Are you sure it isn't a CJ-2A frame? Is it stamped GPW-9890?
>After March 15 1942 all GPWs' frames were cut off diagonally by Army
>request.
I have thought that the early GPW frames were based on the Willys frames
which were cut off diagonally. (I would love to know for sure whether Ford
just purchased Willys frames from Midland Steel Products or their frame
shops just made Willys frames for a while. I am betting they just purchased
the frames while their frame shops were getting up to speed in order to meet
the contract dates.) All the early ones I have seen before this are
diagonally cut. (GIJeep: You have GPW #4. What does it have?) Do you
have a reference or the Engineering Change Order/Deviation Permit number
from the QMC regarding this request? I'm very curious as to where you
received your information.
>Maybe these differences came from the
>fact that FORD had 5 factories.In Oct.1941 FORD got the contract from
>the Pentagon.FORD started the GPW production in Jan.1942,so they were in
>hurry in early stage...The serial number and the date of delivery are
>very confusing in GPW.the speculation is...FORD managed total serial
>numbers in Head Office and assigned these numbers to the 5 factories
>depending on their production capacities.According to All American
>Wonder Vol.2,above GPW #9890 in Japan is one of the #9760(1942.3.3) -
>#9920(161 unit), namely #9890 is the 131st out of 161 GPWs which wre
>produced in one of the 5 factories.The date of delivery is March 3 but
>this does not mean # 9890 were produced in March 1942 but produced in
>earlier 1942 according to above speculation.
What is the significance of #9760 & #9920 (should it be #9921 if you are
looking at the serial numbers he has listed?)? I don't understand what the
161 vehicle range means and how it is applied to the 5 factories. I have
never found anyone who has figured out how to tell which factory a GPW was
produced based on the serial number. I have GPW-11509 (DOD: 4-11-42) which
was off the first contract and I would love to know where it was produced.
The only thing I have been able to determine is that of the 15000 off the
first contract, it was split up among 5 factories: Dearborn, MI (3500),
Chester, PA (2500), Dallas, TX (2500), Louisville, KY (4000) and Long Beach,
CA (2500). (Although some of the Louisville quota was transfered to the
River Rouge plant so that all the factories would complete production at the
same time.) Have you found a source that breaks down those numbers at the
factories to serial numbers? Hoping someone some day goes through the Ford
archives and finds this info. Don't live close enough or I would love to do
that...
Todd Paisley
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