Perhaps the title of this post should be;
" Why do I think I'm right when all the books say I'm wrong"
or =
=20
"It's got to be right , it's in all the books"
Colin has the right attitude. You must keep your mind open to the=
possibility of new data. Do not accept what has been written as the last=
word and never accept something at face value until it has been proven to=
be correct. Just because one document states something don't consider it as=
fact until you can verify its correctness. On the simple question of how=
many Ford GPs were produced, I can show you documents that list it as 3,700=
, 4,456, 4,458 and even 5,756 ! It's just as bad if you take the figures=
from some of the Jeep books on the market. For example, the production=
totals shown in the "All American Wonder" books even vary. Volume I lists=
the figure as 3,550.....Volume II lists it as 5,756 and Volume I (revised)=
shows it as 4,458 ! The correct production figures for the GP are 4,458=
(data from Ford Industrial Archives).
=20
BTW......The Ford data I have is not from published books rather from=
the Ford Industrial Archives, Ford Archives at the Henry Ford Museum,=
National Automotive History Collection and The National Archives (US). I=
have spent 4 1/2 months, 5 days a week, 8 hours a day in the Ford=
Industrial Archives alone. When I quote, for example, the figure of 4,458=
GP units produced, it is not because I found one document with that number.=
The exact, correct figure was determined by examining the;
Production totals from the Accounting Dept.
Production data from the Costing Dept
Total numbers of units sold by Sales Dept
Month by month summaries by the Sales Dept
Actual inspection of each one of the day by day production cards from=
the Assembly Dept
Journal Vouchers from the Billing Dept
Contracts from the Legal Dept
Preference Rating Certificates from the Purchasing Dept.=20
And finally, the day by day records of the Motor Assembly Dept. (if=
4,458 GPs were produced there must be at least that many motors built)
All of this data verifies the total of 4,458 units produced.=20
You can now see where the data comes from if I state, for example; On=
9/3/41 23 GP units were produced, 15 of these for export, 2,363 total to=
date, 39 GP motors were assembled, motor SN# 14675 to 14713, 2538 motors=
assembled to date.
One of the neat things about the motor records is that production changes=
are usually noted with the date and starting motor sn#. For example, the=
motor record journal notes; "SEP. 16 1943--# 146630 GPW New style oil pan=
#6675 being used on all GPW motors" Another interesting note is "May, 1=
1942, # 26207 GPW. first motor painted with M4048G gray paint." But this=
is only one document and it must be verified before it can be taken as=
fact. So, we check with the foundry records (Block Casting Dept.) and find=
the notation "GPW 4 cyl Motor....5-1-42 26207 First motor painted with=
M4084G Gray paint." OK, we now know that this is verified but now we have=
a problem. If GPW motor #26207 is the first motor painted with M4048G Gray=
paint what about the 26,206 motors assembled before? What color (gray?)=
were they painted? And......what the heck shade of gray is M4084G? More=
digging in the files comes up with this notation ; Sep. 24 1942 "started=
using M1788H tractor paint on GPW and tractor motors"! Another gray??? Now=
we have three different paints, one unknown #, M4084G and M1788H. Now to=
find out what these colors are we have to dig in the Engineering Dept files=
to find the actual paint formulas and see what they show. Only one problem,=
they are on microfilm, in no order, with no listings of what is on each=
roll so you have to look through 30 or 40 rolls.............
