Bantam-FordGP-WillysMA-EarlyJPs Research Archives

Prior to the finalization of the MB Jeep, The American Bantam, Ford, and Willys all created pilot and prototype jeeps in an attempt to win Army contracts. Bantam built the very first jeep, the Bantam BRC. They also built the BRC-60 and BRC-40. Ford built the Pygmy, the Budd, and the GP. Willys built the Willys Quad and the Willys MA. Checker appears to have built one based on Bantam parts. Finally, are rumors of a jeep by York-Hoover, but I’ve never nailed down actual pictures. See this post: http://www.ewillys.com/2010/03/14/york-hoover-all-terrain-prototype/

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Florida Senator Claude D. Pepper in BRC-40 and His Campaign Jeep

• CATEGORIES: Bantam-FordGP-WillysMA-EarlyJPs, Features, MB, Old Images, Unusual This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE II: Somehow I missed this second version of the Senators with Charles Payne driving down he steps on May 20, 1941:

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PHOTO CREDIT: Florida State University’s Digital Repository https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu%3A154424

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Published March 28, 2021: Here’s another, earlier jeep photo, including a dedication by Charles Payne, related to Senator Claude Pepper in a Bantam BRC-40. According to the Florida State University Digital Archives, Senator Robert Reynolds is driving the jeep, Senator Claude Pepper is in the passenger seat, and Charles Payne and Harold Crist are seated in the back. The photo is dated May 1941.

https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu%3A117598

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Also, according to a June 02, 1968, column by Larry King in the Miami Herald, there was a video taken of Senator Pepper riding up the steps and it was to be shown on TV on June 30, 1968. I was unable to find the video on the internet.

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ORIGINALLY POSTED DECEMBER 09, 2012: This pictures tells the tale of Senator Claude Pepper‘s bid for re-election as a Senator from Florida in the 1950 race.  Like his jeep, Senator Pepper’s campaign crashed that year as well.

PHOTO CREDIT: State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, http://floridamemory.com/items/show/36090 CAPTION: Addressed to George Smathers from his friend Carl L. Hahn, an accompanying note says, “Here’s what is left of the Pepper machine in Palm Beach County – Souvenir of your successful 1950 campaign.”

The accident led to a lawsuit against the driver and Senator Claude Pepper. The appeared in the August 04, 1950, issue of the Palm Beach Post:

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1942 Americar Brochure w/ Willys MA Photos

• CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Bantam-FordGP-WillysMA-EarlyJPs, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

This 1942 Americar Brochure includes a page that shows the Willys MA. I dropped out of the bidding at $30. I’ll keep my eye open for a cheaper version of this brochure.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1942-Willys-AMERICAR-JEEP-PICK-UP-PANEL-DELIVERY-Truck-Dealer-Sales-Brochure/363291618312

Here’s the page with the MAs on it.

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The following images might show the entire brochure in the correct order. Note the page showing the Americar’s “Willys Chassis” … anyone know how similar this was in size to the wagon chassis?

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1942 War Production Board Father’s Day Poster Bantam BRC-60

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Bantam-FordGP-WillysMA-EarlyJPs, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

The War Production Board produced several different “Father’s Day” posters (other posters at the gov archives), including this one with an illustration of a Bantam BRC-60. It also included a letter, though it’s not clear to me how the letter and poster would have been displayed (newspaper? magazine?). Father’s Day fell on June 21st in 1942.

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/165318061

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1944 January Drive in a Ford GP

• CATEGORIES: Bantam-FordGP-WillysMA-EarlyJPs, Features, Old Images, Old News Articles This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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A side photo of Smiley, John Henkels ‘new’ Ford GP.

The January 30, 1944, Sunday issue of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune made John Henkels and his son front page news for the purchase of their 1941 Ford GP from Wilensky’s auto parts. What a cold drive back to Fulda, Minnesota, that must have been!

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1945-1946 Ads for Army Surplus Jeeps in Minneapolis

• CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Bantam-FordGP-WillysMA-EarlyJPs, Features, Old Images • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

This ad appeared within the classified ad section of the October 04, 1946, issue of the Minneapolis Star. It was posted by American Motor Sales, which was located at 1220 West Broadway. Whether the company actually had Ford GPs for sale isn’t clear; most likely, it was just standard MBs or GPWs.

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A few days later, the Downtown Chevrolet Company advertised in the October 09, 1946, issue of the Minneapolis Star that they had 100 surplus jeeps available for customers:

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Subsequently, an ad was placed by Twin City Motors, which also claimed to have jeeps (either GPWs or FORD GPs or both):

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So, how did these companies obtain the jeeps? As we saw yesterday, there were some bidding opportunities that allowed Hyman Berg and others the opportunity to purchase multiple prototype jeeps. So, perhaps these Minneapolis-based companies also scored some prototypes that way?

What we do know is that the government was selling jeeps to veterans (previous stories highlight sale in Hawaii and California). And, those jeeps sold pretty quickly.

