While many think of something like the Wrangler or a Willys when one mentions the world “Jeep,” the truth is, Ford made its own similar type of vehicle for military use a very long time ago – which served a very important role in World World II. In fact, the Ford GPW shares quite a bit in common in terms of styling with those models, and today, it’s a celebrated collectible that pops up at various online auctions from time to time. Now, that has happened again, as this very nice 1945 Ford GPW is currently up for grabs.
This 1945 Ford GPW is up for auction at Hagerty as part of The Carolina Collection, but it was previously used specifically by the U.S. Navy in England, and it’s fresh off a total restoration that has it looking better than new with all of the correct markings. There are also plenty of cool features such as a siren, a shovel and ax, a Jerry Can, rifle carrier, mechanic’s bag, fire extinguisher, and grease gun – the kind of stuff that came in handy when traversing all kinds of terrain.
This particular GPW is also fitted with period-correct Firestone non-directional tires, along with the original folding windshield, hand engine crank, a trailer hitch and hookup for towing purposes, a share wheel and tire, and plenty of historical goodness. Power comes from the Willys F4-134 134.2 cubic-inch inline four-cylinder engine, which sends power to all four wheels via a three-speed manual transmission, a two-speed transfer case, and Dana 25 front/Dana 44 rear axles.
After it was commissioned for World War II service in Great Britain, this Ford GPW was found stashed away on a farm in Virginia and purchased by a North Carolina classic car collector before landing in The Carolina Collection, at which point it was fully restored. It’s certainly one of the nicer examples we’ve seen, aside from another similar GPW that popped up for sale in late 2023.
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Just as an FYI. Ford did not make “it’s own” version of the original Jeep. The original was designed by the Bantam car company in Butler PA. When the government originally advertised for a new type of vehicle, the only company that actually met the original specs was the Bantam BRC. Bantam also built and delivered a testable prototype in 49 days. The army decided that Bantam ws too small to meet their demand so they gave all of Bantams engineering drawings and blueprints for the BRC to Ford and Willys. This Ford going to auction was built using the original design of the Bantam car companies original BRC. The army did give Bantam a contract to build small trailers.
I’ve been scrolling to find a YouTube posting from a few years’ back but so far have not been able to do so. A British collector had restored two WWII Jeeps. One came out of a Ford factory. The company did make a few improvements; side by side, the collector pointed these out. Some years ago I worked at Dean Sellers Ford in Birmingham, MI. The Old Man, Mr. Sellers, had two mint-condition Ford Jeeps and one slightly stretched command Jeep which seated an officer and a driver with a mounted machine gun in the back bench. The original owner is gone and I suspect those Jeeps along with a collection of Fords and motorcycle are as well. I can’t confirm this but I believe Ford built Jeeps or another military vehicle at Norfolk during the WW2. There was a manufacturing plant there before the war and military vehicles built during the war. My father was based there and served on a destroyer. I WOULD LOVE TO AT LEAST DRIVE AN ORIGINAL JEEP AT LEAST ONCE BEFORE I GO.