A Brief History About The Original Jeep

While the Jeep is famous in its history of serving the US military there is some misunderstanding concerning who created the original Jeep. Many incorrectly attribute the development of the first Jeep to Willys. The true inspiration of the first Jeep design came from a small and relatively unknown company by the name of the American Bantam Car Company based in Butler, PA.

The American Bantam Car Company was first established as a subsidiary of the Austin Car Company, a British car manufacturer, and was originally called American Austin Car Company. Austin made a small and economical car called the Austin Seven, which was very popular in England. Unfortunately for the Austin Car Company, the Austin Seven never saw popularity here in the states and the American Austin Car Company nearly went bankrupt. It was eventually taken over by its Chairman who changed its name to the American Bantam Car Company (Bantam). Bantam took the original Austin Seven design and made a number of improvements. It was a slightly bigger version than its British cousin and was capable of longer drives.

The Bantam folks were pioneers and saw a need for a light military vehicle. They provided a few of their autos to the National Guard in an effort to sell the military on the use of such vehicles. The military finally realized a need for a light mobile vehicle and finally agreed to discuss a design with Banatm in 1940. The outcome of this meeting was a proposed military 4X4 hybrid that was to weigh less than 1300 pounds. In 1941 Bantam developed a Bantam Reconnaissance Car in response to the U.S. Army’s request 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 US military was concerned about Bantam’s ability to produce the necessary amount of vehicles and because of this they decided to offer other manufacturers the opportunity to produce the vehicle. The requirement was to design a vehicle and with the approval of the US military, the manufacturer was then to build and deliver a prototype within 49 days. With the military’s approval of the prototype, an additional 70 working rigs were to be delivered in 75 days. The required weight limit caused many manufacturers to turn away from the project with only Bantam and Willys participating initially, and Ford joining in later.

Source: http://www.articlefeeder.com/blog/?p=1787