Henry Ford Helps Win WWII: 1943 Ford GPW
“Amateurs study tactics. Professionals study logistics.” General Omar Bradley is most often attributed with that quote, but it is a maxim that has been true for centuries. Even the most hardened military force needs food, transportation, and weapons of war in large amounts. When World War II broke out, America’s army was inexperienced and under-equipped. It didn’t take long before America’s mighty industrial capacity was brought to bear. One such example of that might is this 1943 Ford GPW for sale on eBay in Kingston, New York. While rough around the edges, this war veteran is currently sitting at a $12,600 bid with just two days to go. Is this the kind of restoration project you would like to take on?
By World War II, the Ford Motor Company was no stranger to the production of war materiel. During World War I, the company was called upon to produce trucks, boats, and other items needed by the military. Despite Ford’s desire for peace, he even contributed to a project resulting in the world’s first interpretation of a cruise missile, called The Kettering Bug. You have to also factor in that the company was one of the largest manufacturing concerns in the world by the time war clouds began to loom yet again. The talent and industrial capacity of the company was incredible.
So when war finally broke out, the might of the Ford Motor Company was brought to bear on the enemy. A wide variety of items were produced for the war effort, with the most famous being the B-24 bomber being built at the then-new Willow Run plant. Ford also mass-produced Waco gliders, engines for various uses, superchargers, armor plates, and the DUKW amphibious truck. The company was also called upon to produce the most iconic American vehicle of World War II: the GPW.
The GPW was the brainchild of the American Bantam Car Company. It was a response to a Quartermaster Corps request for a four-wheel drive replacement for the motorcycle and the horse in combat. The resulting Bantam Reconnaissance Car passed testing with flying colors. The problem was that American Bantam had nowhere near the manufacturing capacity to produce the design in bulk. Willys-Overland and the Ford Motor Company were called upon to refine the design for mass production and meet the overwhelming demands for this new type of vehicle. Bantam’s consolation prize was a contract to produce trailers for these vehicles.
The GPW we see here is a Ford product from 1943. While the outside appearances leave a bit to be desired, the seller tells us that a closer inspection will reveal a very correct Jeep that would be perfect for a museum-quality restoration. The vehicle still has its data plates and the engine number is correct for the vehicle. Underneath the housepaint that a previous owner applied are glimpses of the hood number and the vehicle’s original military markings. We are told that the civilian paint could be stripped off and the vehicle driven in its present shape. Only an easily removed piece of steel tack welded to the front bumper detracts from the vehicle’s amazingly original shape.
At a current bid of $12,600, this GPW is a bit more expensive than the average World War II vintage Jeep we usually feature here. However, the very nature of war has made numbers matching vehicles with original parts a rarity. The goal during the war was to keep the vehicle running no matter what. When they were surplused off after the war, they were released in such numbers that nobody thought about keeping everything in its as-produced state. Hopefully, this one finds a good home where it will be displayed. It doesn’t matter whether it is displayed “as produced” or restored to a high standard. Americans need a reminder of just how resourceful we can be when called upon by history.
Would you pay extra for a GPW with all the original parts? If you won the auction, would you keep this one original or restore it? Please let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Auctions Ending Soon
2002 Subaru Impreza WRXBid Now2 days$333
1975 Chevrolet Corvette ConvertibleBid Now2 days$4,000
1964 Ford F-100 Camper CustomBid Now2 days$2,000
2006 Jeep Wrangler SportBid Now4 days$10,500
1974 Datsun 260ZBid Now6 days$460
Comments
Nice jeep! Happily intact. But $12-13k — at least in my area — is probably all the money there is for it. It’ll be interesting to see where it goes.
Wonder what mine would have sold for today. We paid $350 for it. Needed a rod bearing replaced and the missing front axles found and installed. Lots of fun.
How do you add a picture to the comments?
Greg…If you have a picture in your Pictures Files you can click on “Attach Image” just above the Browse box. It should get you to your pictures file. Pull the picture and then click again (I have to double click) and it will be attached after you hit “post comment”.
Bob and Greg, One thing to remember, if you are a member, you must be logged in or you won’t see the photo attachment info, only your red “Member” box next to your name. You can see if you’re logged in by checking at the top of the page, just below the Barnfinds logo it will be marked in red letters LOG IN or LOG OUT.
I’ve heard many of these ended up in the bottom of the ocean during the voyage home, not sure if that’s true or not. I think it should certainly be restored to original, and maybe displayed in a military museum, but of course that would the new owner’s choice to make
Hi Yblocker, it’s absolutely true and not just Jeeps. A friends dad was in the Pacific, and on the way home, they were ordered to dump all machinery and weapons overboard. I believe it was in case the ship was captured. The only way a Jeep ( and I realize it’s not really a “Jeep”, but like jello or kleenex, all these were called “Jeeps”) like this survived, was it was never shipped in the 1st place, or stayed ” stateside”.
