The Royal Signals Museum - Displays - Willys Jeep

THE WILLYS JEEP

THE WILLYS JEEP

The jeep was produced in response to a 1940 tender request for an initial 70 vehicles by the US Army Quartermaster corps. The companies tendering were required to produce a prototype four wheel drive quarter ton payload vehicle weighing less than 1300 pounds within an incredible 49 days. The American Bantam Car and Willys Overland Inc were the only two of the 135 invited companies to respond and 47 days after tendering, Bantam delivered their prototype to the army for testing. Willys in the meantime had requested an extension to 120 days due to delivery issues with axle parts and thus, along with observers from Ford, had a golden opportunity to view the early testing of the Bantam.

The Bantam tested out reasonably well, but reservations were expressed about its power as well as the ability of the Bantam Co to supply the number of vehicles that would be required by the army following the initial small batches.

The test Bantam was followed in late 1940 with the delivery of the first Willys Quad on 13th November and ten days later with the prototype Ford Pygmy. The Willys was some 500lbs heavier than the Bantam but outperformed it thanks to the Quads powerful 'Go Devil' 60 horsepower engine. Performance on the Ford model was good as well so the army decided to order 500 of each model for field testing...the rest is history..

The Willys jeep that was introduced into the British Forces in 1941. By the end of the war over 40,000 had been used by the Army. It was used extensively in the airborne landings in Europe by the Airborne Divisions. It had a top speed of about 105kph.

For more information try this site: http://www.willys-mb.co.uk/

WW2