You keep family secrets from your trusting 4wd rig? Does he imagine that, because of his modem-day size, he relates to "Our Darlin' or other 4wd-modified pickups of the 1936-40 era? Does he not know that the true filial line comes down through a 1/4ton khaki mouse lurking in the wood pile? And that this machine carried the Spirit of the Thing through World War 11 down to the present day?
     Yup and verily, though folk now opt for greater comfort and space, everything goes back to the War 11 Jeep, be it Wagoneer, Blazer, Ford F-250, Chevy K-10, or whatever. So, Rig should know something about himself, even if it turns out that grandpop just beat the posse out of town a couple of times.

FRANTIC TRIES
     The greatest doughboy of 'em all, General Marshall (Chief of Staff and, later, Secretary of State) said this: "The Jeep was America's greatest contribution to modern warfare." Coming from a conservative, respected gentleman, this is slightly astounding in view of A-bombs, radar and other exotics of the 1940-45 period! Who created such a machine and how did it all come about? To learn that,it's first necessary to journey back in time to the Red Baron's day.
     WW I made three traumatic impacts on the Regular Army doughboys: (1) the eternal screams of dying transport horses, (2) the fatigue-gray look of men too punchedout by footslogging with 85-lb packs, and (3) the tactical tragedy of ammunition and food overrunning areas not at the point of action. These were post-war nightmares! And our diminutive Army of the time sought every means to put down the neverforgotten specters.
     The major problem was that military folk handicapped themselves with too great a vision. They wanted something that'd (1) crawl shell-torn earth, (2) walk "impossible" rock, (3) run the highways at reasonable speeds, (4) float on water, and (5) carry passengers operating machine guns. The only requirement they ignored for this legendary machine was to (6) do outside loops while playing the Star Spangled Banner in B flat!
     Over a'20-year period, the Army went through many concepts to sort things out. The first was not too bad. It was a Model T Ford, stripped, with large airplane tires. It ran the test grounds like a deranged dune buggy of today! But, when loaded with the tactical equipment specified by each using arm, it becamejust another Model T, stuck in the mud. Also, its high silhouette put soldiers back pockets up where Standard Grazing Fire gave them that very puckerish feeling.
     The second was a most improbable machine. It was a motorized, track-driven "Motor Cart" resembling a sledge stolen from a passing Eskimo. The operator walked behind it like a lawn mower. It floated across rivers, carried a machine gun and snuck into very improbable places. But it was scarcely the rig one took the Colonel out in for a tour of inspection. ("Mush, Sgt. Hoskins, mush...!)

INSURMOUNTABLE OPPORTUNITY
     The military started with Col. Howie, of "Belly-Flopper" fame going-on his own vacation time-to a near-defunct car company, Bantam. He provided drawings,ideas, concepts and all sorts of frantic encouragement for something resembling a new "Command Car." Bantam somehow retained the notion the company merely would have to modify its existing (barely)small car output.
     But shortly, in June, 1940, out came the RFB (Request For Bid) and it shocked Bant in to the core! The Army, designing by committee, wished neither a modified Bantam nor a modified anything else. The brass wanted a totally new 4wd vehicle with a considerable infusion of motocross motorcycle in its veins! The penciled concept showed it to be something a kid might've brought home proudly from the sixth grade.
     If this was the "Jeep," it nearly died on the spot because the RFB contained four firm requirements: (1) the company was to deliver a totally unique beast; (2) despite that, the company was to deliver said product in 49 days; (3) the vehicie's tare weight was to be at 1300 lb whilst ramming 600 lb of payload over rocks and rills; and (4) the vehicle was to be powered by an engine of 40 hp, minimum. Bantam's engine then developed but 22 hp.
     This was a request for bid? This was a disaster, as will be seen shortly! It was "talking paper" of the "moonshot" variety and should have been negotiated before going out formally. In any event, this gave Bantam executives their classic Insurmountable Opportunity.

PROBST "INVENTS" JEEP?
     Why Insurmountable? The bid was not attainable because Bantam had zero engineers-zero-and had zero-to-negative funding. Bantam also had only a skeleton production, staff and a president who hadn't made money for the company in four years of effort.
     The Army, for all its RFB ineptness, was not totally unaware of the Bantam situation. So Karl Probst,an 'eminent, successful, consulting engineer was encouraged by Bantam and high "government sources" to do something. He did at a salary, incidentally, precisely matching Bantam funding. In the five days the company was given to respond to the request with a bid, Probst lit a fire under subcontractors, whipped out a paper design and swept out the Bantam drafting room. He was an absolute flaming dervish.