And safety? In a war? I believe others are right, you were better off flying out of the Jeep, getting an injury, and ride the war out in a hospital in Hawaii.
Safety takes a backseat. There is no door, the opening is big enough to fall out of if you’re not strapped in and you’re sitting on the gas tank.
that was to encourage the gi’s to bail out before trying to save the jeep.
on topic i never knew henry f built these along with kaiser
Only Willys and Ford built jeeps during WWII (outside of the limited number of Bantams). Kaiser’s involvement with Jeeps would not come until the ‘50s when Kaiser purchased Willys Overland.
you’re right nhdave. i always seem to flip the kaiser/willys progression
Safety? It was used in war, sitting on a gas tank. Hopefully you would fall out of it if something goes wrong.
You don’t want to be strapped in W/O a roll bar.
Safety? My dad was a Forward observer for the 3rd armored. He his Lt and driver came under 88 fire in one of these. They were bracketed, driver took a face hit, couldn’t see. LT steered, driver on gas as they went off road flying. Nothing was safe, and they did it anyway.
No need. This was a time when Men were Men. Built with just the needed basics unlike the overpriced, unnecessary garbage built today.
The ’42 we used to own was one I surly wish we could have kept. Was in the Air Force at the time and couldn’t take it with us when transferred. Was in great shape with a well built wooden top that the previous owner,who was a cabinet maker, had put on it. Nice to see one of the original ones again.
Heh, I own a ’46…and am still sitting on the gas tank. Don’t know when that changed, but I’m careful driving around hunting season :P
A very solid candidate for a complete restoration—and this historic artifact should be fully restored. It’s missing some pieces (including a rear pintle hook that should be there instead of the welded trailer hitch platform), but the foundation is quite good. The current bidding is probably maxed out as there’s work needed to get it back to its original glory, but it’s very doable. Wish the seller had listed the actual date of delivery (beyond just “1943”) as there were quite a few wartime running changes made during that year. That’s important to someone who prioritizes historical accuracy as they consider the restoration.
Methinks this hasn’t actually run in a while. Pig in a poke?
Actually Henry Ford wasn’t happy about having to build the Jeep , but the government made them do it as they had massive facilities . Just to make his Jeeps different from the Willys Jeeps, he made sure all the bolts used to assemble them had the Fords script “F” cast onto the heads of the bolts.
“Despite Ford’s desire for peace…” is not AT ALL accurate. Before Pearl Harbor, he had vocally petitioned for the US to join the Nazis. This is well documented.
Ford was a huge admirer of hitler and nazi doctrine. That bit of history is undisputed, but often gets lost in the beatification of Henry Ford. among his other darker activities and philosophies.
Thanks Fred and Ross for mentioning that (as I did above)
I just saw that my first comment about the darker side of Henry Ford was deleted – it seems that the cancel culture now also arrived on barnfinds
So were Time Magazine, and the New York Times. They liked Mussolini, too. Just for comparison.
When I was a kid there were rumors of new war surplus Jeeps in crates in Cosmolene, for $50. Did any of those actually exist?
That’s an old legend that (unfortunately) never seemed to bear any real fruit. There WERE crated jeeps sent overseas during the war however. One can look those up.
There were ads for those in the back of magazines…Poplar Mechanics and others.
Those $5 ads generally got the responder mimeographed lists of government auctions of anything surplus, from spoons to aircraft.
About 10 years ago I bought the contents out of a 15,000 square foot series of buildings on a 400 acre farm in the rural eastern shore area of Maryland. The owner’s father had been a prolific hoarder who went to just about every auction of military surplus held at the famous Aberdeen Proving Grounds nearby, and he would squirrel away tons of WW2 military stuff, even a 2 cylinder John Deere tracked crawler.
I found plenty of never-opened WW2 era wooden crates filled with wonderful items like SEVEN Indian motorycle engine/gearbox assemblies, but the only crated vehicle I found was a British Triumph courier bike. I never unpacked the bike, selling it to a museum that intended to keep it crated and on display.
Based on research I did years ago, most of the Jeeps destined for Europe were shipped partially knocked down with windshield folded down, and a wooden crate in the rear area was packed with the folding top canvas, seat padding, tools, and other small parts. Special items like machine gun mounts, radio systems, ambulance stretcher mounts, etc., were installed once landed in England or later in continental Europe.
