the collection of early Jeeps of the US Veterans Memorial Museum
The city of Huntsville, AL, is home to the US Space and Rocket Center, which not only houses an incredible “NASA Visitor Center”, but also the “Payload Operations Center” of the International Space Station. Definitely worth a whole day visit (the NASA museum is open to all, but the launch pads and the rocket engine test areas are inside the perimeter of a US Army base – only US Citizens are authorized to enter).
In another part of Huntsville, you will also find the US Veterans Memorial Museum. Entrance is free (a donation is expected, though) and it’s staffed by volunteers. Don’t expect a fancy facility – it’s a windowless and rather small warehouse, and it’s seriously cramped. But besides an impressive collection of personal weapons and uniforms of WWII and of the Korean and Vietnam wars, they have approximately thirty military vehicles on exhibit, and in particular, a unique collection of very early Jeeps.
The history of the Jeep is a subject of controversy, but I’ll stick to the non-disputed facts, as they relate to the different prototypes and early models shown in Huntsville.
Left to Right: Ford GP Prototype #1, Ford GP, Bantam BRC-40, Willys MA, Jeep Willys MB
The very first prototype of the “4×4 ¼ ton reconnaissance truck” that would later be known as “the Jeep” was designed and assembled by a small company named the “American Bantam Car Company”, in response to a Request for Proposal (RFP) issued by the US Military in June 1940. The Willys-Overland company had also sent a response, but was not down selected because the delivery calendar they had proposed did not meet the Army’s requirements. Ford had shown interest (they had sent observers to the bid opening) but had not submitted a response to the RFP.
In line with the RFP requirements, the Bantam BRC “pilot” (their prototype) was delivered to the US Army for tests in late September 1940. That prototype is lost.
The US military did not trust Bantam (it was a financially fragile, 15 people outfit that had stopped manufacturing new cars by the time they responded to the RFP) and they asked Ford and Willys to work on their own version of the ¼ ton truck, on their own dime. As per the procurement rules, the US Government owned the plans of the Bantam prototype, and they may have let Ford and Willys have a peek at them – but that’s a discussion for another day.
Ford GP #1 prototype – the oldest remaining Jeep prototype
The hard facts are that Willys delivered their prototype, the Quad, on November 11th, and that one also is lost. Ford delivered their GP #1 prototype (often named the “Pigmy”) at the end of the same month. It’s the oldest surviving ancestor of the Jeep, and it’s on display in Huntsville.
Ford GP (approx. 4,500 were manufactured) on the left, and the unique Ford GP #1 prototype on the right.
Bantam were still one step ahead at that time. Their “pilot” had met the requirements of the June RFP, and they received the green light to build a first series of 69 pre-production Bantam BRC-60 models. They were to be distributed to the different branches of the Army for further evaluation. All BRC-60s are lost, except for one, which now belongs to the Smithsonian Institute.
Having tested the Willys and Ford prototypes, and deployed the 69 pre-production Bantams in different units, the Army had a better idea of what it needed. A set of revised requirements was published, and 1,500 units were ordered from each of the three competitors, for an in-depth field evaluation. The revised trucks, the Bantam BRC-40, the Ford GP and the Willys MA were delivered in the requested quantities to the armed forces during the summer of 1941. The Veterans Museum has a copy of each of them, parked next to each other.
The Bantam BRC-40 (summer 1941)
Jeep Willys MA – Summer 1941
They had been designed to meet the same requirements, and looked very similar from the outside, but the engines, the gearboxes and the chassis were specific to each model – which explain the differences in performance noted by the testers.
Left to right: MB, MA, BRC-40, GP, GP #1
Having extensively tested those 4,500 little trucks (by that time, the 4×4 1/4 ton reconnaissance trucks were already known as “Jeeps”), the Army decided to standardize on a single model. They asked for an offer for 16,000 more Jeeps – winner takes it all, and subsequently down selected Willys. They requested a few more changes, of course, and Willys-Overland obliged by delivering what would be known universally as the Jeep Willys MB. The Museum has an early “slat grill” MB, the one with the iron slats grill instead of the well known “nine slot” stamped grill.
Jeep Willys MB we all know, here an early model with the iron slats grill
Just before Pearl Harbor, concerned that they would need more Jeeps than Willys alone could manufacture, the US military asked Ford to become the second supplier for the standardized Jeep. Manufactured under a license, the Ford GPW is virtually identical to the Willys MB, and therefore significantly different from Ford’s own earlier GP (the Army kept on insisting that all parts needed to be interchangeable between the Willys MB and Ford GPW).
Therefore, when Ford proposed to replace the heavy iron slats grill of the early MBs with an easier to manufacture and lighter stamped “9 slot grill”, Willys adopted it as well. After the war, Willys trade-marked a 7 slot derivative of the 9 slot design, which is still used on the Jeep Wrangler to this day.
Front to back: MB, MA, BRC-40, GP, GP #1
The Museum also houses post WWII military Jeeps (M38, M38A1), a Mighty Mite, several versions of the M151 (the “Mutt”), as well as a prototype of the Humvee. Larger combat vehicles (tanks, half-tracks, armored personal carriers) are also displayed.
Post War Jeeps: the M38 (left) and the M38A1. With the 7 slot stamped grill.
Don’t expect to be able to take great pictures of those trucks – the exhibition area is too cramped, the lighting not very good, and the models are partially masked by retractable crowd control belts and by all sorts of paraphernalia. But having the opportunity to approach all those early Jeeps in a single place is a still something unique. Definitely worth a visit.
