Oldest Army Jeep recovered, gets some TLC

It’s the holiday season, time to remember old friends, so let’s remember the proud heritage of all the great Jeeps you’ll find at Barnett.

In this case, let’s remember one particular old friend, 75 years after it impressed the Army. It’s the oldest known jeep, one of a kind, and it’s getting some much needed attention.

GP-No.1 is on display in the Veteran's Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Ala. The museum and the Historic Vehicle Association just finished verifying its history and documenting that GP-01 is one of five original test vehicles—two from Ford, two from Willys Overland, and one from American Bantam.

Originally called the "Pygmy" and built and tested by Ford engineers in Dearborn and Detroit, GP-No.1 is the only one of those prototypes known to still exist in North America. The GP designation is believed by many to have hatched the name "jeep."

The Pygmy had features that remain prominent on the Jeep brand today, including the upright grille with vertical slots that are literally the brand's trademark, as noted by Historic Vehicle Association president Mark Gessler.

"The government didn't really know what it wanted," when jeep development began, Chrysler historian Brandt Rosenbuch said. The Army began work on specifications for a light four-wheel-drive reconnaissance vehicle in 1937 with American Bantam of Butler, Penn.

Henry Ford was a staunch pacifist with little interest in the war brewing overseas, but he thought a little four-wheel-drive vehicle could be useful for agriculture, one of his passions. His more globally minded son Edsel used that opening to spearhead the GP-No.1 project, beginning a process that would see Ford become a vital supplier of wartime equipment.

"It's an icon of World War II and a symbol of wartime production by the auto industry," said Matt Anderson, transportation curator at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. "It's also the grandfather of all SUVs. It's very rare to be able to trace a whole class of vehicles to a single one, but this is where it all began."

The jeep remained in military service for decades, but it was popular with civilians before the guns of World War II even fell silent. Willys got special permission to begin building civilian jeeps months before other automakers were allowed to switch from wartime production and resume their usual businesses.

"It was initially marketed as a farm vehicle," Rosenbuch said. "That's why the government allowed civilian production, to help get the economy up and running after the war."

Henry Ford donated GP-No.1 to the museum that bears his name in Dearborn in 1948. It remained there, getting surprisingly little attention, until the museum sold it and some other "minor" items from its collection in 1982.

History buff Randy Withrow of Huntsville snapped it up.

"It gave me a chill," he said. "I couldn't believe they'd auction it off.”

For serious auto buffs, here are the specifications of 1940 Ford "Pygmy" prototype GP-No.1:

Vehicle type: Quarter-ton four-wheel-drive reconnaissance truck

Curb weight: Approximately 2,150 pounds

42 horsepower Ford 119.5 cubic-inch four-cylinder modified tractor engine

Spicer transfer case and axles Suspension: beam axles on leaf springs

Length: 133 inches

Width: 59 inches

Height: 59 inches

 

Stop by Barnett and test-drive any of the Jeeps descended from GP-1, either a new 2016 or an attractively priced remaining 2015. During the Jeep Year-End Blockbuster going on now you can lease a loaded 2016 Jeep Cherokee Latitude 4x4 for just $199 a month, or a 2016 Jeep Patriot for an

incredibly low $99 a month! When you pay us a visit and we’ll provide all the details on these extraordinary offers.

And don’t forget that exclusive and FREE Million Mile Warranty on every new vehicle purchased from Barnett.