FreightWaves Classics: The jeep is born!

The Bantam jeep prototype, built in 1940. (Photo: National Museum of American History/Smithsonian Institution)

The state of the U.S. Army (1918-39) 

Although World War I began in August 1914, the United States did not enter the war until April 6, 1917, after numerous U.S. merchant ships were sunk and casualties mounted from civilian ships being torpedoed or shelled by German U-boats. U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps troops took part in the last offensives that ended the war. By 1918 there were nearly 2.4 million men in the U.S. Army, and nearly 53,000 in the Marines. However, after the armistice was...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classics-the-jeep-is-born

FreightWaves Classics/Pioneers: John Willys influenced the auto industry for decades

A 1963 Willys FC-150 work truck. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons))

From bicycles to cars

An advertisement for the Overland Six. (Image: periodpaper.com)An advertisement for the Overland Six. (Image: periodpaper.com)

On this date in 1873, John North Willys, a “leading automobile industrialist,” was born in Canandaigua, New York. He began his career selling bicycles and was quite successful – by 1900 (when he was only 27) he had sold more than $500,000 in bicycles. However, when Willys (pronounced Will-is) saw his first automobile he realized that autos would supplant bicycles as the primary mode of personal...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classics-pioneers-john-willys-influenced-the-auto-industry-for-decades

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