Bantam was on the ropes, operating with a skeleton staff. It needed the contract desperately and prevailed on Karl Probst, an automotive genius from Detroit, to design the car. The challenge was steep: The Army wanted a four-wheel-drive quarter-ton truck with at least 40 horsepower and an unloaded weight of no more than 1,300 pounds - a requirement that ultimately proved impossible.
To meet the Army's deadline for bid submission, Probst spent 18 hours at his drafting table producing the necessary engineering layouts.
Willys' bid was lower, but Bantam promised to meet the Army's deadline. That meant producing a prototype of an entirely new vehicle in a mere 49 days.
What a mad rush then engulfed the Bantam factory in Butler! Probst and a hastily recruited team of engineers and fabricators worked late into the night, seven days a week. Parts were made by hand, shaped, and fitted by trial and error.
On Sept. 23, 1940, the Bantam Reconnaissance Car was presented to the Army at Camp Holabird, Md. Concerned about Bantam's production capacity, however, the Army invited Willys and Ford to devise their own versions based on the Bantam prototype. In the end, Willys and Ford built most of the war's jeeps, about 640,000. Bantam contributed 2,600.
Butler intends to keep celebrating its progeny, at least until the jeep's 75th birthday in 2015.
"It's the little car that could," Bortmas said. "It could haul food and ammo in and haul the wounded out. It could go anywhere and do anything.
"They still do, all over the world. That's why they say the sun never sets on the mighty jeep."
Contact staff writer and jeep owner Art Carey at 215-854-5606 or acarey@phillynews.com.
