Arsenal of Democracy: The American Automobile Industry in World War II

Six: Jeeps, Trucks, and Amphibious vehicles

i n stark contrast to the Ordnance Department’s decision to use five different engines in Sherman tanks, the Quartermaster Corps, which was responsible for providing the military with trucks, moved decisively toward standardization of truck designs before the onset of World War II, and for good reason. During World War I, American troops in France had more than two hundred different makes of trucks, including many from British, French, Italian, and Spanish manufacturers, along with captured German trucks. Maintaining and repairing this fleet of trucks was nearly impossible. Between the wars, the Quartermaster General tried to standardize truck models within each weight class but was stymied by federal law requiring competitive bidding when purchasing trucks. When the army wanted to buy new trucks, scores of manufacturers would submit bids. A different manufacturer would typically win each of the various contracts, so the army had a mishmash of vehicles between the wars. In a memorandum dated 19 June 1940 addressed to the assistant secretary of war, Quartermaster General Edmund T. Gregory asked for an end to competitive bidding for truck procurement. His memorandum carried the endorsements of the chiefs of the four using arms: Infantry, Cavalry, Field Artillery, and Coast Artillery. By 1939 the army had settled on five chassis types for general-purpose trucks, based on the load capacity: ½-ton, 1½-ton, 2½-ton, 4-ton, and 7½-ton. In 1940 the army six Jeeps, Trucks, and Amphibious vehicles 148 chApter six added a ¼-ton chassis, replaced the ½-ton chassis with a ¾-ton chassis, and added three chassis to fill the gap between the 4-ton and the 7½-ton, bringing the total to nine chassis types. Gregory requested authorization to negotiate contracts with only one truck maker for each chassis type. He wanted to start negotiations immediately with the Dodge Division of Chrysler, General Motors, and Mack and to award each of them an exclusive contract for a particular model. The assistant secretary of war approved this new approach, pending congressional approval, but with conditions attached.1 The Quartermaster General (QG) was required to ask for written bids for a particular contract and then enter negotiations with some of the bidders before recommending a single manufacturer for the work. Only about fifteen days were allowed between the request for proposals, which was publicly advertised, and the opening of bids. On 2 July 1940, Congress had authorized war contracting “with or without advertising.” The Quartermaster Corps (QC) was not required to accept the lowest bid and, after early February 1941, was instructed to discontinue public advertising altogether. It could reject proposals based on its judgment of the manufacturer’s production capabilities or engineering competence. The development and production of the jeep, to be discussed shortly, illustrates how this new procurement system worked. The second major change to truck procurement came in mid-July 1942 when Lieutenant General Brehon B. Somervell transferred responsibility for trucks from the QC to the Ordnance Department, which was already responsible for tanks. Having only one army department dealing with the automobile industry made the tank and truck procurement system more efficient. By then, the secretary of war had standardized eight truck chassis for military use, ranging from the ¼-ton, 4 X 4 truck (jeep) to the 6-ton, 6 X 6 truck. The official army designation for trucks indicated the total number of wheels and the driving wheels, so a 4 X 2 has four wheels but only two driving wheels. A 4 X 4 is a four-wheel, four-wheel-drive truck.2 The Jeep In the late 1930s the army was considering a lightweight, fast four-wheel-drive truck that could be used as a command or reconnaissance vehicle.3 In late May 1940, the QC asked 135 manufacturers to submit proposals for a 4 X 4 ¼-ton vehicle with an 80-inch wheelbase, weighing no more than 1,300 pounds. The companies submitting proposals would need to deliver 70 pilot vehicles within seventy-five days, but the first was due only forty-nine days after the contract was awarded. When the 22 July deadline for proposals came, only two companies expressed interest: the American Bantam Car Company of Butler, Pennsylvania, and the Willys-Overland Com- jeeps, trucks, AnD Amphibious vehicles 149 pany of Toledo, Ohio. American Bantam was a very small automaker established in 1937 to build an improved American Austin mini car for the U.S. market. American...