On June 24, 1941, a syndicated article claimed that friends of Ward Canaday said he was the father of the jeep:

The Windsor Star out of Ontario, Canada, published this article blurb on June 24, 1941.

This news didn’t sit well with friends and former employees of Frank H. Fenn, President of the American Bantam Car Co. They wasted no time, quickly countering the notion that Canaday was the jeep’s father by explaining via telegrams why Fenn was the real father of the “Jeep”.

On June 27th, 1941, the Press and Sun-Bulletin published the responses in the following column.

And, just for fun, here’s another example of a Bantam BRC photo, taken less than a week after it arrived at Holabird. The first Bantam Scout Car wasn’t a secret for very long!

Published by the Seminole Producer, Seminole, Oklahoma, October 07, 1940.