Ford GPW Jeep - Triangle VA
N 38° 32.666 W 077° 20.579
18S E 295809 N 4268826
Thousands of jeeps were manufactured and shipped overseas for duty during World War II.
Waymark Code: WMC89V
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 08/07/2011
Views: 7
The military jeep was born out of the need for a 4x4 light reconnaissance vehicle, small weapons carrier, and personnel transport to replace automobiles or motorcycles and sidecars. The first prototypes were manufactured by American Bantam in 1940 followed by Willys-Overland and Ford with their own versions. The U.S. government was impressed by all the test vehicles and extended contracts to all three manufacturers in the spring of 1941 with the war in Europe heating up. By the summer, the
Willys MA
was chosen as the standard over the
Bantam BRC-40 and the
Ford GP. Ford was also given a contract to manufacture jeeps based on the Willys design. Bantam, even though they had originated the design, fell out when they could not keep up with the wartime demand.
During WWII, Willys turned out 335,531 jeeps and Ford produced 277,896 GPW jeeps (GP and W for the Willys standard). They were used extensively throughout the war by the American armed forces and the Allies. The last jeeps rolled off the assembly line in 1945, although jeeps also saw service during the Korean War.
A Ford GPW Jeep used by the Marines is on display in the WWII Gallery at the National Museum of the Marine Corps
in Triangle, VA.
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