RUSTLERS IN THE GRASS!
     Off to Washington Probst sailed with his design and, at this point, disaster struck. His prospective weight calculated out to 2030 lb! The Bantam Washington rep screamed the company would lose it! So creative bookkeeping was done on the weight numbers to make them comply with the required 1300 lb. The notion was,"We can fix it in the final hardware," an interesting notion because final hardware invariably grows heavier.
     Disaster also was felt by the Army because only Bantam replied to its little tale! The other 133 companies refused to bid and their expertise was lost to the Army. Willys bid and was the low bidder, but entered the bid "with exception," requesting 75 days instead of 49. However, the contract had a "late delivery" clause which cost $100 per day. When this was added, Willys no longer was low bidder. Somebody had slipped loaded dice into the game! So Bantam went away with an award for 70 pilot models, deliveries to start in 49 days, plus 14 days the Army would take to prepare the purchase orders.
     In this span of time, Karl Probst hired three additional engineers, obtained parts from suppliers, worked around the clock and delivered the first Bantam pilot model! The troops went wild over it. Such a machine had not been seen before! Up the unclimbable hills it went, over the ditches and through the mud! Since then, Karl Probst has been referred to as "Granddaddy of the Jeep," a title well deserved-to some extent. Yet, in that same time frame, many of the bewildered nobidders might have done the same, had they been willing to lie that much about planned weight. The major problem was lead time on parts, an area in which Bantam took a risk that normally would not be acceptable.

POP GOES THE WILLYS
     Barney Roos, chief engineer at Willys, had read the ridiculous RFB and rejected it outright. His background in specialized Army vehicles extended to the World War I era when he worked on the 4wd "Quad" General Pershing used to play games with Pancho Villa on the Mexican border. Roos immediately saw that someone had con-fused stripped Model Ts-which, oddly enough, weighed precisely 1300 lb also with viable, tactical equipment. So, though aced out of the bidding, the Willys engineering boss put his reputation on the line, secured company funding and built two models of this new beast, one with 2 wheel steering, the other with 4-wheel steering. But Roos totally redesigned, holding the parameters of height, length and track, and letting weight fall where structural integrity called for it to fall. He put in the Willys "Go-Devil" engine that he had spent two years designing, a 60-hp unit. (Nice to know a flathead 4-banger is a "Go-Devil!") Roos avoided the panic over-response Probst had been forced into and wound up with a potential growth factor his experience said the Army would need later. He delivered on Nov. 13, 1940.
     Stop action! Here's a look at the delivery dates: respectively, Bantam, Willys and Ford (yes, Ford did it, too, on speculation) were Sept. 23, Nov. 13 and Nov. 13. Only weeks separate all three "Jeeps." In context of a 20-year development period, these dates are, for all practical purposes, simultaneous-Ford, Willys and Bantam! This is particularly true when it's understood that the companies answered not a responsible RFB, but rather a piece of "what if" paper! Yet, mighty lawsuits were fought over this and titles such as "Grandfather of the Jeep" and "Heartless Corporations" were bruited about freely.

WEIGHT WAR
     How was the weight problem settled? First, the Army kicked its funny number up to 1600 lb. Then, when the first Bantam came in at 2030 lb-730 lb over the company engineers had lied about initially-the Army made an interesting determination. A huge colonel and helper hefted a Bantam from the ditch, unaided. It is recorded "that from that day on, weight question was settled." What a way to settle a 56-percent variance to a technical point that had deprived the Army of 132/135ths of America's great knowhow! War seems almost too serious a matter to leave in the hands of the military!
     Willys, however, came in at the then horrendous weight of 2343-lb. Still, the Army ran the Willys "Quad" and the Ford "Pygmy" with the Bantam "BRC" (Bantam Recon Car) with a right good will. Military vehicle testers put some 8000 miles of the worst on each and reached an informal conclusion. Willys "was found to be superior in acceleration, climbing, and cross country, a fact which is attributed to superior engine, heavier transmission and stronger frame/structure. . ."
     So now, something appeared that looked like a Jeep! And, strangely enough, with the top removed from the original "sixth grade drawing" it looks not unlike the machines. Is it remotely possible the Army knows what it's doing?!

THE SHOOT OUT
     The Army might well've chosen Willys at this point and ordered the company to build vehicles. Or Ford or Bantam vehicles with Willys engines installed might have been chosen.
     In the extremely cost-conscious pre-World War 11 days, it wasn't easy to extract four megabuck from Congress so the Army could "go play with that funny little car." But Congress sprung for the money anyhow, allowing the Army to buy 1500 models each from Bantam, Ford and Willys. And even when the flak got heavy,the Army neither backed off from mandatory tests nor modified the vehicle's essential requirements.
     Final weight was set at 2160 lb which gave Willys a little character builder. The engineering choice was simple: either get 263 lb out by depreciating the design, or opt for a lighter engine, or do a Slenderella job on a design that was already "clean as a hound's tooth." Willys could get killed on this one. A later random weight variation by a supplier "improving his product" could turn Willys' in-house investment into near insolvency!
     This is where the Jeep was "invented"-right at this point! Eschewing the over-responsiveness of Bantam, Willys stayed with its superior design and sweat it down to where the"MA"(PV4,Feb.,'78) came in just 7 oz. under the weight limit. When this was announced, them good ol'Army boys just snickered in their beer and reckoned if you didn't put the carrot out too far, them donkeys'd run!
     So the Slam-Bang Slalom of 4500 dirt-maddened rigs began all over the United States. Next month this aspect of Jeeps will be inspected, and it will be shown who and why, the reasons why Karl Probst quit Bantam will be revealed, who named the Jeep will be discussed, "Jeeps in boxes" will be reviewed, and what happens when the corporate sheriff hauls someone into court will be detailed. Until then, troops, stand at ease-smoke if you wish, but no talking in the ranks.