For example, in late 1945, the government’s War Asset group put 10,000 jeeps up for purchase by veterans. Those 10,000 jeeps were promptly sold (November 30, 1945, the Star Tribune):

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A month later, an article  from the Dec 08, 1945, issue of the Minneapolis Star, announced that another batch of 10,000 jeeps had been made available as of December 1945:
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1944/45(?) Berg’s ‘King of Jeeps’ Brochure

• CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Bantam-FordGP-WillysMA-EarlyJPs, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

This Berg’s brochure is interesting in that it contains no references to the CJ-2A or a civilian jeep, suggesting that it came out between 1944-1945 (to me it looks a little earlier than this Berg mailer). Within the flier, Berg claims Berg Truck & Parts Co. was begun in December of 1942 to sell JEEPS. He also notes that the company had appeared in news reels, magazines, and Life Magazine.

Here’s the front page of the brochure:

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This is the back page. 1945ish-bergs-king-of-jeeps-brochure-2-lores

When opened, you’ll find this third small page. Since Berg is offering standard jeep parts for sale, it can be assumed that this flier is at least from 1944. Note the trailer chassis ad, too.1945ish-bergs-king-of-jeeps-brochure-3-lores

When flipped over, the brochure offers an array of Ford, Willys, and Bantam jeep parts.

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When fully opened, there are even more military-related parts, but no word of civilian parts:

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This is how the back looks when fully opened.

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Interestingly, while Berg’s Truck Parts may have opened in 1942, Berg didn’t receive any jeeps until November of 1943 and it was only 16 jeeps (likely aall were prototypes). Here’s a report of those first jeeps from the November 27,1943, issue of the Chicago Tribune:

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A month later, in December of 1943, this press photo showed the ‘King of Jeeps’ himself Hyman Berg loading up one of those jeeps, a Bantam BRC-40:

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Wilensky Auto Parts’ Ford GPs

• CATEGORIES: Bantam-FordGP-WillysMA-EarlyJPs, Features, Old Images • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: The press photo at bottom appeared in the January 24,  1944, issue of the Minneapolis Morning Tribune (seen below). It seems that Harvey Wilensky must have also won a bid for jeeps about the same time as Hyman Berg did.

1944-01-24-star-minneapolis-tribune-walensky-auto-parts-ford-gps

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Originally Posted November 16, 2013: This photo shows a lineup of surplus Ford GPs for sale. The selling price: $750 at Wilensky Auto Parts in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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WWII Photo Collection on eBay

• CATEGORIES: Bantam-FordGP-WillysMA-EarlyJPs, Features, Old Images This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

The starting bid for the collection of 677 photos starts at $1000. It does include a few images of jeeps, including a Ford GPA Seep, an MB, and a Ford GP named “Marie”.

View all the information on eBay

“An awesome circa WWII original photograph album with approximately (677) photos. (567) on album pages that can be removed and (110) other photos. Mostly WWII US Army/Military from an album that came apart. They include some great images with lots of examples below. The 1939 Rose Bowl Football Game (soldiers must have attended) USC University of Southern California vs Duke Bluedevils, Tanks and Crew, Black Officers and soldiers, Uniforms, Helmets, Jeep Willy, Trucks, guns, vehicles, Baseball 86th R.C.A., Boxing, pin up girl in bathing suit, airplanes, blimp, Pasedena, California, Radio City, Mess, Medical, 25th Armored Engineer Battalion, Hollywood Canteen, Toyko Express, Beer, Cigars, girls, ladies, getting married wedding pic, USA flag, UCLA pennant, large Santa Claus, milk crates, shovels, family, etc. An awesome group of 1940’s photographs.”

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December 1941 Pop Sci Article on Bantam BRC-40 T2E1s

• CATEGORIES: Bantam-FordGP-WillysMA-EarlyJPs, Features, Magazine, Old Images • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: Originally published on February 02, 2014, the pop sci links no longer work, so I’ve now added the complete scan of the article.

This Bantam BRC-40 T2 article was published in December of 1941 in Popular Science (and possibly Mechanix Magazine) under “Tanks CAN Be Destroyed”. In it the author explores different machinery that can stop a tank. You can see variations from what could be the same photo shoot in this Bantam T2 & T2-E1 post.

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1942 Article and Pics About Maj. Gen. Jacob Devers

• CATEGORIES: Bantam-FordGP-WillysMA-EarlyJPs, Features, Old Images This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Major General Jacob Devers made multiple appearances in newspapers across the country. On February 05, 1942, he announced at Fort Knox that the armored forces could begin personalizing their peeps, jeeps, tanks, and other equipment with names, though they could not be objectionable names. The order does not indicate approval to put names on the windshields, but apparently that became allowed at some point.

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On October 17, 1942 (Appeal Democrat out of Marysville, California) the Major General was photographed with other senior leaders discussing issues while sitting in a jeep:

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Originally Posted March 13, 2018: Interesting discussion on peep vs. jeep within the caption. The caption claims it has been misnamed “peep”, but then claims it has been erroneously called a “jeep” and that a “jeep” is a larger vehicle (Command Car, though in this case it is a Willys MA). As we’ve discussed earlier, there was a great debate about the proper term for the vehicle.

“WWII Maj. Gen. Jacob Devers in Willys MB Jeep Original Press Photo”

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