The Willys (pronounced Willis) MB and Ford GPW are the legendary WWII jeeps. 647,870 of these jeeps where produced between September 1940 and September 1945 (source g503.com). While Willys-Overland won the design competition for the jeep, the Military decided to grant both Willys and Ford contracts to produce the jeeps. I have a history of the early Bantam prototypes to the production model MB.
Both the MB and the GPW are based on the Willys design and are basically the same, but if you want to get technical, here are the differences.
An interesting feature of the MB/GPW is that the headlights are hinged and can swing back to point into the engine to provide light when working on the engine at night. This feature was not carried over to the other trucks.
| Displacement | 134.2 cu.in. | |
| Horsepower (SAE) | 15.63 | |
| Brake HP @ 4,000rpm | 60 | |
| Torque @ 2,000rpm | 105 lbs-ft | |
| Bore | 3 1/8" | |
| Stroke | 4 3/8" | |
| Valves | Intake | 1 17/32" |
| Exhaust | 1 15/32" | |
| Compression | 6.48:1 | |
The MB/GPW are the only military jeeps to use a 6 volt system. All the other jeeps use 24 volts.
More information on the engine/drive train.