Department > Old Iron
The Forgotten
story and photos by Jim Allen
Compare the ’41 Ford GP on the left with the early ’42 standardized Willys MB “Slat Grille” on the right and you will no longer have any doubt about Ford’s influence on the quarter-ton design. The first 26,000 Willys jeeps were built with the welded slat grille similar to the Ford GP... until Ford developed the more familiar stamped sheet metal grille. The GP is painted up to represent a vehicle in service with the Flying Tigers in China and belongs to noted military vehicle collector Steve Greenberg.
Willys Overland definitely walked away with the brass ring in late 1941. By winning the 16,000 unit contract to build the first batch of a newly designed standardized quarter-ton military vehicle, it opened a door into history. That vehicle became known as the Jeep and it’s been paying big dividends for more than 60 years. One of those payoffs has been a very special, well deserved place in automotive history.
Elements in the Army were fixated on four-wheel steering and certain numbers of all the prestandardized jeeps were so equipped, including 50 GPs. This is one of four or so to have survived and was restored by prestandardized jeep expert Ken Hake.
A major success often puts the spotlight on one entity while shadowing others who contributed to that success. That’s especially true when the credit is divided among competing businesses. OK, that’s the way it works sometimes but every once in a while historians need to make sure the whole story gets told. This Old Iron celebrates the lesser known contributions of one of the players in the jeep saga.
Anyone with even a tad of Jeep historical knowledge will recall the two other companies that competed with Willys for the first standardized jeep contract. Willys always get top billing in this Jeep “drama” because they won the bidding contest and went off to be the primary builder of one of the most beloved vehicles of all time.
Bantam comes next as the “David” in this corporate David and Goliath story. They went from having one foot in the grave to nearly beating one comparatively large and one gigantic corporation at their own games... not to mention essentially providing the jeep template for the others to build upon. Ummm, who was that third manufacturer again? Oh, yeah! Didn’t Ford build a jeep? That’s how history has treated Ford’s involvement in the jeep story... even Ford’s own history.
For a company the size of FoMoCo, their part in the development of the jeep is just a historical speedbump on a very long road of industrial triumphs. To companies like Bantam, Willys, Kaiser, AMC and, to a much lesser extent, Chrysler, Jeep was about survival, both at the time the first jeeps were built and with the later use of the jeep legend in marketing the vehicles and keeping companies afloat through the hard times that followed the original jeep.
Initially Ford was lukewarm about a 1940 invitation to bid on the development of a military quarter-ton reconnaissance car. That first contract called for only 70 test vehicles and a maximum of only $175,000 was allotted. Chump change for Ford, but it was a lifesaving moment for Bantam, who was masterful in turning a rough concept into a reality. After the excitement generated by the ground-breaking Bantam Pilot Model’s first tests in September and October of 1940, and with increasingly dark news on the war front, it became crystal clear to Ford that the new quarter-ton was going to be a big deal.
The Ford Pygmy. Delivered November 23, 1940. Two built, one bodied by Ford and one bodied by Budd. Both units were identical mechanically. Both units survive.
The Willys Quad. Delivered November 11, 1940. Two built, one with four-wheel steering. Neither unit survives, but one was seen as late as 1953.
Bantam Pilot. Delivered September 23, 1940. One built. Disappeared in 1941.
Second Bantam version. Deliveries began November 23, 1940. Seventy built. This unit, serial number 007, is the only known survivor.
OK, look again at the Willys MB Slat Grille, then study these four. Now decide which of these pilot models most represents the standard military jeep. Remember that these are the very first pilot models that Ford, Willys and Bantam produced. To be fair, we included both the original Bantam pilot and the Mark II, which was somewhat different and of which 70 were produced.
Even as Bantam worked frantically to complete a pilot model in the allotted 45 days, both Ford and Willys were being “encouraged” by government officials to start working on a prototype so as to compete for a larger upcoming contract. On October 17, 1940, Ford engineering was given the official go-ahead to develop a vehicle, but according to internal Ford documents, they started even earlier. While their design used the Bantam Pilot as a rough template, it soon diverged in ways large and small. By Thanksgiving 1940, two Ford pilot models had been loaded on a train for shipment to Camp Holabird, Maryland, the Army’s vehicle test center.
