Thread: When did Jeep first go intoaction in WWII

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

Good or bad, I doubt any of us will be buying a Jeep because of it and so a failure in advertiser terms.

Wrong! The Ad sold me.I love em I'm saving up for for a full spec Rubicon model. Should be able to take delivery around this time in 2030.Can't wait, I'm so excited I wet myself.
Wagoo.

Possibly the first Jeeps into Australia would have arrived in the "Pensicola" Convoy which was diverted from Hawaii post Pearl Harbour it would have arrived mid December 1941.

Unless I am mistaken, the first Jeeps to see action would have been some of the preproduction vehicles. 1500 of these were supplied from each of Willys, Ford and Bantam, all copies of the original Bantam but with each company's own improvements and delivered by May 1941. At least some of these were supplied to the UK under lend-lease in mid 1941 and went into service in North Africa.

John

Russia was given many early Bantam jeeps........most likely via Britain.

Bit of trivia...
Japan's first 4WD "car" (the AK10) in WWII was patterned after a Bantam captured, I believe, in the Philippines. They intentionally made it not look anything like the Bantam though.
It later went on to become the Land Cruiser.

Originally Posted by antichrist

Bit of trivia...
Japan's first 4WD "car" (the AK10) in WWII was patterned after a Bantam captured, I believe, in the Philippines. They intentionally made it not look anything like the Bantam though.
It later went on to become the Land Cruiser.

I can see the resemblance

Originally Posted by antichrist

Bit of trivia...
Japan's first 4WD "car" (the AK10) in WWII was patterned after a Bantam captured, I believe, in the Philippines. They intentionally made it not look anything like the Bantam though.
It later went on to become the Land Cruiser.

I think tracing the Landcruiser descent to this is a bit of a long bow. Both were certainly copied from the Jeep (as was the Landrover), but the Landcruiser was designed well after the war (1948?) specifically for police and other government service.

John

Originally Posted by antichrist

Bit of trivia...
Japan's first 4WD "car" (the AK10) in WWII was patterned after a Bantam captured, I believe, in the Philippines. They intentionally made it not look anything like the Bantam though.
It later went on to become the Land Cruiser.

One could hardly say this truck was patterned on the Jeep. Appears closer to the Dodge Weapons Carrier class of 4wd trucks, that in their various guises preceeded the Jeep by several years.
All my reference books were lost but I believe a quite technically advanced small Japanese 4wd military staff car named the Kurogane type 95 powered by a 1.4 litre air cooled V twin engine was built in 1936, was Japans 1st 4wd car. And some larger 4wd open top cars were also built by Japanese car makers in the early war years.
Wagoo.