American Bantam pioneered the first Jeep to a design by Karl Probst, still with rounded fenders, and built 2765 of these (more than half of which went to The British Army and some sent on to Russia) after discontinuing the manufacture of passenger vehicles. Some of the motors and chassis were imported Toledo, OH; the bodies were made at the American Bantam Car factory in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The company produced the most fuel-efficient engine and first prototype under the original tender specifications and was awarded the first contract, but because Willys Overland used a more powerful engine, and because elements favorable to Ford within the Quartermaster Corps claimed that Bantam lacked production capacity to produce the vehicle on the scale needed by the United States Department of War, the awarding of ongoing contracts was reopened. Eventually the U.S. Army gave the BRC (Bantam Reconnaissance Car) 40 designs to Willys-Overland and awarded the bulk of orders to Willys and Ford, while Bantam went on to produce Jeep trailers (T-3).
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