Certain Arrmy officers did not invent the jeep

Last modified MArch 3, 2007

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"The Army" had little idea of what a light reconnaissance car might look like until they went to the Bantam Factory on July 19,1940.

Okay, so the headline is a bit of a loss leader to get your attention, but the fact remains that there is no specific evidence I can find that there were any drawings or even verbal descriptions of something that could be recognized as a jeep prior to the June 19/20 1940 meeting at Butler between the Army and the Bantam people. This does not say that there were no competent Army engineers who could have made a drawing, only that before this date we have no reference to any, and a lot of circumstantial evidence that they did not make any and that the solid conception proceeded from that date and was made on or about July 1 when the Army Specs were drawn up (with Bantam help). If you are looking for a single individual who "invented the jeep", you won't find that here. It was a joint effort of a small handful of people whose names we know, but hardly the huge mob of people making claims to it subsequently. To examine any claim of contribution examine the date. If it is before September 21, 1940 there may be some merit to it. If after the date it is simply a Johnny Come Lately trying to take credit for something that had already been done.

Some context is needed here. To make it simple, and to give you a framework to hang my analysis on, (and any knowledge you might be able to add). Let me divide the history of the development of the first jeep into some arbitrary, labeled sections.

There is a gestational period I will call "The Period of Army Longing" which began right after WWI and continued right on up until the delivery of the first jeep by Bantam. By Army here I am referring to the Using Arms, particularly the Infantry, which had seen civilians driving Model T's instead of horses for decades. When would they get to ride? The Cavalry, save for a very few visionaries, could have cared less for their branch of the service was more like a country club than an army and they viewed any one dealing with mechanics as grease monkeys at best and dangerous radicals at worst. Patton was still fixing war games in favor of horse against the new Scout cars as late as 1939 (See his Letters) Plus, being the then current carriers of the torch for the Cult of the Horse which had been around for thousands of years they looked down on the Infantry as inferior beings too.

The country was in the grip of the inter-war peace fantasy and had virtually demilitarized so there was no money at all for anything military. Since today we think of "the Army" as some huge organization of millions of people and related contractors, this oft repeated generalization by jeep writers seems somehow right to us. In fact the inter-war US Army was puny and almost completely devoid of resources. Although mechanization was beginning to be effective in replacing the horse in behind the lines assignments as heavy transport and in tracked vehicles such as tanks, the essential non-human tactical weapon was still the horse, and Fort Bliss was full of them. On top of that the second half of this period the country was in the grips of the Great Depression. Infantry requests for a light recon car to the QMC fell on deaf ears. Several ad hoc attempts to make something outside the procurement system, notably the Howie Carrier or Belly Buster were attempted with no result having any progress towards a jeep like vehicle. The Howie carrier was decidedly NOT a reconnaissance vehicle and I do not consider it an ancestor of the jeep as some will try to tell you it is in order to denigrate the Bantam position. It was a roving machine gun nest that had to be trucked into the theater (although it is interesting to note that it featured a Bantam engine and frame and it had its proponents in the Army. Thus, as can be seen, if the Army was going to be foolish enough to order it, Bantam would be happy to build it).

With the exception of the Howie Carrier and a schoolboyish drawing by a non engineer lieutenant named Hamilton in 1935 of a huge Buick with machine gun, there were no recon car drawings or prototypes of which I am aware, official or unofficial. If you are, I would be pleased to see them or hear about them.

Towards the end of this Period of Longing there is a period I will call the Period of Bantam Desire. Throughout the history of the company from its early days as American Austin both Bantam and the Army could see that the little cars were the right size for what was desired, and several were bought and or donated and tested over the decade 1930-40. (In England Austin 7's were also tried as recon cars). Bantam president Roy S. Evans in particular really wanted to sell the Army some cars. However, the same thing that was wrong with these cars on the street was wrong for them in a military context. They traded power for economy and could not perform the heavy lifting required in the Army. Still however, perhaps the closest of all the vehicles tried in the inter-war period to what actually became the jeep was a cut down, open Austin pick-up truck we see pictures of as a line layer with 4 doughboys in it in 1933 or so. Add 15 or 20 hp, a little more track and 4wd and it IS a jeep. There is some indication that there was a small 4x4 Bantam "jeep" in the factory in 1937 built by American icon Harry Miller who was then VP at Bantam prior to civilian car production. There is also some evidence that the QMC participated in this design, but, this is another story except to indicate that a small Army car was well on the mind of Bantam people including Frank Fenn who had just taken over the presidency at Bantam and has been reported to be interested in a recon car as early as 1937. The Army Period of Longing then coincides with Bantam Desire just about 1937 when General Lynch expresses a desire for "something" along the lines of a jeep, and Bantam is clearly willing to provide "something" along the lines of a jeep. Thus a little courtship dance is begun which ensues for the next 3 years. None of this can really be said to have qualified as anything like even "conceiving" the jeep let alone designing it (unless we find out differently in the alleged 1937 effort). Heavy petting does not occur until the spring of 1940 when Harry Payne finds his way into the office of the Chief of Infantry.

