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Eventually the Army gave the BRC (Bantam Reconnaissance Car) 40 designs to Willys-Overland and awarded the bulk of orders to Willys and Ford, [25] while Bantam went on to produce jeep trailers (T-3). After World War II American Bantam continued to make trailers for the consumer market.
Bantam BRC is an American off-road vehicle designed during World War II, constructed in 1940, and the precursor to the Jeep. Produced in a relatively small number of 2,642 units, in several versions, it was used by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union. The basic version of the model was the BRC-40 (Bantam Reconnaissance ...
He was born in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, to Charles and Eva (Knight) Probst.He studied engineering at Ohio State University and graduated in 1906.. Probst was recruited by American Bantam Car Company in 1940 to help it win a contract to provide the U.S. Army with a lightweight reconnaissance vehicle that could transport troops and equipment across rugged terrain.
Ford Motor Co. had an army vehicle prototype called the Pygmy, and American Bantam went with BRC for Bantam Reconnaissance Car. Hausmann, though, had another name in mind.
Exterior changes, mainly mounting flat and square front fenders, instead of the first car's bulbous round ones, identify the BRC (Bantam Reconnaissance Car) Mark IIs, also called the "BRC 60". [nb 20] Both the Willys "Quad" and the Ford "Pygmy" prototypes were very similar to the Bantam Pilot and were joined in testing by Bantam's Mark II models.
American Bantam was the first to deliver a pilot vehicle to the Army on 23 September 1940. Willys-Overland followed with its Quad on 13 November. On 23 November, [ 1 ] Ford delivered two pilot vehicles to Camp Holabird , Maryland for testing: the Pygmy and a second vehicle with a body built by the Budd Company .
The Fort saw extensive field-testing of the Bantam Reconnaissance Car, later to be known as the "Jeep." The Fort was also a major factor in the development of various forms of the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital , or "MASH," and the perfection of many medical techniques used in trench warfare.
Bantam's BRC 40, pictured in 1941. When it became clear that the United States would be involved in the European theater of World War II, the Army contacted 135 companies to create working prototypes of a four-wheel drive reconnaissance car. Only two companies responded: the American Bantam Car Company and Willys-Overland. The Army set a ...