The two pilot models were distinctly different in appearance. Hedging its bets, Ford built two identical chassis but shipped one to an outside coachbuilder, namely the Budd Company, for a body. The other body was developed in-house. The Budd-bodied Ford was rejected by the Army almost immediately. It was a virtual, visual clone of the Bantam. The Ford bodied unit, however, got lots of attention. It was chock-full of features the Army really liked and when you compare the features of the designs in contention, the Ford pilot most resembled what the standardized military jeep became.
History has bestowed the name Pygmy on the Ford pilot, even though engineers who designed it had been calling it the Blitz Buggy. Its chassis layout was similar to the competitors... an element that was pretty much dictated by the design specs issued by the Army. It used the same Spicer axles and transfer case as the other two because Spicer was the only company at the time tooled up to build them. It differed in mechanical detail by using a Fordson 9N tractor engine adapted to a Ford Model-A transmission (instead of the Warner Gear unit used in the Bantam and Willys,) plus many other small parts looted from the Ford car or truck parts bins.
The body and general layout is what set it apart from the others. It had a chiseled military look, with an extremely low silhouette and many small, practical features that became jeep tradition. These included the flat hood and fenders, the tubular folding windshield design, recessed flip-up headlights, the “T” handle hood hold-downs, a folding rear seat, underseat fuel tank and many other small things. The success of this first effort was spotlighted by the relatively small number of changes mandated by the Army testers before an updated Ford quarter-ton went into limited production and the fact that the competitors adopted many of these same features in their updated models.
The GP was powered by a variation of the Fordson 9N tractor engine. This 119ci engine had been developed in 1939 from half a Mercury 239ci flathead V8. As a tractor engine, it made 28 hp at 2000 rpm and 84 lbs-ft of torque at 1,500 rpm with an updraft carb and a 6:1 compression ratio. The GP engine made 45 hp and the same torque, but at a higher rpm. It used a Holly downdraft carb, had a higher compression ratio and an uprated camshaft.
The layout of the controls and a relatively generous amount of room drew praise from Army testers. The instrument cluster was borrowed from the Ford pickup line.
The Ford Pygmy pilot model is alive and well at the Alabama Center for Military History. After its testing duties were complete, the Pygmy was paraded around for the war effort, finally ending up in the Henry Ford Greenfield Village Museum in 1948. In 1982, it was included in an auction of “excess” items and was purchased by MV historian Randy Withrow. Other than removing some spurious upgrades made by Ford, it remains in original condition. When Randy brought together vehicles for the museum in Huntsville, the Pygmy finally found a place where the public can see it regularly. Courtesy Captain Robert V. Notman, USAF Ret.
The Budd bodied Ford in 1999. It was the rejected and long-lost brother to the Pygmy. Against all odds, it survived and is shown here shortly after being resurrected from its SoCal desert hiding place. It’s since gone to a collector in England who plans a thoughtful restoration.
After successfully passing the Army’s torture tests, an initial order was made for 1,500 updated Ford test vehicles to be called the GP. Orders were also made with Bantam and Willys for 1,500 each of their upgraded models. The idea was to compare features and performance and homogenize the best elements into a standardized design template. Despite how some historians have portrayed this, it was not a head-to-head, duel-to-the-death kind of comparison and to the winner goes the contract. Once the updated vehicles had passed their individual tests as “suitable for military service” the next step was bidding and the lowest bid would get the contract.
The updated vehicles were issued to various arms of the American military and tested in real-world operational conditions. This testing ran from March to September of 1941. Each unit filed regular written reports on the individual vehicles. Many of these reports survive and are interesting reading. Not many Willys vehicles were evaluated this way because they didn’t begin arriving until the end of June. The Fords had been under test since March and the Bantams since April. Willys won the low bid for the standardized jeep at the end of July 1941.
Contrary to popular legend, “GP” did not stand for “General Purpose,” but was Ford code. The “G” was for a government contract vehicle, and the “P” signified the 80-inch wheelbase reconnaissance car. Nor was “GP” slurred into “GEEP,” and later “Jeep,” but let’s not open up that can-o-worms again right now.
