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Heller 81105 US 1/4 Ton Truck 'n Trailer 1:35 |
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The Willys MB and the Ford GPW, both formally called the U.S. Army Truck, 1⁄4-ton, 4×4, Command Reconnaissance, commonly known as the Willys Jeep, Jeep, or jeep, and sometimes referred to by its supply catalogue designation G503, were highly successful American off-road capable light military utility vehicles built in large numbers to a standardized design for the United States and other Allied forces in World War II from 1941 to 1945. The jeep became the primary light wheeled transport vehicle of the United States military and its allies, with President Eisenhower once calling it one of three decisive weapons the U.S. had during WWII.
It was the world's first mass-produced four-wheel drive car; almost 650,000 units were built, constituting a quarter of the
total U.S. non-combat motor vehicles produced during the war, and almost two-thirds of the 988,000 light 4WD vehicles produced, counted together with the Dodge WC series. Large numbers of jeeps were provided to U.S. allies, including Soviet Union at the time — aside from large amounts of 11⁄2- and 21⁄2-ton trucks, some 50,000 1⁄4-ton jeeps and 25,000 3⁄4-ton Dodges were shipped to Russia during WWII - another example of how the Allies out-produced the Axis. |
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