Guess What Page This is......

Okay, so you guessed. Good for you!

Since Daimler took over Chrysler (Merger? Yeah,...right!) all traces of American Motors and its roots all the way back to the beginning of the last century are gone. The Jeep, which remained a separate entity, was just a jewel in their crown that had been passed to the crown of Chrysler (Another such "merger"!), but now adorns the crown of Daimler. (There is a hint of poetic justice in there somewhere.)

American Motors, for those that didn't know, began with the gradual merger of Nash and Hudson. (Now, that's a lot closer to a real merger!) Both had begun to produce the Rambler and later the Metropolitan in the early fifties under each's own banner. Hudson, which was the more sickly of the two, succumed to its insufficent popularity with the general public and was absorbed by the healthier partner which reorganized under a new name.

Jeep, on the other hand, was purchased from Kaiser-Frazier who, in turn, had gotten it from Willys, who had pretty much stolen the concept from Bantam during a competition for a Federal contract to produce a "general purpose" vehicle prior to World War II. And Bantam was further pushed out by Ford's manufacturing might for sub-contracted production of the vehicle. Bantam got an insulting consulation price though-to make a trailer for the Jeep. That was the death blow for Bantam who was hoping on a substantial government contract to save its ailing company from oblivion. After World WarII Bantam disappears from automobile history.