With supplemental orders, a total of 4,458 GPs were built from February of 1941 to November of 1941, with two showing up on the build sheets as late as January ’42. Some 50 of these featured four-wheel steering. Many of the supplemental orders went to fill lend-lease orders. GPs were issued to England, China, Holland (government in exile), Brazil, Poland (government in exile), Canada and Australia.
By late 1941, Willys had begun producing the first of the standardized jeeps. As war clouds rolled even darker, it became immediately clear that Willys could not produce jeeps in the quantity needed. Ford was approached to build standardized jeeps to the same general design as Willys. Ford agreed, even though they had to absorb $4,000,000 in tooling costs. The vehicle that came from this agreement was the GPW, a Ford built unit that differed from the Willys in many respects but with parts that interchanged. The “W” stood for “Willys designed engine.”
The standardized Willys MB and Ford GPW jeeps soon replaced all the prestandardized Ford GPs, Willys MAs and Bantam BRC-40s in American service. Some of those prestandardized vehicles were shipped overseas to fill lend-lease orders and some went to non-military arms of the government. Some were actually sold surplus during the war. As far as anyone can tell, a Ford GP was the first jeep in civilian hands. That happened in December of 1943 when a family in Kansas bought their jeep from the now defunct, but legendary, surplus dealer in Chicago named Bergs. The vehicle survives and can be seen at the Veteran’s memorial Museum in Huntsville, Alabama.
Today, the GP is probably the most numerous survivor of the three prestandardized jeep types. Estimates of the remaining numbers run from 50 to 250. The serial numbers of 78 are currently recorded as confirmed survivors, even though some of those are merely a few remaining parts and a data plate. They are in the high tier of jeep and military vehicle collector status and can bring upwards of 30 to 40 times their original purchase price of $925.00. Restoration is an advanced task and parts are in short supply.
So there you have it... the short version of Ford’s involvement in the development of the military jeep. Their input was a vital part of what the jeep became. They also managed to crank out some 277,896 GPWs during the war, about 43 percent of the total standardized jeep production. That doesn’t include 12,782 GPA amphibious jeeps. Most interesting is that the stunningly famous visual element of the jeep, the 9-slot stamped grill (not the later civilian 7-slot unit), was actually a Ford product. Isn’t it funny and ironic that one of the most universally recognized parts of the WWII jeep started off as a Ford production expedient. Ford never jumped on the “who developed the jeep” bandwagon and the contributions of this “Quiet Giant” in the development of the beloved American jeep are largely unknown to the general public.
“Jeep” vs “jeep”
After reading this, you may wonder why sometimes “Jeep” is capitalized and sometimes it’s not. Capitalized, it’s a trademark for a vehicle built by Willys Overland and its descendants. The lower case is a noun to describe a small four wheel drive vehicle. Even though “Jeep” wasn’t trademarked until 1950, historians usually call the 1945 and on civvy version built by Willys, “Jeep,” and the WWII quarter-tons, “jeeps,” whether they were made by Willys, Ford or Bantam. There were many other vehicles called “jeeps” during and prior to WWII, but we’ll save that story for another time.
Typical Specifications:
Engine: 119ci 4-cyl. L-head
Power: 45 hp @ 3600 rpm
Torque: 84 lbs-ft @ 2000 rpm
Comp. Ratio: 6.9:1
Transmission: 3-speed, Ford GP-7000
Transfer Case: Spicer Model 18
Rear Axle: Spicer Model 23-2
Front Axle: Spicer Model 25
Axle ratios: 4.88:1
Wheelbase: 80 in.
Tires: 6.00-16 non directional
Length/Width: 127.8 x 60.5 in.
Curb Weight: 2,150 lbs
Fuel Capacity: 10 gal.
Sources
Veterans Memorial Museum
- 2060A Airport Road
- Huntsville, AL 35801
- 256-883-3737
- info@memorialmuseum.org
- www.memorialmuseum.org
“The Gee”
- Forums on the Military Jeep Website
- http://g503.com