Jeeps destined for the Pacific theater were sometimes crated in a knocked down condition. These would have the wheels mounted and various items added once it was put into service. I read this was due to a situation where to save space, jeeps were crated and then placed in the back of 2-1/2 ton trucks that were then loaded & unloaded together.
One of the more interesting finds in this hoard was a pair of air-cooled flat 4 cylinder diesel engine assemblies. In the old man’s office I found a letter from Continental Motors explaining what the intended use of these diesels was: Power units for electric generators for starting bomber aircraft. It seems gasoline was in short supply in 1944-45, while diesel was plentiful, so Continental was asked to design and build 10 examples to be delivered to Aberdeen Proving Grounds for testing. 8 were tested, 2 remained untested, still in their shipping frames and sealed. I ended up with these 2 motors, serial numbers 1 and 5.
I’m attaching a photo of the motors on my car trailer.
I finally sold both of the Continental diesels last year to a machinist in New Jersey that collects early 20th century generator systems, He’s promised to restore #5 and hopefully have it running and on display at the big Tuckahoe Steam & Gas Engine show in July, and I’m eagerly waiting to see it running. He’s going to keep the other motor in it’s original shipping frame because is is serial #1.
The photo above shows the serial number ID plate of motor #5.
Photo is of the 1952 letter from Continental Motors.
I own a 1942 Ford GPW. Not numbers matching but fun to drive around.
Any numbers matching ww2 jeep….no matter what condition…..will be expensive.
Makes me wonder HOW this could possibly be numbers matching? When a vehicle goes in for rebuild center nothing is rebuilt directly from THAT vehicle. The jeep is stripped and the grab another rebuilt trans etc and throw it in the chassis and the jeep is back in service. Hence my question?
After the war, very few jeeps actually got shipped back to the states.
Most of the jeeps in the States never saw combat. That might explain
the matching numbers.
What surprises me is that they could even be “numbers matching”.
The DUKW was built by Yellow Truck and Coach and GM, not Ford.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DUKW
Thanks too Bill McCoskey for the tip on adding a photo!
Didn’t actually realize I had to be logged in first. Anyway…my jeep has its birthday soon……DOD….date of delivery….was May 8, 1942 serial number 27316.
If this Jeep could talk it would probably tell you, I had a rough life.
Thanks bobhess…..here’s a picture of my jeep.
Little_shoes,
Nicely accessorized WW2 Jeep! Not often do I see both the Medic pack and the Gas Mask pouch mounted to a Jeep. I have one item you may not have: a M-1 1943 portable mine detector, never used, still in it’s original case, with the protective cosmolene wrappings on the pieces. The only thing it needs is a new owner and the batteries that were shipped in a separate case. [I’ve sold all my military vehicles so I don’t need it anymore.]
Hahaha…..thanks for the offer but as you can see I can’t fit anything more in or on my jeep.
Beautiful example! Now I REALLY wish I could have kept mine.
Sorry McCoskey I don’t want to read a novel on your life these old jeeps were junk but they worked for world war 2 but that’s about it todays generation don’t care that them sorry
If you don’t care about this, why make a smart comment? Go find something else to whine about loser.
See? And people don’t like my comments,,,”todays generation don’t care that them sorry”,,well, that’s almost a sentence. Truly doomed. And to think my old man slogged through the trenches of France( so the story went) just so people like this can exist today. No wonder he was so pissed off.
Thanks to Bill for some great info.
Hey dogwater,
Military Vehicles Magazine did a story a few years ago about the large number of people under the age of 30 who were subscribing to their magazine and/or owned military vehicles, mostly Jeeps.
I write about stuff like this Continental Diesel engines story because of the large numbers of people who leave positive comments about what I’ve experienced over the last 50+ years of old car adventures. So far only one person has left a negative comment.
I won’t feel offended if you don’t read what I write. Barnfinds isn’t like Youtube where people are obcessed with seeing how many subscribers they have.
RE: Crated jeeps…search for: Unicorn or Real? The truth behind the WW2 “Jeep In The Crate”
Did the famous WWII “Surplus Jeep” for $50 only exist in the back of magazines?
https://www.militarytrader.com/military-vehicles/jeep-in-a-crate
Little_shoes…your jeep looks terrific! With all the accessories too! Very nice.
OP’s jeep is growing on me. I would probably tune it to perfection, make sure it has all the brakes, lube and TLC it needs — and touch absolutely nothing else.
Thanks……they are a lot of fun. And…a piece of history.
Thanks.
Yeah…..they are a lot of fun and a piece of history.
This jeep will be worth more than that sucker cuda that’s listed when you finish re conditioning IT
One sold at the geist auction near me, for 52,000, it was a 42 Ford, it was I was told the museum piece but the man’s cord only sold for $39,000, which would have been my choice