👋 Hey friends! In this video, we are featuring the origins of the iconic Jeep and the pristine restoration of a 1944 Ford GPW Jeep by military vehicle restoration expert, John Furlong from Dublin.
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The Jeep is the iconic vehicle of World War 2. While popular culture refers to it as the ‘Willys Jeep’ it was in fact designed by the American Bantam Car Company who were the first to begin production, it was then manufactured by Willys-Overland Motors and as the demand for war materiel increased, The Ford Motor Company joined production.
Of the 135 automotive manufacturers that received the submission from the US War Department in 1940, only three companies were deemed capable of achieving the strict design and prototype requirements of just 49 days to design, build and submit a prototype and then just a further 75 days for the completion of 70 vehicles for testing.
Only the American Bantam Car Company and Willys-Overland Motors entered the competition, the Ford Motor Company would join production later in the war, more of this later.
American Bantam hired freelance designer Karl Probst and after beginning work on June 17th 1940, just two days later he had completed a design named the Bantam Reconnaissance Car (BRC) and costed it on the third day.
It was the American Bantam Car Company that was successful and secured the contract and production began in late 1940. However, after beginning production and building 2,675 units Bantam did not have the production or financial resources to meet the requirement of building 75 units per day.
The War Department now asked Willys & Ford to resubmit their own revisions of the Bantam design. In July 1942 Willys won the contract due to it’s lower cost, fitting of the powerful 60 hp L134 Go Devil engine.
However by October 1941, having produced 363,000 GP vehicles it became clear that Willys-Overland could not keep up with production demands, and Ford received government contracts to build 30,000 General Purpose (GP) vehicles. Ford went on to manufacture 280,000 GPW vehicles.
The differences in design between the Willys and Ford Jeeps are most obvious in the Ford with a wide, flat hood, headlights moved inward from the wings to under the bonnet and protected by a single wide, straight front grille and a brush guard.
Military collector and restorer John Furlong is currently restoring his 1944 Ford GPW and he has his own theory on the name Jeep and that is stands for ‘just enough essential parts = Jeep’.
John’s love for World War 2 military vehicles began when he was driving bus tours of the Normandy. On Ireland Made we have previously featured John’s 1943 Dodge-51 Weapons Carrier, Season 1 – Episode 80. And we covered his 1945 DUKW in Season 1 – Episodes 92 & 98 and Season 2 – Episode 49.
John is restoring this 1944 Ford GPW as the exact Jeep that you would find on the European battlefield during World War 2, just perfect for the new owner to drive it to France in June 2024 for the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings.
Please email expressions of interest in the Ford GPW to info@irelandmade.ie
Bantam/ Willys/ Ford Jeeps
Specifications
Length – 132 ¼ inches (336.5 cm)
Height – 69 ¾ inches (172.2 cm)
Road weight – 2,453 pounds (1,112.6 kg)
Ground Clearance – 8 ¾ inches (21.5 cm)
Engine: 4-cylinder 2199cc petrol
Power: 60 hp (44.7 kW)
Maximum speed (highway) – 65 miles per hour (104 km/h)
Production: 1941 – 1945 (650,000 approx.)
Transmission: selectable 4-wheel drive
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Information Sources
• 1941-1945 Willys MB Ford GPW Military Jeep Repair Shop Manual Reprint
• 501 Must Drive Cars
• CarandDriver.com
• Essential Military Jeep: Willys, Ford and Bantam, 1942-1945
• Jeep®
• King Rose Archives
• Motortrend.com
• National Museum of American History
• National Museum of World War
• Scripps Howard News Service