OK, by now unless you're a rabid GPW/Ford/jeep nut I've probably put=
most of you to sleep with this discourse. The point here is not to "show=
off" or make it look like I'm the worlds greatest researcher but to show =
that research is a great deal of hard work and, for every question you find=
the answer for, you will come up with five more questions! =20
I should also state that for every correct answer you find along the=
way you will probably find several wrong ones. This is why it is important=
not to just accept the "facts" published in all the books as the gospel=
truth. A good example of this is the accepted "fact" that most GP's and=
Bantams were sent to the Russians on lend-lease. In fact even Chrysler Corp=
in their Jeep 50th anniversary press pack states " Bantam supplied only=
2,675 units, most of which were given to England and the Soviet Union under=
the Lend-Lease Act." Hey, it's in all the books, it's gotta be right,=
right?=20
Well, nowhere in the Ford Motor Archives could I find anything=
confirming any Russian GP orders. I decided to go to the source......the=
Lend Lease files in the National Archives......to see if I could confirm=
this published data. Besides, I needed to confirm how many GP's the Chinese=
bought as I had two conflicting numbers from the Ford Archives (1,000 or=
1,050). Well to make a long story short(er),
after a week of going through every Lend-Lease file I could find there=
(there are thousands of pages of documents) I could confirm that England,=
Poland, Brazil, China, Netherlands, Canada and Australia all received Ford=
GP's. England also received some Bantam BRCs. However, nowhere in the=
volumes of data was there ANY proof that the Russians received even one GP=
or BRC ! (they did receive lots of MBs) Every knife, fork, spoon, bullet=
and bomb we sent the Allies was listed (or seemed to be) in these files.=
Where did the data that they were sent all the GP/BRCs come from? (Has=
anyone ever seen a photo of one of these GP/BRCs in Russian service? If so,=
please let me know) We may never find out, but it is still accepted as=
fact in even the latest jeep books.
Oh yea, those Chinese GPs.......there were 1,000 purchased under=
requisition C-12, shipped as follows;
180 units shipped on S.S. TULSA ......sailed from New York October 22, 1941
520 units shipped on S.S. LOUISE LYKES......sailed from New York November 9,=
1941
300 units shipped on S.S. CAPE COD....sailed from Newport News December 8,=
1941
(data from National Archives Accession RG-169-74)
The data IS out there if you look hard enough! The correct data I=
mean. Oh there's plenty of incorrect data out there too. Mainly in the=
various jeep books. Let me just show a couple of examples.
In the book "Jeep" by David Fetherston it states "Ford's only special=
engineering contribution was a run of 49 four-wheel-steering GPW's. Bantam=
also built a run of eight four-wheel-steering models but nothing came of=
this idea in production." Humm.....the facts are a bit different. Willys=
had a 4 wheel steer pilot model delivered along WITH the "Quad" pilot model=
(I have a copy of the actual government testing agreement, signed by Barny=
Roos (V.P. Engineering), dated 13 Nov.1940). Ford built 50 four wheel=
steer GPs (not GPWs). Bantam built 50 four wheel steer BRC 40s in addition=
to the earlier 8 four w/s BRC 60s (or Mk. II) and lets not forget the=
Checker Cab Co. who delivered 1 four wheel steer 1/4 ton pilot for testing=
on Sept. 9 1941.
David, to his credit, did get the meaning of GP right.
In the book " Essential Military Jeep" Graham Scott goes this one=
better and actually contradicts himself. On page 25 he states "The basic=
generic Jeep was based on a chassis made by Midlin Steel....." and on page=
35 he states (writing about early GPW frames) "These frames, made for =
Willys by the A.O. Smith Company, featured a tubular front cross=
member,....." Jeez.....no wonder there's so much confusion about the jeep=
history. The correct frame manufacturer? Midlin Steel for MB and very=
early GPW (cost $19.86 each) and Murray Corp. for GPW (cost $20.05 each). =
Of course this book has the usual "General Purpose Willys" definition of=
GPW and one other thing I found incredible. He states "Taking off the=
windscreens allowed Jeeps to be stacked one on top another for=
transportation, the wheels resting on the mudguards of the vehicle below". =
Wow, I knew the jeep fenders were strong but stacking another jeep on=
them? Any of you want to try this with your MB/GPW. Hey it's in a book,=
it's got to be OK, right?
Again, let me state that I'm not bashing other authors here. The books=
mentioned are good additions to your collection even with the bad data. I=
am just trying to prove my original point. Verify your data and seek the=
truth. As Bryce Sunderlin, prolific author of articles to Army Motors once=
said " once an error is committed to print it becomes Holy Writ".
Now I've got to go and finish up on my verifying data for my next post=
on my discussion with Todd on where the design for the WW II jeep body=
really came from.
Jim Gilmore MVPA # 5843
Member Ist Michigan AOD Chapter MVPA
Great Lakes Chapter MVPA
Ohio Motor Pool Chapter MVPA
Red Ball Chapter MVPA
Ontario Military Vehicle Association
Midwest Military Vehicle Assocation
-------------------------------------------------------------------
2656 Wiethoff, Inkster, Mi. 48141
313-561-8826 voice 313-730-1652 fax
-------------------------------------------------------------------
===
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>.