It’s not a sports car, and it won’t win any beauty contests, but the Willys MB (also known later as the Willys Jeep) did help win World War II. Even well into the 1930s, America’s defense machinery was woefully lacking, especially in the critical transport of material and personnel. Astonishingly, the most capable machine for moving supplies and equipment—the same as that used during World War I and the 19th century—wasn’t a machine at all, but a mule. As the Axis juggernaut threatened Europe and the rest of the world, it was obvious that an equine infantry could not serve the needs of the European theater and beyond. And so, the Jeep, one of the most significant vehicles of all time, was born. While American Bantam is generally credited with the original Jeep, it was Ford and Willys–Overland, an Ohio-based manufacturer founded in 1908 and which merged with Kaiser Jeep in 1953, who bid on the..
