Pure rubbish. The Ford pilot models and GP were knock-offs and refinements
of the Bantam pilot model and BRC-60 (of which Ford was given the blueprints
to by the QMC). There is a hell of a lot more to a Jeep than the headlights
and windshield. Changing the headlights and windshield are refinements, not
revolutionary ground breaking work. As far as Dale Roeder's statements, he
gave many wrong statements:
>it had a Ford body
As far as the body is concerned, the MB/GPW was designed by Willys-Overland.
Any other statement is pure fiction. There exist MB blueprints dating back
to July 1941. This is MANY MANY months before Ford was asked to produce the
GPW. There also are NO body parts on the GP that are interchangeable with
the MB body. Did Willys use design ideas that originated from Ford when
they designed the MB/GPW body? You bet. (It happens all the time in the
auto industry. Just like many manufacturers used tail fins as parts of
their design elements in the 1950's.) But to call it a Ford design is
totally misleading. That is like saying all cars today are a Cadillac
design because they use starting motors and electric lights.... After all
Cadillac designed those systems first....
> frame
The MB/GPW frame is a refinement of the MA frame (which is a modification of
the 441/442 Willys commercial chassis.) Statements that it evolved from a
Ford design is pure crap.
> generator
What? This is pure BS.
>starter
Oh please. The generator and starter's roots on the Willys L-134 date back
to the Whippet in the 1920's.
> shock absorbers
The Ford pilot models used lever shocks. Willys had telescoping hydraulic
shocks from the beginning. I can send you a copy of that page from the
Quad's Bill of Material.
> Oh by the way, did I mention that the pressed steel slotted grille
> that is the trademark of the Jeep division of D/C Corp. was designed by
> Clarence Kramer? Yep, another Ford design claimed by the heirs of Willys!
This is another myth that seem to perpetuate. There are Willys-Overland
drawings (A-2981) which shows the stamped grille being shown as early as
September 1941, one month before the Ford contract. Even when Willys did
adopt the stamped grille, it was initially made by a company called American
Forging and Socket. Unless Clarence can prove he designed the stamped
grille (for a vehicle his company wasn't even under contract to produce)
prior to September 1941, I file this under "urban legends".
Todd Paisley
===
To unsubscribe from the mil-veh mailing list, send the single word
UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of a message to <mil-veh-request@skylee.com>.