BANTAM V4-TON ARMY TRUCK, 1940 



Transferred from the U. S. War Department through Col. E. S. 



Van Deusen in 1944 (USNM 312822) 



In 1940 the American Bantam Car Co., of Butler, Pa., 

 constructed 62 of these Vi-ton, 4-wheel-drive trucks, which 

 were the prototype of the famous "jeep" or "peep.' 1 

 Modified and standardized for volume production, many 

 thousands were built by the American Bantam Car Co., 

 Willys-Overland Motors, and the Ford Motor Co. Com- 

 bining simplicity, exceptional mobility, reliability, low 

 silhouette, and a capacity out of proportion to its size, the 

 jeep proved a very versatile and successful military vehicle. 

 It is on its way to becoming a legendary symbol of allied 

 military unitv during World War II. 



Figure 1 03. — 1 940 Bantam 1 /4-ton Army truck, one of a group of 62 prototypes 

 of the world-famous "jeep." 



This Bantam prototype (fig. 103) differs from the stand- 

 ard jeep chiefly in its appearance and in the fact that it 

 is powered with a Continental engine. It is the seventh 

 one of the 62, serial number 1007. It was delivered to the 



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