Great article! I didn’t know about this museum, and wish that I’d seen it over the many years where I was regularly in Huntsville, working on a project at Marshall Space Flight Center, for which the US Space and Rocket Center – USSRC – is the official visitor’s center and also an excellent museum in its own right. One highlight of the USSRC museum is the fact that retired engineers from Marshall (yes, actual rocket scientists) are usually scattered throughout the museum and they just LOVE to talk about their experiences working with NASA during key programs such as the Apollo missions, the ISS, etc. I once spent nearly an hour talking to one of the people who designed the late Apollo missions Lunar Rovers. So cool.
For what it’s worth, the ISS POC is on the Marshall base, so you need to be a US citizen to go on a tour of that. But, Marshall tours leave from the USSRC museum and come in several different versions, some of which include the POC. You can get info as to what’s available on any given day by calling the USSRC. I would definitely recommend a Marshall tour – with the POC – for anyone who can do it. For any fan of the American space program, this is a must-see.
I visited the Marshall Space Flight Center (and the ISS Payload Operations Center) a few years ago, during the week between Christmas and New Year’s eve. The ISS POC is staffed 24/7, but the astronauts/scientists in the Space Station had no experiment/no test to perform – it was a day off (or maybe a week off) for them. So the guys in the POC did not have much to do either – and one of the scientists opened the door which separates the public from the control room, and spent one hour chatting with us and answering our questions. That was seriously cool. So, yes, the Space Flight Center is definitely worth a visit, and yes, the scientists love to talk.
I hadn’t seen a closeup of the Ford version before. Good amortizing…. Steering wheel from passenger cars, instrument cluster from regular trucks.
Poor Bantam. For all their hard work, they got to make Jeep trailers.
Yes, I definitely feel bad for what happened to Bantam – they got the short end of the stick in this whole saga.
They did, however, make semi-trailers too, in addition to the smaller Jeep trailers, and they tried to turn that into a significant product line after the war. The below ad shows that Bantam anticipated building commercial semi-trailers once peacetime came… eventually their product was called the Supercargo trailer. But for some reason, it didn’t succeed in the marketplace. I don’t know why – whether it was a distribution problem, production constraints, or whether it had to do with the product itself.
Given it’s small size and having declared bankruptcy in 1938, the deck was stacked against Bantam in a number of ways. It’s likely that Willys had more pull with those in charge at the War Department, not to mention Ford, which was still a behemoth. Even the pre-Pearl Harbor attack order of 16,000 units was double Bantam’s record annual production of 8,000 cars in 1934, and bumping up against its total production of 20,000 cars since 1934.
Which leads me to wonder if Bantam entered the competition with the expectation of receiving licensing fees for their design (which would in turn be manufactured by another company), and perhaps secondary contracts for other things, such as the trailers they produced for the military until 1956. Ultimately the patent for the eventual design (which had input from Willys and Ford) specifically stated that the US Government would pay no royalties for its use, so the only money to be made from the WWII Jeep was through manufacturing.
The Willys engine was ideal for the Jeep, sturdy and reliable (for the day), readily available, and it had a ton of low end torque. It ran on the cheapest, lousiest gas one might encounter, and was simple to repair and troubleshoot. The Willys engine was also manufactured by Ford, for use in the Ford version of the Jeep.
Perhaps the Willys engine tipped things in favor of Willys. More likely was that both Ford and Willys had well-placed advocates in government somewhere, which Bantam did not have.
I have not been aware of this museum, so thanks for bringing it to the rest of us.
The old Ford Model A/B 4 cylinder engine would probably have made an acceptable Jeep powerplant, and ditto the Ford N series tractor engine (that was the one Ford planned to use) but for the fact that Barney Roos was able to tweak output on the Willys 4 well beyond the 40 horsepower the Ford unit had been designed to put out in the late 1920s. The Ford was the stouter engine to start with, but by the time Roos got done with the undistinguished Willys/Whippet 4 he had gone Ford one better with a 60 horsepower hot rod mill that was durable besides.
Thank you for writing this up! While I have been to the Marshall Space Center, like others I was not aware of this particular museum. This alone would be worth the trip to Huntsville.
I find so much to recommend about Huntsville. And that’s coming from a pretty hardcore Yankee.
I also think that because it’s been home for now going on 80 years to the vast engineering complex that is at the core of the US space program, it turns out to be a pretty good place to find and observe a quite eclectic collection of cars. I’ve seen many more well-preserved 20th century European cars, sporty cars, and higher end curbside classics in general there than is the case in many other Southern cities of similar size. It also currently has a very very vibrant craft brewing scene (another benefit of a kind of quirky, nerdy, local culture).
Thank you for this detailed article .
In 1968 we got an Army surplus 1952 Willys M39A1 Jeep from Ft. Devins, it was immaculate and yes, we got it for $50 .
We worked that poor thing like a rented mule, I loved it and always planned to get my own Jeep but never actually did .
-Nate
Great stuff, Mr Xtalfu.
I had no idea at all that the story of the Jeep origin was a hot topic, like that of the Beetle. I have learned something new today, which, like the consumption of an apple for the avoidance of the doctor, is something They recommend to do between each and every sunrise.
It’s almost unavoidable that I’ll now have to spend a bit of time down the internet holes for rabbits seeking more on all this, for which my currently hungry-ish kids don’t thankyou, but I do.