I was looking for some info on these because I've been interested in these for a long time. It seems like few people know about these and thats part of the reason I like them. Any info would be great.

 

What's a GPW?

 

It is a WWII Ford produced jeep like vehicle. In WWII the gov. needed military vehicles so they had *****'s and Ford prototype them so they could choose. In the long run, *****'s won out. There were something like 350,000 produced but not many have made it thru to today. They look almost identical to a old flat fender *****'s. If you want to see what they look like, look on Ebay under Ford GPW of do a google search.

 

I always thought these were Jeeps, just assembled by Ford. Like you said, ****** couldn't make enough on their own, so the government contracted with Ford to make some. I don't think there are any real differences between the ones built by Ford and ******, but maybe someone will come along and straighten me out.

And the ORIGINAL Jeep was not made by ******, but by the Bantam Car Company of Butler, PA. It was their design that the War Dept. selected for production.

 

i know there were differances on the early ones, but the only diff on the later ones was ford had the blue oval stamped on the bolt heads, the only way to tell them apart. i watch the history channel what now

DT

 

Oval, your right down the street from me.....(Mt. Morris)


Second, Bantam Car Company, ******-Overland, and Ford all competed for the 1/4 ton utility/scout truck contract. Technically, Bantam's design won the contract. ****** came in second due to motor power issues, and Ford's design came in third, a distant third.

But Bantam couldn't produced them in the numbers the DOW(now DOD) needed. So the design was 'nationalized' and Bantam got to make the little trailers that went with them. ****** engineers made some changes in the design, and started producing the MA. But Ford's poltical connections and ****** small production capacity, caused DOW to let part of the contract to Ford.

After the war, ****** was awarded the designs for the MA, and the MB. This actually led to Ford sueing in attempt to steal patent rights to the Jeep line from ****** as Bantam didn't survive the war. After two court losses, Ford designed its own vehicle to be positioned in ****** flagship market segment of the CJ line. We know that vehicle as the original Bronco.

The simplest way to tell a GPW from a MB, will be the Ford logo stamped in the rear of the tub, on the right side. Probably the most collectable of the 'war-time' Jeeps as there are not many remaining.

There is an excellent example of a nice restoration that makes some of the car show circuit in our area. I see it almost every year at the Mt. Morris 4th of July festival. I know he also attends the Military vehicle show at the Volo Auto Museum.


Also don't confuse the GPA or Amphibous Jeep with these. The GPA was built by Studebaker.

 

Around late 43 or early 44 if my memory serves me, the government made Ford remove the oval, they wanted total interchangability between all jeeps, and Ford wasn't there to advertise.
One interesting footnote, the original ****** blueprints called for a grill made of flat steel bars, bolted or welded to the cowl. Ford decided that was too expensive, and went with a stamped grill. So now you know, the international symbol for a jeep, their precious tradmarked signature piece, was a product of Ford.
Also, during the Korean war, Ford designed their own seperate version. I can't remember the model name off hand, but it had four wheel independant suspension, similar to the twin traction beam system, but wasn't stable enough to be used in service. IIRC, only one or two survive to this day.

 

Its nice to meet people thru FTE. I grew up in Polo and lived there for 20 years. I also have met a guy from Dixon .
I know that there is a difference in the number of slat in the grill between the GPW and the ******.

As for the Korean war time vehicle, I think that you are talking about the M151 Mutt.