Military Vehicles, May 1997,: Re: [MV] 1942 Production numbers
Re: [MV] 1942 Production numbers
GIjeeps@aol.com
Thu, 15 May 1997 01:52:50 -0400 (EDT)
I have seen the serial # information that suggests that there were GPWs made
in 1941 but I strongly doubt this. When I first discovered GPW #4 I made
calls to all the known "jeep experts" looking for info. I heard a lot of
different opinions about a lot of different things but was told repeatedly
that Ford began casting motors around the 4th of Jan. 1942 and had begun
manufacturing body parts just previous to that. I don't think they had even
completed all the contract negotiations in time to build a GPW in 1941. Keep
in mind that Willys started delivering Slatgrill MB's in the last two weeks
of Nov. 1941 and they had a several week/month head start on Ford because
Willys won the initial contract in Oct or so. The Ford style frame was not
accepted as servicable until after production had already begun and that is
why the earliest GPWs are on the Willys style frame. (Which Ford purchased
from AO Smith Steel just like Willys.) I suspect that this 41 GPW is a
Willys/Ford parts hybrid/depot rebuild that has been erroneously listed as a
GPW. I can't prove it but has anyone else ever heard of a 1941 GPW? My
understanding is that motor GPW #1 was cast in early Jan. 1942 and was
accepted for service as a jeep by late Jan or early Feb.1942. I was told by
one of the "experts" that the date of delivery is generally one month after
the jeep's engine was cast and it's production was begun. Clarification: It
took about one month to go from the engine casting room to Ordnance Corps
property list.
It was also said that "Henry Ford was the only man in the world who could
bring in rail cars full of iron ore at one end of the factory and send jeeps
out the other." Which, by the way, was true in that Ford produced everything
needed to build jeeps including his own rubber plantation.
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