Willys MB

The Willys MB US Army Jeep was manufactured from 1941 to 1945. The MB, along with the nearly identical Ford GPW is the iconic World War II Jeep.

With the advent of the gasoline-powered automobile, the United States Department of War had been seeking to have a standard reconnaissance and transport vehicle to replace the usage of horses and other animals during and after World War I. With heightening tensions around the world, in September 1940, the American Bantam Car Company, in collaboration with Army officials, proposed and then built what would become the World War II Army Jeep, later also known as the Willys MB and Ford GPW. But because the Bantam Company did not have the production capacity nor fiscal stability to produce it on the scale needed by the War Department, the contract for building the new reconnaissance car was to be determined by a test trial.

The US Army invited 150 manufacturers to submit a design for a car which would conform to their requirements, as stated in the World War II training manual TM 9-803, which describes the vehicle as "... a general purpose, personnel, or cargo carrier especially adaptable for reconnaissance or command, and designated as 1/4-ton 4x4 Truck." They were given 49 days to submit their prototypes. The War Department forwarded the plans for the Bantam car to the two respondents, the Ford Motor Company and Willys-Overland Motors, Inc, claiming that the government owned the design. Bantam did not dispute due to its precarious financial situation.

The submitted prototypes were very similar to each other and competed with the Bantam in an Army trial. Bantam's was called the Model BRC 40, Willys' was called the Quad and Ford's - the Pygmy or GP, with "G" for a "government" type contract and "P" which Ford commonly used to designate any passenger car with a wheelbase of 80 inches. Ford's GP designation did not represent "general purpose", which was the government's description. All three cars were declared acceptable and orders for 1500 units per company were given, for a test phase.

Willys' car's designation was then changed to "MA" for Military model A. By July 1941, the War Department decided to select one manufacturer to supply them, to standardize. Willys won the contract mostly due to its more powerful engine (the Willys Go Devil engine) which the soldiers raved about, and its lower cost and lower silhouette. Whatever better design features the Bantam and Ford entries had were then incorporated into the Willys car, moving it from an "A" designation to "B", thus the "MB" nomenclature. For example, if the gasoline tank was directly beneath the driver's seat, combining the two main target areas into one, it would lessen the chance of a catastrophic hit.

By October 1941, it became apparent that Willys-Overland could not keep up with production demand and Ford was contracted to produce them as well. The Ford car was then designated as "GPW" with the "W" referencing the Willys company.
(Source: Wikipedia.com)

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