On a recent Ireland Made photoshoot at Howth Harbour, just north of Dublin the ‘Star of the Show’ was an 1944 Willys-Overland MB jeep owned by Eric Phillips.
The American Jeep is a highly recognizable World War 2 vehicle that is often referred to as the “Willys Jeep” in popular culture. However, it was actually designed by the American Bantam Car Company, which was the first to start production. Later, Willys-Overland Motors took over production, and as the demand for war materiel increased, The Ford Motor Company also got involved in production.
The Jeep was renowned for its robustness and ease of repair in the field, and its abilities and impact have been widely recognized, with President Eisenhower once referring to it as one of the three decisive weapons the US had during the war.
The story of the Jeep starts in 1940, when the US War Department at the request of the Infantry Board at Fort Benning, held a competition for domestic automobile manufacturers to design and build a low-profile standardized ¼-ton, four-wheel drive light reconnaissance vehicle,. The American Bantam Car Company and Willys-Overland Motors participated, with Ford joining later in the war. The American Bantam Car Company secured the contract and began production in late 1940.
However, after producing 2,675 units, Bantam did not have the production or financial resources to meet the contract requirement of producing 75 units per day. As a result, the War Department asked Ford and Willys to resubmit their own revisions of the Bantam design and even supplied them with Bantam’s blueprints, claiming government ownership of the patent. This is where the “designed by committee” reference comes from, and it is widely held that no single company can claim to have invented the Jeep.
In 1942, with Bantam, Willys, and Ford now involved in the contract with their own variants of the 4×4 GP vehicle, although the majority of the parts were interchangeable, the War Department wanted to standardize the vehicle and select a single manufacturer to build the next wartime order for 16,000 units.
In July 1942, Willys won the contract due to its lower cost, the fitting of the powerful 60-hp L134 Go Devil engine, and positive reactions from soldiers for its ease of in-field maintenance. The Willys L134 Go Devil engine, developed by Chief Engineer Delmar Roos (who had also worked for the British Rootes Group), had its power output increased from 48 hp (36 kW) to 60 hp (44.7 kW) and a more robust gearbox added, improving performance and durability. This engine was widely used in Jeep-type vehicles by the US and Allied forces in WW2 and later in civilian models.
The Willys-Overland “MB” name came about due to the improvements incorporated into the design by Bantam and Ford, which led to a redesignation of the Willys from an “MA” designation to “MB”. For the Willys Jeep the design brief was to improve on the earlier Bantam design and produce a simple and robust vehicle, able to be maintained and repaired in the theatre of war.
One such aspect of the Jeep design-brief simplicity ad which Willys copied from the Ford design are the front-facing headlights both of which can be swivelled up-and-back to point into the engine bay, allowing for night-time repairs.
In further keeping with ease of access design-brief and to allow for in-field upkeep, the maintenance schedule listing 28 grease nipples (front side for Jeep & rear side for trailer) was printed double-sided on a robust steel sheet and stored in a sleeve under the bonnet located alongside the grease-gun which was held in place with clips to the outer edge of the bonnet. The canvas roof, once carefully folded was stowed under the passenger seat and held in place by two straps.
We have read that only every fourth Willys MB that left the factory was supplied with a first-aid kit, which was mounted behind the centre part of the dashboard and secured in place with two clips. We have also read this location was disliked by troops in combat and that the mechanics at in-field motor pools usually relocated the first aid kits and remounted for ease of access on the back of the passenger seat.
Eric Phillips and his son were inspired to buy a Willys-Overland MB jeep during a visit to France for the 70th D-day anniversary. They searched for a suitable jeep in the USA, UK, and Europe, and eventually found one closer to home on an Irish website. Eric’s Jeep is a mix of several different jeeps both manufactured by Willys and Ford with interchangeable parts and would have been referred to as a ‘motor-pool’ jeep.
The jeep required a two-year full nut-and-bolt restoration, including the engine, bodywork, and electrics. The axles, gearbox and transfer box were in good condition. Eric converted the electrics to 12-volt, added discreet LED indicators, and kept the original 6-volt blackout driving light, it is the only original unrestored item on the jeep.
The Willys-Overland MB is rated for five soldiers and their weapons and kit, and according to Eric who has a number of old military uniforms the average size of a US soldier in WW2 seemed to be 5ft 6”, with a 28” waist and a size 36” chest.
Indeed this author at 6ft 2” found sitting behind the steering wheel an extremely tight fit and I couldn’t get my legs untangled to even reach the pedals. Willys MBs were often adorned with the nicknames of the wives and girlfriends of the soldiers who drove them.
Painted on the side of Eric’s Jeep, ‘Lainey’ is the nickname he has for his wife. The decision to permit “nose art” or names on jeeps probably fell under the jurisdiction of each unit commander. We have heard that some units even went as far as to mandate that the name on the jeep must match the name of the individual soldiers company. However, this policy was not well received by many soldiers, as they often had to explain the mismatched names to their spouses. For instance, if a soldier wife’s name was Claudia and he was in I Company, he would have to explain to his wife why the jeep he is pictured with is named “Irene”.
During World War 2, Jeeps constituted a quarter of the total non-combat motor vehicles produced by the United States, with both Willys and Ford Jeeps being highly popular among troops on the battlefield.
Photographer: Ken Walsh https://ken-walsh-y3pp.squarespace.com/
Creative Director: Philip Darling https://darling.ie/
@xaviersaer
Sources of information:
1941-1945 Willys MB/ Ford GPW Military Jeep Repair Shop Manual Reprint
Chuck Lutz
Essential Military Jeep: Willys, Ford and Bantam, 1942-1945
Jeep®
John Furlong
National Museum of World War
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