Posted by Larry (TX) on December 23, 2007 at 07:12:23 [URL] [DELETE] :
In Reply to: Ford GP Tools posted by Tim PloughNman Daley(MI) on December 22, 2007 at 09:50:41:
Tim & Bruce,
Well, both of you are partially right. Not being a S/A here, but a subject I know a bit about, (I not only love and collect old farm tractors, but also old jeeps and military vehicles, and old Chevy trucks).
Ford Motor Co. did in fact build the GPW version of the WWII jeep, and Bantam was indeed the company that originally designed the jeeps. The contract to build the jeeps however, was awarded by the US Army Ordinance Department not only to Ford, but also to the Willys-Overland Co. of Toledo, OH. Bantam indeed lost out on major mfg. of the jeeps due to the inability to produce significant quantities of the vehicles, but built 2,675 overall; Bantam ended up building 1/4 ton jeep trailers, torpedo motors and fighter plane landing gear. Outside contractors eventually made some of the jeep items, such as the bodies (Amer. Central Mfg. Co. of Connersville, Ind.).
Manufacturing of the GPW's and MB's by both companies began in '41 and ended in '45 (Bantam produced some prototype slat-grills beginning in '40). Willys-Overland continued jeep production after the war with the introduction of the civillian model CJ2A beginning in '46.
The original order by the Army Quartermaster Corps. was to W/O on 23 July, '41 for 16,000 jeeps @ $739 a pop. On 10 Nov. '41, Ford was issued an order for 15,000 jeeps @ $973.34 a pop. The bodies, and drive train parts were interchangeable from both Ford and W/O, but the trim was different on each; Ford used their famous "F" marked bolts throughout the GPW's and there were a few other differences between the two.
In the end, W/O built a total of 362,841 (I'm fortunate enough to own a '42 MB in almost like-new condition) jeeps and Ford built a total of 281,448 jeeps for the WWII effort. Strangely, the life expentancy of a WWII jeep (in the battlefield) was only 90 days.
Another unique story about these jeeps is that they continued to be used during most of the Korean conflict, even though W/O had then built the M38 jeep beginning in mid '50, (I'm again fortunate to own a very nice '52 M38).
If you ever care to read the entire story, and view the various differences between the GPW and the MB, locate copies (there are two volumes) of the "ALL AMERICAN WONDER" by Ray Cowdery. If you'd care to view some nice old jeeps (GPW's and MB's), pull up www.bmmp.org and look at some our club member's military vehicles.
Larry Steed, Pres. - Bluebonnet Military Motor Pool
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