MB' and Ford called it the'GPW'. The name 'Jeep' is thought to have either come from (1) a character named 'jeep jeep' in the Popeye cartoon strip and, (2) was the nickname given to the vehicles by the American GIs, because they thought'GP' meant'general purpose' which, as I explained above, it did not.

Approximately 359,489 jeeps were built from 12 June 1942 until the end of World War II. Approximately 50 of these was made in 4-wheel steer.

The maximum life expectancy of a jeep in a combat area was only 90 days!

After World War II, and until the early 1960s, the French Government copied the Willys jeep prototype, under licence from Willys and called their vehicle the 'Hotchkiss'nk

Thanks to Martin Tromans M3UWB for this presentation