CAR PROJECTS UNDERWAY

1942 GPW 1/4 Ton 4×4 Military Jeep built by Ford

This Jeep was a piece of junk bought in a garage sale for $1000.  We spent years and lots of money by starting from scratch and putting it together right. Replaced much of body and built a new diamond plate floor.  Everything rebuilt from crankshaft out.  Engine is original 134 cu.in. Go-Devil flathead four, now with electronic ignition.

Built and installed roll bar and bumpers, put seats on pedestals, and larger gas tank under rear.

Starts easy, runs good, is licensed for street.  We use it around our manufacturing plant instead of a golf cart.

History note – The military needed 600,000 Jeeps for the war effort and they accepted the Willys design.  However, Willys had limited manufacturing capacity so the government gave Willys a contract to build 300,000 and Ford built the other 300,000 Jeeps. The classic Ford logo is stamped into the back panel.

By the way, Willys is a family name pronounced “willis”.  The Willys company manufactured cars and trucks until the 1950’s.  

These early Jeeps are a study in sheet metal design for light weight and fast production.  Even the frames are sheet metal.  Where increased frame thickness was required, additional sheet metal was spot welded in place.  There were many areas where trapped moisture could cause rust, but these Jeeps were designed to fill a short term war need and they did that well.