Jeeps in Olive Drab
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From the front, Bantam’s No. 1 prototype, delivered September 23, 1940, didn’t look much like what we have come to know as a Jeep. Still, it was the undisputed first of the breed. Built from a hodgepodge of parts from the Bantam car line, Spicer, Warner Gear, Continental, and many other manufacturers, "Old Number One" was brutally tested in late 1940 at Camp Holabird, Maryland, by the torture specialists of the United States Army. Bantam No. 1 was the first of a 70 unit contract. It disappeared early in 1941 after being damaged in a collision with a utility truck. Its fate is a source of much speculation by historians. View Related Article
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