"Harry Krause" wrote in message
. ..


There were several manufacturers of "jeeps" during WW II. The few
"surplus" ones I recall were pretty beat up if they were "returning war
veterans," but the military did dispose of a lot of property after that
war and after the Korean War that never left the states. Some of that
stuff was in decent shape and interesting.

The original "Jeep" was conceived, designed and built in seven weeks by The
Bantam Car Company. The Army handed tthe design over to Ford and Willys
because The Bantam Car Company was too small to meet the Army requirements.
Willys and Ford made improvements to the design and mass manufactured them.
The Bantam Car Company got a small consolation contract to build trailers to
be towed behind the Jeep.

RCE