I believe the real reasons lie more in production abilities. I can make
the slat grill at home. I can teach my grandmother to weld that good in a
day. The pressed grill requires about a 200 ton press plus a deep draw
die and a large one at that. Then some minor spot welding of
reinforcements and brackets for lights and caged nuts. Much less steel is
used .But a big investment in equipment and tooling. Compare most GPW
parts to Willys parts - rear seat support, foot rests, body gussets - and
a similar pattern is found. Ford simply made use of tooling and equipment
assets that they probably awready owned and were not using in car
production.
Daryl
D & L Bensinger mitymite@juno.com
2442 Main St.
Narvon, PA 17555
Phone/FAX (610) 286-9545