While the Willys Jeep gets a lot of credit for being one of the more memorable military utility vehicles from U.S. history, it’s worth noting that Ford made precisely that same thing for some time, too. While The Blue Oval’s GP-No. 1 “Pygmy” prototype ultimately lost out to the Willy Jeep in terms of securing a contract with the U.S. military for World War II, Ford still supplied the government with a variety of similar vehicles over the years – including this very interesting 1971 Ford M151A2 Military Utility Tactical Truck (MUTT) that’s now up for auction.
This 1971 Ford M151A2 is up for grabs over at Bring a Trailer a full decade after the seller – who owns an entire collection of military vehicles – acquired it back in 2014. The Ford M151A2 originally debuted back in the late 1960s, but remained in production all the way up until the 1980s. This particular example was repainted in the current shade of green four years ago, and features a green vinyl soft top, a fold-down windshield, street lighting, a siren, a pintle hitch, and a rear-mounted jerry can, coupled with black steel wheels.
The interior is about as spartan as one would expect, with basic green seats that don’t have anything to offer in terms of lumbar support, exposed sheet metal, a body-color roll bar, front shoulder belts, a passenger grab handle, a heater, a lighting control switch, safety nets, and a master power cutoff switch. The driver has a few controls at their disposal such as the shifter, a transfer case lever, and a foot-activated starter button.
Motivation for this vintage military Ford model comes from a naturally-aspirated 142 cubic-inch inline-four cylinder engine, which sends an unspecified amount of power to the rear or all four wheels via a four-speed manual transmission and a single-speed transfer case. Underneath, it rides on a four-wheel independent suspension system with coilovers at each corner, too. In nice condition and as a cool piece of Ford and military history, it’ll be interesting to see what someone is willing to pay to bring this M151A2 home.
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