Platinum Member fen01 Posted September 19, 2016 Platinum Member Share Posted September 19, 2016 Spencer Wilks: "In 1947, he founded Land Rover around Maurice's design for a small, sturdy, economical, four wheel drive utility vehicle modelled on the Willys Jeep. Seems the Wilks brothers also used a jeep on their family farm. Wonder why LRO never reported this with the JOC pictures on their Facebook page? A simple caption....." Where Landrover began"..... Jeep at the Landrover show? Very appropriate. I guess the truth really does hurt the LR purists who have gone into denial. Their prototype was built on a Willys chassis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Volant165 Posted September 19, 2016 Platinum Member Share Posted September 19, 2016 Don't both companies owe it all to this little fella? Bantam Blitz Buggy.... Yeah but bantam couldn't get it up (production) so the OPM awards it to Willys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Account_Deleted_02 Posted September 20, 2016 Share Posted September 20, 2016 Absolutely! But....the preferred prototype was the Bantam and because they didn't have the capability for mass production, Willys overland and ford were given that design by the military to cherry pick the best bits from and base their designs on. So the landrover was based on the Willys and the Willys was based on the Bantam. :great: http://www.4wheelhero.com/bantam-brc/ All I'm suggesting is that before we play the "landrover owners don't know their history" card, we have a little reading to do ourselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Volant165 Posted September 20, 2016 Platinum Member Share Posted September 20, 2016 I think you missed the boat buddy.The LR comments above were the result of the lack of appreciation by a lot of LR owners both at the show and on social media. 1. Come to a club event. 2. Bring one Bantam to a JOC event 3. see the difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Account_Deleted_02 Posted September 20, 2016 Share Posted September 20, 2016 Missed the boat, probably! Wouldn't be the first time. Borrow a Bantam, and bring it to a club event. I would love to but apparently there's only one left. Don't think I'm going to get my mits on that one but I get your point. On the whole, I think it would be warmly received and appreciated, rather than folks playing the our 4x4 is better than your 4x4 game. I guess my point was that I'm starting to see a bit of that "ours is better" culture in the club and was trying to bring it back to earth. Yes, used the wrong topic! :icon_redface: :hijacked: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Mac Posted September 20, 2016 Platinum Member Share Posted September 20, 2016 As it happens the bantam was not the birth of Jeep, The American Austin Company were the 1st of over 120 companies to have a prototype ready by the US Army's deadline, both Ford and Willies were building theirs to the specifications set out by the Army. Yes Bantem was the first prototype to hit the deadline and test site but all prototypes were based on the same specs. Ford had played with a prototype as early as 1938ish. If AAC had been bigger and stable then who knows we could all be driving bantem style cars, gotta love history Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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