The weight issue was the biggest challenge, even for Bantam, who was most accustomed to “thinking light.”īantam delivered their pilot model on September 23, 1940, for testing to determine whether it was generally suitable for military service. Spicer axles and transfer cases appeared in all jeeps, no matter who built them. The drivetrain was ably handled by the Spicer Corporation of Toledo, who developed a compact front driving axle and transfer case from existing designs and did so in a very short period. The two main challenges were the drivetrain and an almost impossibly low weight requirement. While a vehicle like the jeep was not a particularly difficult engineering puzzle, it was certainly a new way of packaging existing technology and components. Bantam had been on the project for months, had a lot of the preliminary design work done and hit the ground running. Plus, they couldn’t match Bantam’s short delivery schedule commitment. They submitted the lowest monetary bid but with the short bidding period, it was not very detailed. So, why did Willys fail in their first attempt for a bid? Willys was many developmental steps behind Bantam. Ford Motor Company’s later involvement is evidence of that. Other companies were waiting to jump in when, or if, things looked more lucrative. Willys was less desperate but knew it was a lead-up to something better. That first $171,000, 70 vehicle contract was a lifesaver for Bantam, whose factory was essentially mothballed. It’s clear both Bantam and Willys wanted to establish themselves as the foundation of what promised to be a large vehicle contract from the government. By the end of the ’30s, the line of stylish Willys cars was off the American public’s radar and the financial outlook was grim. Not so many years before, Willys-Overland had been one of America’s largest auto manufacturers. Less known is that Willys was on a similar slope, just not quite so far down it. It’s well known Bantam was nearly at the bottom of a steep decline in corporate fortune. Bantam and Willys were the two companies desperate enough to submit bids. For the bigger companies well-equipped enough to meet that schedule easily, the first contract was chump-change and hardly worth breaking a sweat. It was a tricky contract, with only 10 days to submit bids and almost impossible demands for a short delivery schedule, not to mention the contract being contingent on the first pilot model passing the basic performance tests. It was no surprise Bantam and Willys were the only bidders. Willys-Overland was one of 135 other manufacturers invited to bid on that contract and the only other company to make a bid. They helped the Army turn their rough ideas for a light reconnaissance vehicle into a design concept and won the contract to build the first prototype jeeps.
#Willys jeep serial numbers years full#
In order to describe how Willys got to the MA, we need to sketch the full history a little and a talk about two of Willys’ biggest competitors in the project, Bantam and Ford.Īmerican Bantam Car Company, of Butler, Pennsylvania, was the first to design and build a jeep. Willys was the second company to become involved in the development of the 1/4-ton 4×4 truck we now commonly know as the jeep. Willys-Overland couldn’t claim to have “invented” the jeep, even though they did occasionally in the early days, but after 1941 they had the most influence on its evolution. Two circular instrument clusters on dashboard.Parking brake is in dash rather than on floor.The 1941 Willys MA seen today is the rarest of the Jeep Collection. Of the 27 restored vehicles, eight are thought to be in the U.S. Out of approximately 45 known 1941 Willys MAs in the world, an estimated 27 are restored. On July 23rd 1941, after much controversy and behind the scenes maneuvering by the bidders, the War Department awarded the 1/4-ton truck production contract to Willys-Overland based on their Willys MA design and their low bid of $738.74. Few remain, as most of those produced were subsequently sent to Russia or England under the Lend-Lease program. Out of this number, 50 were built with four-wheel steering. Production began on June 5th, 1941 and around 1,555 Willys MAs were built and delivered to the Army Quartermaster Corps. The 1941 Willys MA, “M” for “Military”, model “A,” were sturdy jeep prototypes built for testing prior to US participation in WWII.