BY JIM ALLEN [email protected] PHOTOS: JIM ALLEN & U.S. ARMYWe’ll let our time machine take you back to July
31, 1941, when Willys-Overland was awarded
a contract for 16,000 standardized^1 ⁄ 4 -ton 4x4s.
Willys-Overland’s bid was $748.75 per vehicle
and 149 days to complete the contract. The near-
est rival, Ford Motor Company, was $782.59
and 171 days, and the number-three bidder was
Bantam at $788.32 and 152 days.
The story is often told as a three-way duel
to the death between the three prototypes, but
the reality was that it came down to dollars
and cents. Each of the three companies had
submitted test models incorporating the lat-
est specifications and changes decreed by the
military authorities, and each one was tested
individually to determine if it met a minimum
performance standard and also if it met the
required specifications. All three models had
been deemed “suitable for military service,”
and that qualification allowed the companies to
submit bids. There had been a lot of craziness
and political wrangling to that point, but on that
July 31 date, Willys took the brass ring that was
later called “Jeep,” and it would shape that com-
pany, and the others that carried on the brand,
until the very day you read this.
The Willys-Overland second-generation test
model was the MA (M for Military Contract
and A for Model A), and it had proven a very
worthy candidate, though the same could be
said of the Ford and Bantam test rigs as well. In
fact, through the various earlier models submit-
ted—three generations of Bantam and two each
from Willys and Ford—many small features
and design elements had been homogenized
into the specifications for the latest test models.
The obvious part of the military procure-
ment process is the rigorous testing designed to
uncover weaknesses and come up with updates
to eliminate them. In the case of a totally new
vehicle type, it’s also to discover and refine fea-
tures to better suit the needs of the combat arm
that will use it. As Willys learned, the military
procurement process is maddening at the best
of times, and the job wasn’t done at the win-
ning of a contract. The process of refining the(^1) ⁄ 4 -ton 4x4 prior to standardized production was
maddening in the extreme, and maybe Willys
had a private rubber room with a wet bar at the
Toledo factory so the people involved could
get the frustration out of their systems without
hurting themselves or others.
What emerged on November 18, 1941, was
the first standardized^1 ⁄ 4 -ton 4x4, which Wil-
lys dubbed the MB, and what we now call the
MB Slat Grille. Imagine how everyone felt at
Willys when on December 7, just 19 days later,
the world erupted into war. The Willys MB
became more than just a product, and the world
would never be the same.
The early-production MB is so much differ-
ent than the MB of just a few months later that
it’s worth a separate chapter in the book of Jeep
history. From July 18, 1941, to March 6, 1942,
some 25,808 MB Slat Grilles were built. They
evolved so quickly, with many running changes
and updates, that only a few thousand of them
within that number could be said to be identical.
Of course, the biggest visual difference is
the grille. The early MB emerged with what
had been standard in all of the previous pro-
totype and pre-standardized iterations—a
grille made of welded steel slats, hence the
“slat grille” moniker. MB serial numbers
started at 100,001 and the last MB Slat
Grille was 125,808, built around March
6, 1942. The more familiar stamped grille
appeared into production starting then, and
the story of how that came to be is funny
and worthy of repetition.
Even as the 16,000-unit contract was
being awarded in July of 1941, there was a
realization that a second source of produc-
tion would likely be needed. By October,
Ford Motor Company had been contracted
to be a second supplier. By December 7,
it became crystal clear that was a great
move. Ford would gear up to produce the
standardized model, including the Willys-
designed engine, and do it so quickly that
most of the auto industry had to stop and
remove their hats.
As Ford tooled up, engineers noted the
onerous process of building the welded
slat grille, something that required a small
room full of men to make quickly in large
numbers. It was a simple matter to design a
die to stamp a grille out of sheetmetal. Cha-
CHUNK! There’s a grille. The production
expedient was approved subject to it being
interchangeable as an assembly with the slat
grille. The first Ford-built jeeps with the
stamped grilles came on January 6, 1942,
and by early March the Willys-built units
had transitioned to it as well.
fourwheeler.com FOUR WHEELER OCTOBER 2019 67
From the rear, many notable differences
are found, including the stamped “WILLYS” in
the panel and the lack of a jerrycan rack. The
WILLYS disappeared about the time the slat grille
did, but jerrycan racks didn’t appear until well
into 1942 production. An MB Slat Grille would
not have rolled off the line with the trailer socket,
though that was often added in short order. A
round muffler was used rather than the more
familiar oval one. We could geek out on the long
list of tiny differences.