The actual phrase "..in conjunction with certain Army officers" in reference to the conception of the jeep has it's genesis in a Federal Trade Commission ruling issued well after the war which included a cease and desist order prohibiting the Willys Overland company from claiming that it had invented the jeep, which of course it didn't. They said that Bantam had 'in conjunction with' certain Army officers created and designed the jeep. Reading the Commissions decision however, it is clear (See paragraphs 7 through 13) that what the "conjunction" phrase referenced was the many years Bantam had lobbied the Army to build an RC, and particularly the Lynch/Lee/Payne discussions of the RC's characteristics in May and June 1940 (culminating in the famous Lynch "characteristics" letter of June 6 which was drafted by Oseth and Lee with Harry Paynes' deep involvement.) It should also be noted that General Lynch and Colonels Lee and Oseth were Infantry officers, not of the Quartermaster Corps. The QMC sent along a civilian Holabird engineer (Bob Brown) but it was, by Infantry design, an Ordnance project at Butler, and Ordnance civilian engineer Floyd Beasley apparently drew the cocktail napkin conception all the parties had talked about at the meeting. QMC relieved Ordnance of further involvement following the meeting.

In my little outline here the next heading is The Conception of the Jeep. The conception occurred somewhere between June 19 and July 11 depending on where you want to draw your particular line. I say July 1 when the Army specs and the outline drawings were ready (and participated in in every detail by Bantam people), but, since the horsepower was doubled just before issuing the IFP, and that power was a signal characteristic of the vehicle that resulted, maybe the 11th is the best date. At this point I will give QMC (in the form of civilian engineer Bob Brown and Captain Engler) some specific credit for conception of the jeep. Bantam is the producer, the Army is the customer, and the relationship is no different here than it would be if you went to West Coast Choppers to have a custom motorcycle built. Or think of the owner architect relationship. There is plenty of give and take. The customer has certain requirements that must be met and the supplier must point out the realities of engineering and their own ideas. Harold Crist had a firm idea of where he would start on this "job" at the Butler meeting using a Bantam Roadster cowl (which shows up on the Army Spec drawings) and a Bantam wheelbase plus 4 inches for a transfer case making 79.5..an essential jeep characteristic. Thus Harold Crist argued strenuously against the arbitrary doubling of the horsepower figure by the Army at the last minute while still retaining the basic 1200 pound weight limit. This modification which they were serious about does not show that "the Army" had a brilliant grip on automotive engineering principles. Even if we say this was a non engineering Infantry "contribution" there is evidence too that the QMC at Holabird who shold have known better was barking up the wrong tree as well. During this period the QMC at Holabird built a wooden mock up of what the car might be using a Bantam 2wd frame and engine even though it had been agreed in Butler that those elements would not do and that Spicer had already been set to work by Bantam building an axle and CV joints for 4wd. They were very disappointed when it wouldn't pull up a grade with four up and were ready to throw in the towel. Harry Payne was on hand to tell them however, not to worry, Bantam had a bigger engine. In other words except perhaps for the ergonomics of the body which in any case was no different really than a Bantam Speedster or Riviera seating arrangement, this effort was not the jeep and did not contribute to what did become the jeep (which was actually being laid out in a parallel effort in Butler).

