The Origin of the Jeep

Jeep Conceived in England born in America?satisfy the militaries needs. It was because of these
The iconic Jeep is a truly famous American militaryconcerns the military decided to hold trails for the
vehicle noted for its rough power and rugged durability.manufacture of the Jeep.
What many people don't realise is that the Jeep has itsThe Jeep Trails
roots much further afield than America. It was in factThe requirements for the Jeep trails were clearly set
across the Atlantic Ocean in the green fields ofout to the competing manufacturers. These were:o
England where the Jeep story began.Create a Prototype to meet the militaries exacting
Contrary to what many believe the Jeep was not inspecifications within 49 days.o If the Prototype was
fact developed by Willys, an American carjudged suitable by an inspection team of military
manufacturer, but by the American Bantam company.officers and engineers then 70 more vehicles had to
This began life as the US subsidiary of the Britishbe built in 75 days a truly tough task for even the
Austin car company.larger manufacturers.
The Austin car company set up its new US subsidiaryThe gruelling nature of the trials and the exacting
the American Austin car company, later to becometechnical specifications lay down by the US military put
the American Bantam company, as a means ofthe majority of manufacturers off participating but
manufacturing and distributing its Austin Seven model.three manufacturers decided to compete in the trails
Unfortunately for Austin the small Austin Seven wasthese were Willys, Bantam and Ford who joined the
not well suited to the US market and sales were poor.trail late.
So the Austin Company decided to withdraw from theThe first round of the Jeep trials was clearly won by
US market. The Chairman of the American AustinBantam. They produced a prototype which came
Company had spotted the potential for the Austin'sclosest to matching the militaries requirements, although
technology in America and bought the company outa little over the specified weight the Bantam prototype
renaming it the American Bantam company. The newstood up very well to all the tests the military
company made adjustments to the Austin Seven toperformed on it.
make it more suited to the American market, theseWith the Bantam car meeting all the requirements the
adjustments included an increase to the size of the carmilitary commissioned Bantam to produce a further 70
and also an increase in the size of the fuel tank whichvehicles in 75 days.
made the car far more suitable for certain parts of theThe Great Jeep Injustice
US where towns are further apart.Although Bantam was the only company to pass the
Bantam Build on the Success of the adapted Austinoriginal element of the trail, the military was concerned
Sales from the adapted Austin seven were nowabout the capacity of Bantam to produce enough
steady and provided the American Bantam companyvehicles so it controversially gave the design, created
with important funds for research and development.by Bantam, to Ford and Willys who produced their
Spotting an opportunity within the American military forown prototypes borrowing heavily from the original
a light weight military vehicle the American BantamBantam design.
company approached the US National Guard andThe US government then decided to split its order for
gave them several cars to use as scouting vehicles.the new vehicles between Bantam ,Willys and Ford
Although it took some time, the US military eventuallyeven though the Willys and Ford designs had
spotted the potential for a rugged light weight militaryessentially been taken from Bantam.
vehicle and entered talks with Bantam.During 1941 the US Government made the decision
The Jeep was bornthat the Jeep should be standardised and so awarded
It was from these talks between Bantam and the USthe contract to Willys as it's design had the lowest
Military that the very first Jeep prototype was born.production costs. The original designers of the Jeep,
Although impressed with the new vehicle the USthe American Bantam company who had used the
military was concerned with Bantam's ability toAustin technology from the UK, had now been
produce the new vehicle in large enough quantities tocompletely cut out of production of the Jeep.