A brief history of the Original Jeep

While the Jeep is famous in its history of serving the U.S. military there is some misunderstanding concerning who created the original Jeep. Many erroneously attribute the development of the first Willys Jeep. The real inspiration of the first Jeep design a small and relatively unknown company named American Bantam Car Company based in Butler, PA.

The American Bantam Car Company was founded as a subsidiary of Austin Car Company, a British car manufacturer, and was originally called American Austin Car Company. Austin has a small and economical car called the Austin Seven, which was very popular in England. Unfortunately for Austin Car Company, Austin Seven never saw popularity here in the U.S. and the American Austin Car Company nearly went bankrupt. It 'was picked up by its President, has changed its name to American Bantam Car Company (Bantam). Bantam took the original Austin Seven design and made a series of improvements. It was a slightly larger than its English cousin and was capable of longer drives.

Bantam people were pioneers and saw the need for a military vehicle. They provided some of their cars to the National Guard, in an attempt to sell the military use of such vehicles. The military finally realized the need for a light vehicle and mobile has finally agreed to discuss a project with Banatm in 1940. The result of this meeting was a proposed military 4X4 hybrid that must have weighed less than 1300 pounds. In 1941 he developed a Bantam Bantam Reconnaissance Car in response to the request of the U.S. for an all-purpose military vehicle. This vehicle ultimately became the prototype of the Jeep, which was later manufactured by Willys (Willys MB) and Ford (GPW).

The U.S. military was concerned about Bantam's ability to produce the necessary amount of vehicles and therefore have decided to offer other manufacturers the opportunity to produce the vehicle. The requirement was to design a vehicle with the approval of the U.S. military, the manufacturer was then to build and deliver a prototype within 49 days. With the approval of the military of the prototype, an additional 70 plants were to be delivered in 75 working days. The limit of the required weight caused many manufacturers to move away from the project with only Bantam and Willys participating initially, and the Ford join at a later time.

Bantam's drawings were the closest to the needs of the military, although their design has had problems with weight limits. The company has completed their design and built the prototype and delivered on time. The military after testing the vehicle at its maximum was satisfied with the design and performance, and commissioned the 70 other vehicles to be built. This is where the military has begun to be concerned about Bantam's ability to produce enough vehicles. The company was quite small and had limited capacity. What the army did was to grant access to Willys and Ford Bantam prototype testing and their actual applications, though Willys failed to provide a prototype in time and Ford have shown little interest in the effort so far. Both Ford and Willys were allowed to submit prototypes, Quad (Willys) and Pygmy (Ford), well outside the specified time period and well above the required weight limit. Both Ford and Willys versions "borrowed" some 'design by Bantam.

The Bantam vehicle, Bantam GPV (General Purpose Vehicle), was delivered on time, met the most specific, and good results in tests. By all accounts Bantam should have been awarded the contract, and there was a big controversy about the way the contract was handled. The military, unfortunately for Bantam, strengths and weaknesses identified in each vehicle. The Bantam was high off the ground and he was underpowered, while the Quad was well over the weight limit, but had a more powerful engine, and the Pygmy was underpowered and had suspect steering components, but managed a best of three vehicles. The military, concerned at the ability of two companies, Bantam and Willys, decided to place an order for 1500 vehicles with the manufacturer of 500, until they met the original specifications with the only change was the ' increase the weight limit to just over 2200 pounds.

All three companies have the best ideas from each other and original design manufacturing Bantam further develop their vehicles causing the 3 vehicles to be extremely similar. In mid-1941 the army decided that the 1500 vehicles must be of a standardized design and three different types. They ultimately chose the Willys design due to its low cost, and that version was adopted as a standard military vehicle. Willys went on to secure the contract for the supply for the next 16,000 Willys. This contract award included a number of design changes, which led to the classic Jeep design standards.

Bantam continued to produce its production version, known as the Bantam 40 BRC, but the U.S. military does not want him because he was non-standard. The vehicles already produced and the new production units were sent to the British and Soviet armies. It 's very interesting that after seeing the evidence of testing the Russian army actually chose the Bantam on the Willys' and Ford units. The design of the Willys any lot like BRC 40.

In the winter of 1941, the Army wanted to develop a second source for the Willys vehicle, because he could not keep up with production needs and wanted a guarantee against possible sabotage at the plant production. In November, the U.S. Army awarded Ford to build 15,000 jeeps to the Willys design and drawing. The Willys MB and Ford GPW vary only in small details such as the military demanded that the parties are interchangeable. The GPW in the name of the model Ford was referring to the machinery of government for the G, P, of which the dimension of the ferris wheel, and the W was for designating which had a Willys engine. The only change that Ford, which was adopted by the military as the standard design, was the all-familiar grill. With Ford now producing the jeep along with Willys, the military was able to provide the jeeps to its allies and the production of the Bantam 40 BRC was discontinued.

Overall production of Willys MB Ford GPW and during the Second World War was over 500,000. A total of 2675 of the 40 BRCs Bantam were constructed. The company never produced vehicles reported again. The U.S. Army acquired Bantam to build trailers as a way to do it to them for not receiving the jeep contract.

So, who created the original Jeep? Well historically this has seen some 'controversy that dates back to 1943 when the Fair Trade Commission imposed Willys with false and misleading advertising claims stating that he had created the Willys Jeep. The court determined that the Jeep was fostered and conceived in Butler, PA, by the American Bantam Car Company. The chief designer who worked on the project for the Jeep Bantam was Karl Probst, and now you know who really created the first Jeep! ......