Deborah forwarded this video from Tom Townsend and the Military Network Motor Pool. The first segment deals with jeeps. To their credit they spend some time discussing jeep history and describing how to tell the differences between jeeps (ford vs mb and military vs civilian). But, I felt they could have covered the history more accurately.
For example, when discussing the Bantam prototype they showed pictures of the BRC-40 (3rd generation Bantam). They never showed any pictures of the Willys prototypes. They also suggested Willys got the contract for the jeep before Ford appeared. The reality is Ford not only submitted prototypes, but won the principal military contract, before it was taken away and given to Willys. Another mistake was that CJ-2As were produced starting in 1945 rather than 1946.
You can check out the entire episode here: http://www.hulu.com/watch/216750
Hi all,
If you really want to separate fact from all the fables around the early developments and contracts for the Jeep in the beginning of WW2, I suggest reading “Jeep Genesis, the Rifkind Report”, its the official report by the Historical Section, General Service Branch, Office of the Quartermaster General. Okay, its a bit tough to read with all the official lingo used but it its very interesting nontheless, the version I have has later additions correcting some small mistakes and omissions, and an added chapter on the development of the first Agrijeeps.
My version was published by ISO Publications, London, England in 1988,( ISBN 0 946784 95 7 )
A must read !, try to get a copy through Amazon
Thanks Leo. I don’t have that book.
Hey Dave, its an official report by the US Army QMC from 1943, so if you can’t find the book second hand, at least the report itself should be open source and should be accessable online though the Library of Congress or the US army, it was written when everyone involved in the birth of the jeep was still alive and could be questioned (and were) about who did what when…
Good luck hunting it down !!
Leo
I already purchased the book this morning. I found a $10 copy (including shipping) from the UK 🙂
Cheapskate !!