[Paladin2]

[GeronL]

Isn’t that an Italian company now?

[Anoreth]

They just took the doors off a Wrangler.

[mortal19440]

Originally designed and built by Bantam Car Works in Butler PA. Great tradition.

[niteowl77]

My late uncle (a motor vehicle maintenance officer in WWII and a Dodge/Plymouth dealer in the 1950s) would have raised his eyebrows if someone had told him that in 2014, the ghost of Chrysler - in a Fiat/US government form, no less - would be commemorating Willys-Overland's version of a military vehicle appropriated by said government from American Bantam and simultaneously produced by Ford.

Mr. niteowl77

[SouthernBoyupNorth]

I would be more impressed if they put the old straight 6 back in it.... those babies had low end torque forever... and they were indestructible.

[GreyFriar]

My grandfather had a Kaiser-Frazier & Willy’s dealership in 1949-53. I remember riding around in his Willy’s jeep and his Overland, that we had until the mid-50s.

[donmeaker]

In 1948, US Federal Trade Commission agreed with American Bantam, that the idea of creating the Jeep was originated and developed by the American Bantam in collaboration with some US Army officers. The commission forbade Willys from claiming directly or by implication, that it created or designed the Jeep, and allowed it only to claim, that it contributed to the development of the vehicle.[5] However, American Bantam went bankrupt by 1950, and Willys was granted the “Jeep” trademark in 1950.