When the U.S. involvement in World War II became obvious, the Army wanted a general-purpose four-wheel drive reconnaissance vehicle.
The U.S. military contacted 135 companies with required specifications and asked them to make a prototype vehicle in just 49 days. Only two responded, American Bantam Car Co. and Willys-Overland.
Bantam was a pretty small company and without much staff, so they contacted Karl Probst, a freelance designer from Detroit. He began work on the project on July 17, 1940, and had plans completed with costs estimates in three days.
A big factor was to use off-the-shelf parts as much as possible and to get the four-wheel drivetrain from Spicer Manufacturing Co. A prototype, which met or exceeded all the U.S. Army’s specifications was built and delivered Sept. 23, 1940, to the Army for testing. It passed all the requirements except for engine torque.
Because of the volume requirements and Bantam’s capacity, the Army decided to let Willlys and Ford use the Bantam design with their own modifications. Willys got the contract, but Ford became a second supplier using the Willys design.
The uses of the Jeep during the war were numerous. It carried personnel, was used as an ambulance, towed guns, laid cable, fought fires and had guns mounted on it. The Jeep did all those assignments and others well and not only for the United States. Nearly 30% of all Jeep production went to Great Britain and the Soviet Red Army. General George Marshall called the Jeep “America’s greatest contribution to modern warfare.”
The origin of the Jeep name is a little uncertain, but the most common belief is it’s an acronym for “General Purpose” vehicle with “GP” slurred to become “Jeep.” There are other theories, including one that it got the name from a comic character popular at the time called Eugene the Jeep. Willys -Overland filed the first trademark applications for the Jeep name in February 1943, but there were years of opposition from other companies. Finally, Willys was granted the Jeep registered trademark in June 1950.
American World War II correspondent Ernie Pyle said of the Jeep that “It’s as faithful as a dog, as strong as a mule and as agile as a goat.” He called the Jeep and the Coleman G.I. Pocket Stove “the two most important pieces of noncombat equipment ever developed.”
After the war, Willys management chose not to manufacture their prewar car models like the other automotive companies but instead made a civilian Jeep model, first targeting farmers as customers. After all, no farm tractors had been built during the war and the Jeep could do much of what a farm tractor could, and many other things, better than a farm tractor. Their though was that a small farmer couldn’t afford a new tractor and a new truck but could have both with a Jeep.
They later turned to other civilian uses using Jeep-like styling. Between 1946 and 1965, the company produced 300,000 all-steel Willys Jeep wagons, considered by some to be the country’s first SUV and from 1947 to 1965, Willys manufactured 200,000 Jeep trucks, our featured vehicle for this issue.
Brentwood resident Mike Patton is a retired corporate executive and owns this issue’s 1947 Willys Jeep pickup truck. Based on the legal battles at the time, there was no Jeep name on the truck. Patton’s truck was a Willys-Overland pickup and stamped on the tailgate is the letter “W” overlaid with an “O,” the two letters forming the company’s symbol.
Of course, everyone knew by looking at it that it was a Jeep pickup, as its front styling was clearly Jeep-like. Owned previously by a friend of his, Patton has owned this truck for about 15 years. It has a 327 cubic-inch Chevy V8 engine with the complementary automatic transmission as well as power steering and brakes.
“It was pretty close to what it is now,” Patton said. “A good friend of mine who lives in Grass Valley had it, and I had always admired it. When I would see him, I would jokingly say, ‘Be careful of my truck.’
“At one point he decided to sell it, but his price was too high ($27,000). About a year-and-a-half later I saw him again, and he said he would sell it for a lower price ($18,000), and I said, “Sold.’ ”
I asked Patton if he’s mechanically inclined.
“Yes,” he said, “I can do a little bit of anything if I have adult supervision. I had it repainted, and I’ve tinkered with it. I rewired the back end, installed air conditioning, put a more modern radio it in and some minor detail stuff.”
Patton is a collector of all sorts of mechanical things. He enjoys working on his enormous 1960s Case tractor and a rusty 1960s International (Harvester) Scout off-road vehicle that I don’t believe has ever been inside a garage. How about his garaged Jeep truck?
“I plan to drive it until its wheels fall off,” he says.
Have an interesting vehicle? Email Dave at [email protected]. To read more of his columns or see more photos of this and other issues’ vehicles, visit mercurynews.com/author/david-krumboltz.
