THIS JEEP MATTERS: 1940 Ford Pilot Model GP-No. 1 Pygmy

this is the 1940 Ford pygmy GP pilot model this Jeep matters because it's the beginning of a series of vehicles that change the history of the United States and allowed us to win World War two one of the things that I feel is most important or makes this vehicle very special is the fact that it is an unrestored original Jeep I think it's a testimony to how robust the Jeep is that many of the components on this vehicle are exactly like they were in November of 1940 when it was tested by the army throughout the 1930s the army was trying to get the car manufacturers in the United States to replace the horse the motorcycle and the truck and finally in 1940 the Bantam car company submitted a model for them to evaluate that they really liked from that pilot though army wanted other manufacturers because who is American Bantam in Butler Pennsylvania so they invited the other manufacturers should come and look and then Ford and Willis submitted their pilot models the government was interested in getting a vehicle that was small relatively lightweight agile all-terrain that could move three or four troops around deliver goods ammunition maybe to the front lines and just be a general all-around all-purpose vehicle Ford came up with the vehicle behind me the Ford pygmy Willy's came up with a version also and the army did testing in late 1940 this vehicle the Ford pygmy was delivered on November 23rd 1940 when I first saw the Jeep I wore the nice vehicle you know small fun to drive I drove it quite a bit on contours of California the most interesting thing to me about the pygmy is that it was cobbled together out of existing parts that Ford had now the body was a totally unique design it's all hand built so if you look at the front of it the first thing you notice is the grille and the headlights are behind the grille and it's a low silhouette and that was one of the Ford prime design pictures - also you'll notice these hinges that stick out those are actual truck hinges that they adapted to the hinged headlights which is a concept that was carried over and used on the production Jeep the Jeep had four-wheel-drive it was a very strong vehicle for its size I mean plain I mean nothing fancy about it and if you had to change a transmission or something you get about four men and just roll it over the deep was not a real heavy vehicle one of the things that makes the Ford pigmy such a special vehicle is the fact that from the initial testing that the army did it's the only vehicle that survived the testing all three of the vehicles will return to their manufacturers and as far as anybody knows Willy's and bantams pilot models were not maintained they were destroyed or taken apart used for parts for other things the engine is a modified 9n tractor motor I say modified because this has a fuel pump and then the tractor motor was gravity fed the speedometer is a 60 mile an hour from a four-speed truck and you'll notice that it has the shift points on it which doesn't have anything to do with the street but the speedometer was 60 miles an hour and that's what they wanted so starting with the Ford pygmy and the other pilot models used in that initial testing the army awarded contracts to each of those three manufacturers for 1,500 prototype models for field testing and based on input and ideas that were gathered from that the army quartermaster Corps came up with a combined jeep that we know is the world war ii G during world war ii over six hundred thousand jeeps were manufactured Willy's couldn't make those jeeps fast enough and they split that contract Ford so half of World War two jeeps were manufactured by forward and half by Willy's the serial number stamped right here on the grill behind this well thing GP number one and it's also on the block on the side it's got a star GP no.1 star and that's original to the engine we were sent overseas they started out with equipment of World War one and sent horses over and they found that in the general horses you couldn't do anything with horses itself being brought in the Jeep and you could haul small loads of ammunition and you could get around through the trail with the jeep better than you could a horse one of the things that was so unique and loved about the Jeep in World War two and afterwards was it was so simple and so robust and was used for so many different tasks the transmission is real real firm the others have a bit of a softer feel to it but that's a modified model a transmission and model a is the transmissions are tough this vehicle is extremely easy to drive as far as the manoeuvrability and the visibility is concerned it's small you know where all the corners are at all times it's just a pleasure driving something that's that small and agile gas tank is under the seat and that seems dangerous as all get-out yet this became a standard design and it stayed with the Jeep all the way through the production of the mutts that one five one A two and I know of no real problem with it the other pilot models had a passenger top gas tank this mounted between the frame rails and they got bent up and they got punctured and then you're out of business from that house I think somebody would be hard pressed to convince me that a more successful vehicle has ever been produced or a more important vehicle has ever been produced that affected the history of the United States as the GPS I am John oginski and I'm Randy with RO from the US Veterans Memorial Museum in Huntsville Alabama and this Jeep matters you

Channel: HVA Films

Views: 230,858

Rating: 4.9064212 out of 5

Keywords: Jeep (Automobile Make), 4x4, Ford Motor Company (Automobile Company), Four-wheel Drive (Mass Transportation System), Mud, Offroad, first jeep, oldest jeep, GP, Ford GP, Ford Jeep, This Car Matters, Pygmy, Jeep Pygmy, WWII, World War II (Military Conflict), Military Vehicle (Product Category), Military

Id: HIBfU2lSfkY

Length: 6min 48sec (408 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 07 2015