| How to tell the differences between an MB/GPW/Hotchkiss? This page will give you some clues, but is never complete and may contain errors, altough I will state it if I'm not sure of something mentioned. I'll provide as many detailed pics as I can get, but mostly you'll have to do it with words. My English is far from perfect and if anything is unclear, please E-mail me and ask. For the differences between a WWII jeep and a Hotchkiss click here. |
| Willys MB Frame The Willys has a steel tube like front cross member on its chassis (see pic) The machine gun mount plate is of a different shape than Ford's Engine The original colour of a Willys engine was green The MB serial number starts with "MB". See pic for place (identical to Ford) Body Instant give away: the round depression for the tool box lock button The tool box lids are flat Ford GPW Frame The Ford has a inverted "U" shaped steel front cross member on its chassis. (see pic). Note: very early production GPW's used Willys chassis with the tuble like front member, but with a Ford chassis number See pic of Ford machine gun mount plate Engine The original colour of a Ford engine was grey (pic Tony Norton) The GPW engine serial number starts with "GPW". See pic for place (identical to Willys) (pic Ren Bernier) Body The depression for the tool box lock button on the Ford was of a rectangular shape* (see pic) (pic Ren Bernier) The tool box lids have a profile stamped into them (see pic) (pic Ren Bernier) |
| These features allow you to give a jeep a quick check on it's make. These are only the most obvious ones, and there are many more little things. To make things easier for you Ford stamped an "F" on every single part, including the bolts. If you have any Ford-made part on your Willys; it will be marked so. However, don't forget that most jeeps were rebuilt at least once in their service career and that no care what so ever was taken to put back the original parts. Jeeps with matching numbers are quite a rarity, and jeeps with chassis, engine or bodytub from different makes are common. The problem may be to determine what the make of your jeep is. For example: if you have a jeep with a Willys frame and engine but with a Ford bodytub, you can say you have a Willys, But what if you have a jeep with Willys frame but with both Ford engine and bodytub? Because the framenumber appears on the car title, you'll probably have to register it as a Willys after all. If this bothers you much the cheapest solution is to wait until you meet someone who has the same problem, but with the different make (Ford frame, rest Willys). Don't marry that person this time, but just trade chassis. |
| Identification Part I Willys / Ford |
| * Note: From late september 1943 onwards Both Ford and Willys used Composite Bodies. These were identical for both manufacturers and had the best characteristics of both Willys and Ford bodies united in them. They have the round tool box lock depression, but Ford jeeps fitted with these composite bodies often had the tool box lid with the profile. They were produced by ACM for both Willys and Ford. |