U.S. Army Testing of the Jeep
The War Department invited three companies, the American Bantam Company, Willys-Overland, and Ford to place bids on this general-purpose vehicle, later known as the 'Jeep'.
In 1940, as threats of war loomed over the horizon, the United States Army searched for a new type of vehicle. It had to be small, all-terrain, lightweight, and four-wheel-drive. The War Department invited three companies, the American Bantam Company, Willys-Overland, and Ford, to bid on this general-purpose vehicle, later known as the 'Jeep.'
As a vehicle born out of necessity, the companies were given a deadline of 49 days to deliver their prototypes for testing. Only two manufacturers — the American Bantam Co. and Willys-Overland — entered vehicles in the competition. Initial testing began at the Army's Camp Holabird, near Baltimore, Md. Holabird was an Army quartermaster depot with experience testing military vehicles during WWI.
Soldiers stationed at Fort Myer in Arlington, Virginia, also evaluated the new military vehicle. The Army had set specific requirements, including a maximum weight of 1,300 pounds (later increased to over 2,000 pounds), a two-meter wheelbase, and a four-wheel drive. Additionally, the vehicle had to be capable of carrying a load of 600 pounds, which typically included three soldiers and a .30 caliber machine gun.
While the Jeep was not a particularly difficult engineering problem, it was a new way of packaging existing technologies and components. The two main challenges were the drivetrain and an almost impossibly low weight requirement.
The Jeep underwent various training exercises, including hill climbing, weapon mounting and operation, troop mobilization, speed and heat testing, and load testing to ensure it was ready to board a plane or boat.
While the American Bantam company had the superior design, Willys and Ford were eventually chosen to build the iconic quarter-ton, 4x4 vehicle. Between 1941 and 1945, Willys built 300,000 at its Toledo plant. Ford made 250,000 at five different plants.
Soldiers who drove the jeep during WWII came to love it. In 1943, correspondent Ernie Pyle wrote: “Good Lord, I don’t think we could continue the war without the jeep. It does everything. It goes everywhere. It’s as faithful as a dog, as strong as a mule, and as agile as a goat. It constantly carries twice what it was designed for and still keeps going. It doesn’t even ride so badly after you get used to it. … The jeep is a divine instrument of wartime locomotion.”
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