Conception is a far cry from Design of the Jeep which is my next heading. The specs which Bantam had been instrumental in developing with the Army had been sent out to 135 companies (a QMC smoke screen to ditch Bantam and get Ford in our opinion). The whole concept had been changed by requiring 40 instead of 20 horsepower. If Bantam was going to stay in it they had to act fast. In order to win the bid now they had to produce not a car as would have been the case in the negotiated contract this sort of development would ordinarily call for (recently made illegal the QMC claims with crocodile tears) they had to produce drawings in less than a week. Crist was a great engineer but he was not a drawer, he was a doer. At this point Karl Probst was called in to produce drawings for the bid opening because, according to Fenn at the Truman hearings he was an exceptionally fast layout man (drawer). According to his son who wrote a hagiography for his father (One Summer in Butler Automobile Quarterly Vol 14, No. 4) , there was nothing there when he arrived in Butler. Dusty drawing tables. Logic tells us this is nonsense. How could there be nothing when Bantam has been working on it day and night for a month before he got there? Also, how did he decide to use the Hercules engine in his drawings? Bantam had already negotiated with Continental and Hercules for the engines. At any rate Probst did do a fantastic job of drawing up PLANS, that is to say drawings from which an actual car could be built with part numbers, prices and weights identified. This is what was turned into Holabird and this is what won the contract. The only other bidder, W-O turned in plans which according to Rifkin were "incomplete".

Notice here that the QMC is nowhere to be found up to this point in the Design of the Jeep phase. They were the recipient of detailed plans from Bantam which were the basis (as modified by real time construction and design on the fly) of the actual construction of the car. Yes, they sent a critique pointing out a few odds and ends they wanted changed, but it is a far different thing to critique someones design than it is to design yourself. Moreover the changes were very minor indeed. If the Infantry and QMC had 50% of the conception credit, I would give them about 10% of the design credit. This percentage might be expanded if we knew how much kibitzing the QMC guys did during the build period which in a project like this is part of the design. Crist and Probst disagreed about various aspects, and presumably Bob Brown or one of his aides was on hand to add their two cents. However there in no actual proof or indication that they added anything and Probst gives them credit for keeping them on the schedule and deadline, not for any engineering help.

Thus you can see, from the the "pro Bantam" point of view I am constantly being accused of that from what is on the record "the Army" (Infantry/Ordnance/QMC) is responsible for maybe 50% of the conception phase...a specific idea of what is wanted as represented in the bid drawings and specs,...and 10 or 20 percent of the Design phase, and 0% of the actual Build phase. Even if you don't weight these categories (is conception as important as either design and build?) you come up with a max of about 25% for "the Army" and 75% for Bantam. I personally think that more Army input will be shown so I just call it 50/50 to be charitable and protect against the future. Moreover, I haven't added any deductions which should be awarded in fairness for the meddling that the Washington level QMC engaged in which constantly plagued Bantam. The surprise competitive bids and last minute horsepower change are examples. Whatever the case, do not be misled by "jeep historians" who will try to feed you the line about how Bantam just put together a kit the Army gave them, and some will go so far as to say the Army got these alleged plans from W-O who of course never heard of the jeep until they got the IFP specs that Bantam had helped put together. We have no idea either of what happened to and do not consider here the Probst drawings after they were submitted to the Army. Did the Army just hide them in a drawer from W-O and Ford even though they invited these two to build courtesy prototypes and considered the plans to be Army property? Time may tell. Or not.

Finally I should point out, if anyone from the government had anything to do with the jeep in this period it was not "Army Officers" but civilian engineers under contract, people who clearly would fall out side the 'conjunction' phrase. I state this at the risk of having some of you accuse me of being picky, but even though you may think it a small thing, it is the accumulation of small misstatements that has lead to the erronious conclusions about this story currently embedded in the popular mind. That the Quartermaster Corps wished later that it had concieved of and developed the original jeep is well documented. The CO of Holabird (Major Lawes) at the time was heard to say that his only regret about the jeep was that it had not been developed at Holabird. This jeep envy was not a big secret at the time either. A contemporary magazine article ("Leaping Lena Joins the Army" by David Stearns p.120 October,1941) states

" There's a story in the Army to the effect that a lot of capable officers are quite chagrined these days, because when the Bantam Company began trying to sell the Army on the idea of a flock of miniature trucks, they didn't like it. Finally however, the idea got to the ears of somebody near the top,...and so an order was placed for 70 of them, a little over a year ago".

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Help me out here.

Do you have any solid evidence, or even hearsay evidence as to what specific individuals in the Army, or Army contractors, had any connection with tthe BRC project between July 22 and September 21, 1940?

If so, can you relate what specifically they did?

Do you have info as above with regard to involvement with Ford or Willys?

Thanks for any help, drop me a line and tell me what it was. No theorists please.

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