UPDATE: Still Available. The caption and date are slightly different between this current pic on eBay and its predecessor from 2013 (at bottom).
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“1942 Press Photo U.S. Army Soldiers ride down London street in Military Jeep. .This is an original press photo. Four American doughboys ride down a London street in a peculiarly American vehicle, one of Uncle Sammy’s jeeps. Note how they are overshadowed by the familiar London double-deck bus. U.S. Army in London Photo measures 6.25 x 9.5 inches. Photo is dated 03-15-1942.”
This version of the photo was auctioned in 2013 on eBay. It has the date of March 13, 1942. The caption includes the verbiage, “A ‘Jeep’ comes to London Town”.
I have no expertise on early military Jeeps. Is this Ford GP in this photo?
Peter,
Yes, it is a Ford GP. Those jeeps had the headlights behind the grille. Here are some shots of Tate’s Ford GP: http://www.ewillys.com/2019/05/03/tates-new-ford-gp/ … Ford created a second prototype jeep called the Ford Budd with lights on top of the fenders. It’s restored and living in England: http://www.ewillys.com/2009/03/12/the-1940-buddy-a-ford-pygmybudd-prototype/
The first of the Bantam models (the original Bantam BRC) had headlights mounted atop the inner portion of the fender. The second generation, the BRC-60, had them mounted in a similar fashion, but included a protective cover. The Bantam BRC-40 had fender indents on the top of the fender where the lights were mounted behind a protective cover: http://www.ewillys.com/2011/08/14/the-three-bantams-brc-brc-60-and-brc-40/ (as did the Checker: http://www.ewillys.com/2014/05/19/photos-of-1941-checker-owned-bantam-brc-40/)
The Willys Quad had headlights on top of the fenders and behind a square protector: http://www.ewillys.com/2019/10/12/photo-of-willys-quad-in-dekalb/ …. After the Willys Quad came the Willys MA. Though the grill design was flattened, the lights were still atop the fenders: http://www.ewillys.com/2017/06/21/photo-of-willys-ma-carrying-push-ball-on-ebay/
There’s something curious about this picture. Why does this supposedly military jeep have a British civilian license plate? Just compare it to the license plate on the bus and the car behind.
Hi Antoni,
That’s a good question. I don’t know the answer to why this particular jeep has a plate, but according to the WWIIjeepparts.com page, vehicles (and even tanks) sometimes were issued by the US and Canada during WWII. I imagine the same was true for the UK. http://wwiijeepparts.com/Archives/1942_1945RestampedLicensePlate.html
Even the Willys Quad had a license plate for some reason: http://www.willysma.com/ma_serial/images/ma90068_0009.jpg
– Dave