It ’s almost a unconditioned reflex . have-to doe with to a legendary small , four - wheel - drive American military reconnaissance mission vehicle from World War II– a lower - case " jeep " – and unavoidably it will be call a Willys jeep , though this one should be shout out a 1944FordGPW .
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The reasons for that are quite understandable . It was a Willys design for such a fomite that the Army Quartermaster Corps approved in 1941 , and that Willys - Overland popularized with civilian versions after the state of war . But at the same time , that gives forgetful shrift to two other automakers central to the the jeep story – American Bantam and Ford .
It was tiny American Bantam that have the nut rolling in 1938 , when it interest theArmyin considering a modified two-seater for the light arena automobile the service had been seek for years . With the considerable aid of adviser Karl Probst , American Bantam bring out the essential jeep design by recent summertime 1940 . The vehicle test well , but military functionary were leery of the lilliputian company ’s limited manufacturing capability .
To hedge its bets , the Army throw the Bantam plans to Willys and Ford to see if they could do any better . The Willys variant come in too laboured , but its " Go - Devil " 61 - bhp four - cylinderengine– a creation of engineer Delmar " Barney " Roos – hand over great performance . Ford ’s prototype had the poorest trial run results , but the troupe ’s manufacture might could n’t be ignored .
The Willys poser was accepted , but Ford undertake to build almost 300,000 GPW ( General Purpose Willys ) jeeps . However , the final design did contain the flush grillwork , inboard headlight , and plane hood that first appeared on the Ford prototype .
This restored 1944 Ford GPW , possess by Michael Hall , of Metropolis , Illinois , is now something of an heirloom . It reached civilian custody at a military surplusage sale in Indiana in 1948 or 1949 , he says , and has been in his family since the early 1950s .
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