Anybody Remember Back When?

[MossRoad]

Yep... Bantam built a proto type General Purpose Vehicle for the military... it was done in record time with round the clock engineering...

The military was very impressed and placed orders... but the little Bantam Company could only produce about 200 vehicles a week... WWII needed tens of thousands so the war department gave Willis and Ford orders to produce and the rest is history... Bantam in Butler PA still made trailers for the war department but ended auto manufacturing...

On the picture posted are my 1933 American Austin and 1938 Bantam 60 Roadster... I don't have a picture of my 1950 Crosley Convertible... but it too was small in stature.

Willys - Wikipedia

 

[MossRoad]

Kaiser Jeep - Wikipedia

 

[Industrial Toys]

I saw a video on the replacement of the Humvee. Some Oshkosh company. Quarter million dollars a pop! I think they should go back to the old M151!

 

[ovrszd]

Remember the 1949 Birds egg blue Ford car that was a change from the turtle back fords built in '48
Also cannot remember but did it have the Naugahyde leather seats . the '52 models had?

Pity the Extinction of the Naughta animal in having to produce all those tough car seats for vehicles.
I do understand a few are in captivity Northern Missouri.
ken

Under close care and supervision.

 

[turnkey4099]

Probably the AMC Pacer for the Fishbowl?

The Chevrolet Chevette gets my vote for bottom of the barrel... and I was working at a car lot at the time.

One of the first American Subcompacts is the Bantam... 60 mph and 60 mpg... WWII shifted production to the JEEP and the Bantam was no more...

Bantam was the one who engineered the jeep for WWII and then IIANM somehow got done out of contracts to build them.

 

[turnkey4099]

The American Bantam was fairly rare; don't think I ever actually saw one...seems like I remember that you had to order them and they came in a kit of sorts, and you had to assemble them. I do remember seeing magazine advertisements.

Anyone remember the Crosley? There were a few of those around, although I haven't seen one in quite some time. The little engine wasn't much bigger than a shoe box, and everybody I knew lusted after a '55 Chevy or a V8 Ford.

Green Cars Of The Past: 1951 Crosley Wagon

I believe the Bantam company actually designed the Jeep; however they did not have the manufacturing capacity to build the Jeep, and that job went to Ford. I don't think Bantam manufactured any Jeeps at all; if so, it was very few. They contracted to make the trailers.

A guy about 10 miles from my house has a whole tree grove of old cars, parked at the driveway is a crosley. Dunno if it runs though.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I saw a video from Iowa of hundreds and hundreds of old cars rotting away. Some with trees growing through them. I will never understand why someone would buy so many cars. I mean, nowadays wrecking yards turn over their inventory.

In the mid 70s I did some fill in babysitting for my sister. The customer had a v8, 4 BBL Pacer. Man did that thing fly!

 

[Looking4new]

Anyone interested in Jeeps and how they came about would enjoy this short read...

Bantam jeep story:

Thank you!

 

[Ken]

Under close care and supervision.[/QUOTE
Need the ASPCA to have a fund raiser . similar to there present save the Snow Leopard .
Only 39 bucks a month to protect and animal in Asia .
And they let this animal perish with out a comment.
ken

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Back to the Jeeps; The 151s hung around a long time. In the Seabees we still had a couple in our motor pool. Most guys liked them better than the newer 1/4 ton MUTTS 151 A1s and A2s. All 3 were very vulnerable to overturning, the 151 AIs and A2 the worst. The Cargo Handling Battalion reserve unit I served with in the 80s had the last 151 one still in service. We loved it; only 50K miles on it built in 1945, all original including attachments and the companion 1/4 ton trailer. It now sits at the Seabee Museum at Port Hueneme CA. The HUMVEE was a very cumbersome replacement and we hated it. Not very agile especially when up-armored. Big target. The Seabees wanted to go to a standard pickup truck with 24 volt electrical system modification (all military vehicles and trailers are 24V)n rather than the HUMVEE, but were shot down by the DOD procurement system.

Ron