Willys MB and Ford GPW

1941 to 1945 · Military utility vehicle · United States military, Allied forces (Lend-Lease) Past model

The Willys MB and the matching Ford GPW were the standard U.S. quarter-ton 4x4 of the Second World War, the vehicle that made 'jeep' an everyday word. Built to one standardized design from late 1941 to 1945, more than 600,000 were built for American and Allied forces, and they served in every theatre of the war.

Generations, newest first

1941–1945
MB

Willys MB and Ford GPW

After Bantam's pilot car of September 1940 and 1941 pre-production runs of the Bantam BRC-40, Ford GP, and Willys MA, the Army settled on one standard design from Willys, chosen largely for its stronger 60-horsepower Go Devil engine. Willys folded in the best ideas of the rivals, including Ford's flat hood and front sheet metal, renamed the result MB, and began production on 18 November 1941. Because Willys alone could not build enough, Ford was signed in October 1941 to make the same design with interchangeable parts as the GPW, starting in January 1942. The first 25,808 MBs had a welded slat grille before Ford's cheaper stamped nine-slot grille was adopted in early 1942, and from 1944 both makers used a common body. The design carried on after the war in the civilian CJ-2A.

Willys L-134 Go Devil L-head I4

Open utility body

In the family

Came afterJeep M38 (Willys MC) (1950–1952)RelatedJeep CJ-2A (1945–1949)