OT...this week in Ford history the cheapjeep got it's name!

[basketcase0302]

Actually the "general purpose" GP Ford was in production to support the war in 1941. Remember John Wayne driving one in so...many movies! As well as The Rat Pack and a few other shows.
This Week in Ford History: On March 1, 1941, the first Ford general-purpose vehicles (jeeps) rolled off the assembly line in Dearborn, Michigan to support the Allied effort in World War II. Ford employees built more than 277,000 of these off-road military vehicles

[averagef250]

It's mind numbing to try to comprehend how much stuff Americans produced from 1941 through 1945 to win the war. Nothing even close has ever been done.

[67mann]

It's mind numbing to try to comprehend how much stuff Americans produced from 1941 through 1945 to win the war. Nothing even close has ever been done.

It's to bad that the "pride over GREED"concept doesn't still exsist today

[averagef250]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_p ... rld_War_II

I wish I could find the stats on Ford's B-24 production during the war. I remember a documentary that gave the details of this. The number of components in a B-24 was in the hundreds of thousands or millions compared to a couple thousand pieces for an average automobile. They were cranking out a B-24 about every hour iirc.

[basketcase0302]

Cool link Dustin. I never imagined we had to produce that much, or the fact of women working in the factories either. Here's another piece of Ford history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Trimotor
I was fortunate enough to had ridden a Ford Tri-motor in Naples Florida. We left the ground at 90 MPH and cruised at 60 MPH! It felt like we were gonna fall out of the sky, and was "sheeted" with what looked like barn tin! Most folks have little to no knowledge on how much the Ford family gave to this country-while the Cadillac brothers were still building their cars for the wealthy. The industrialized world also has Mr. ford the thank for the assembly line:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_line
I will always "bleed blue"!

[cdeal28078]

Yeah that Ford Tri-Motor is a weird looking plane with that siding on it. I think I saw it either at the Museum in Washington or the Henry Ford Museum.
Henry Ford really was on top of things and did many neat things to save money on that assembly line. Saw a show once where it said he was using lumber from some of the crates for the parts he got from suppliers in the Model T Until the suppliers found out about it and did it differently where he couldn't make save money off of their materials.
Smart man for sure.
Those Jeeps were some tough vehicles for sure. Had a stack of springs under them where you didn't try jumping a hill but once . Came off a hill in the M38A1 round fender Jeep once and hit flat and though my back was busted. Even knocked the tranny and transfer case both into neutral. Didn't do that again. Sure miss that thing. I think I explored every dirt road and cow path outside of Austin and San Antonio while I was stationed out there in 82.
Clint

[Swegner99]

So did Ford sell the line off to Chrysler? Or did they just take the design idea? Whats the back story there... I bet someone knows.

[Madman]

The story on the Jeep is long and complicated, but I will shorten it up some. The actual winning design for what became the Jeep was teh Bantaam Car Company. They developed and designed the vehicle which met the criteria the the Government put out for bid. Recognizing that war clouds were on the horizon, and that the Bantaam Car Company would not be able to meet the demand of war production, the contract was awarded to both Ford and Willys Overland, while Bantaam was awarded the contract to build "Jeep Trailers", something more suited to their size of production capabilities. After the war, I'm not sure if Willys won the bid, or if Ford just wanted interested, but the civilian production of the Jeep became a Willys product. After 1953, I think, the company became Kaiser-Willys, then AMC, and changed hands many times until Chrysler bought them at some point.

Since I have restored several CJ2A's, old Willys, if you need anymore info let me know.

[Swegner99]

Thanks Madman, I was just curious. Im not really a Jeep kind of guy, I love my trucks. But the style shown in the picture above is awesome. I was just curious as to the back story because I had never known. Thanks again.

I bet Jeeps of that era and style are hard to find these days huh?

[Madman]

I have one, and keep my eye out for a project that I can't refuse, but they have 20 plus years on the 1967-1972 F series, so they have an entire set of their own issues, mainly being rust, good parts, and know how on some of the really old school mechanics. But, I have yet to find a better all around 4x4.