Military Jeeps — a history

The Jeep was a military vehicle before it was anything else. The US Army’s 1940 requirement for a quarter-ton four-wheel-drive reconnaissance car produced the Bantam BRC, the Willys MA and the Ford GP, and in late 1941 the standardised Willys MB, built to the same drawings by Ford as the GPW: about 640,000 by 1945, supplied to every Allied army under Lend-Lease and used as a scout car, ambulance, radio car, gun tractor and, with a machine gun on a pedestal, a raiding vehicle.

The post-war M38 of 1950 was a militarised CJ-3A with a 24-volt system and a waterproofed engine; the M38A1 of 1952 introduced the rounded body the CJ-5 would carry for thirty years. The M151 of 1959 replaced them but was not a Jeep product. The M715 of 1967 put the Gladiator truck into the 1¼-ton class, and the FC-170-based M676 series served the Navy and Marines. Licence-built Jeeps — Hotchkiss in France, Mahindra in India, Mitsubishi in Japan, Kia in Korea — kept the design in service into the 1990s.

4 chapters, 1948 → today

1MB and GPW (1941–1945)1941 – 1945 2M38 and M38A1 (1950–1971)1950 – 1971 3M715 and the Forward Control (1964–1969)1964 – 1969 4Licence-built and modern military Jeeps (1950s–today)1950s – today

194819601975199020052025

11941 – 1945

MB and GPW (1941–1945)

1 VEHICLE IN THIS CHAPTER

Willys built about 363,000 MBs at Toledo and Ford about 280,000 GPWs; both used the 60 hp Go Devil four, a three-speed gearbox with two-speed transfer case and an 80-inch wheelbase. Variants included the amphibious Ford GPA, the SAS long-range patrol Jeeps of the Western Desert, and the Jeeps that towed the 37 mm anti-tank gun and carried the .30 and .50 calibre Brownings.

Registry records · chapter 1

Willys MB / Ford GPW1941–45

21950 – 1971

M38 and M38A1 (1950–1971)

3 VEHICLES IN THIS CHAPTER

The M38 (about 62,000, 1950–52) was the CJ-3A with a 24-volt waterproof electrical system, a stronger frame and a one-piece windscreen; the M38A1 (about 100,000 in the United States, 1952–71) had the F-head Hurricane, the rounded bonnet and 81-inch wheelbase. Both served in Korea and with NATO armies; Nekaf built the M38A1 in the Netherlands and the Canadian M38A1 CDN served until the 1990s. The M170 was the 101-inch ambulance.

Registry records · chapter 2

M38 / M38A11950–71

Jeep CJ-3A1949–53

Jeep CJ-51954–83

31964 – 1969

M715 and the Forward Control (1964–1969)

2 VEHICLES IN THIS CHAPTER

Kaiser Jeep’s M715 (about 33,000, 1967–69) was a Gladiator J-series with a 230 Tornado six, a military cab and a 1¼-ton rating, with the M725 ambulance and M726 telephone maintenance truck; Kia built it in Korea into the 1990s. The FC-170 became the M676 pick-up, M677 crew cab, M678 carryall and M679 ambulance for the Navy and Marines in 1964–65.

Registry records · chapter 3

Gladiator / J-series truck1963–88

Jeep FC-150 / FC-1701957–65

41950s – today

Licence-built and modern military Jeeps (1950s–today)

2 VEHICLES IN THIS CHAPTER

Hotchkiss built the M201 for the French Army from 1955 to 1966; Mahindra’s CJ-3B derivatives and Mitsubishi’s J-series served India and Japan; Kia’s KM410 and KM420 the Korean Army. AM General’s Humvee replaced the M151 in the US Army in 1985. Chrysler’s J8 of 2008, a Wrangler JK built in Egypt, and the Gladiator-based JT concepts continue the military line in small numbers.

Registry records · chapter 4