Heresy of the worst sort I know, but there it is.

In seeking out the origins of the original jeep, many jeep enthusiasts are looking for a single person with a sort of "eureka" discovery, and Karl Probst has seemed to fit the bill better than any one. In fact the jeep was the conception and creation of a number of people, including Probst to some extent. Before I get rolled out of the Bantam Clubs I should say that it is my opinion that the vast majority of people referred to above who did conceive of, design and construct the original jeep were Bantam employees and "the Army" or "certain Army officers" had very little to do with it.

My own feeling is that much of the Probst misunderstanding was created by a seminal article on the subject appearing in Automobile Quarterly (Vol.14, No. 4 p 430) in 1974. Although it is stated to be authored by Karl AND Charles Probst, the fact is that Karl had been dead several years before the article was written, and Charles told me that the substance was written by him from Karl's notes, and of course his own recollection of whatever Karl had told him and independent research. In other words, Karl could not have reviewed the article for accuracy himself. Charles, who passed away recently, also said that at the time of the events he wasn't paying much attention at all to the jeep events in Butler and, as a twenty something young man, was busy establishing his own career. I have asked to review the original Karl Probst notes but the requests have gone unanswered.

The AQ article has been a bedrock document for Bantam enthusiasts for a quarter century and, along with several other articles by Charles, has been influential with other respected writers who read them or knew Charles or interview him. (Cf Michael Lamm "Father of the Jeep" Special Interest Autos Number 31)

The AQ article tells the story from the point of view of one polishing the Probst image which is of course understandable, and, discounting it a bit for that it is both interesting and informative, and for that matter, is mostly accurate as far as it goes. What must be understood however is that it is a narrative than begins on July 17, 1940, a time when the jeep had already been conceived, described in fairly definite detail, drawn in outline, full sized mock up made, parts identified and ordered and may have already been under physical development.

I also I must say that, with the exception of the insertion of the Karl Probst notes, the whole article is very similar in language and layout to an article written by John Underwood 9 years earlier in the January 1965 Car Life,) including making some of the same mistakes (For instance, error on the point of who drove the #1 car to Holabird. Ralph Turner did if you are interested).

I find no place where Karl himself ever claimed he invented the jeep and indeed he testified that when he saw the original specifications, that although the individual elements (like 4wd). were familiar to him, the particular combination of elements in one vehicle were new to him. In general Karl was very clear in saying that many others besides himself were involved in and deserved credit for the success of the project.

Alongside is my redrawing of QMC drawing 08370-Z which accompanied the QMC invitation for bids (IFB) distributed to 135 companies (an Army record BTW) on July 11, 1940. The original also carried plan (overhead) views and some detail drawings. As can be seen, the vehicle is a dead ringer for the #1 car shown above, right down to the rounded fenders and goofy door opening. See a direct comparison nearby). In addition to the drawing, the accompanying specifications were quite detailed in many respects, even down to axle ratios. Moreover, a running 2wd mock-up of this design built at Holabird on a Bantam chassis and engine was in existence in June and early July.

According to the AQ story, and his own sworn testimony Karl Probst did not see this drawing or the specs until July 17, so, if you maintain that Probst conceived of the jeep you have to get around this inconvenient set of facts.

All this being said, we should not take away Karl's actual contributions however. He was hired by Frank Fenn, the Bantam President not as an original designer but as an "exceptionally fast lay-out man". Bantam had been sandbagged with the QMC (July 11) IFP, which made it a competitive bid when Bantam fully expected, and should have had in my opinion, a negotiated contract to complete the project they had started and the specs for which were in very significant part almost all its work product. The specs even show a picture of the distintive Sakhnoffsky dash which was lifted from the Bantam civilian blueprints.

In order to stay in the game that the QMC was desperately trying to get them out of Bantam now had to come up with drawings, not a prototype, The phoney excuse (for going competitive) was that if they negotiated sole source it would give Bantam an unfair leg up on other possible bidders or manufacturers like poor little old Ford who the QMC desperately wanted to get the contract. Leg up? It was explained that because of the extensive tooling which would undoubtedly be developed by Bantam in the process of building a prototype, underpriveledged companies such as Ford wouldn't be able to compete with mighty Bantam. Since the prototype was completely made by hand from off the shelf parts it is not difficult to see how transparent this QMC "fear" was.

In the competitive bid Bantam needed to produce, not a car which they were fully capable of doing with the personnel on hand, but rather lay-out drawings for the bid. Although Crist could draw mechanicals, there was no way he could produce a winning bid in the 5 days allotted remaining. He was a hands on mechanic and engineer, not an artist or theoritician.

Probst correctly states that the bid drawing 08370-Z was simply an "outline" and that what he drew, and what he was most proud of were actual design plans from which an actual car could be built, a very major distinction. The traditional story has Probst going in and doing these drawings in 3 days, which he did certainly, but a further question which is never asked is, how much work had already been done at Bantam when he got there? Quite a lot as we have seen, and I cannot think that Crist did not provide substantial help. There is even evidence that it was Crist who hired Probst, or asked that he be hired.

Finally it should be noted that it is these bid drawings, completed on July 21 or so which were the source of Probst's greatest personal pride. And well they should be. Although missing from the US Archives along with all the other oversized drawings, they were apparently detailed and complete and were clearly not susceptible to being ignored or lightly dismissed. His plans for the bid still contained provision for the Hercules rather than the Continental engine which Crist and crew were still negotiatiating for and modifyingbefore Probsts arrival.

Without Probst's drawing speed Bantam would have surely been rolled out of play at the bid opening, and without Probst it is unlikely Bantam could have gotten the plans drawn up no matter how much practical work they had accomplished. The later, more complete drawings which accompanied the delivery of the car were drawn up by Probst and his crew, but were not a lone wolf effort by any stretch. Much of what was in those plans such as the new Spicer axles, or all of the electrical components were all provided and attached by the manufacturers. A great deal of the original Bantam engineering contained in the later plans was not drawn up by Probst and sent to the floor, but exactly the other way around. The Probst engineers drew up from photographs parts that had been fabricated by Crist and his crew. Indeed, much of what was sent down from the Probst offices had to be rejected as it was impractical or unusable. Crist and Probst had several substantial arguments over design features, in most of which Crist prevailed. One such was the placement of the motor mounts. Probst wanted them straight, Crist who had plenty of practical racing experience wanted an angle to accomodate torque.

One must ask if Bantam isn't more entitled to credt for it's hustle in finding and hiring Probst than is Probst himsself?

Have you got facts or specific information which might bear on these notes? Let's hear 'em.

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