Episode 21: The Wild, Crazy Ride to Invent the Jeep (And Win the War) with Paul R. Bruno

The With Jay Burke Show

Paul R. Bruno was watching the History Channel one night when they mentioned an off-hand reference that a little-known car manufacturer called Bantam had designed and specified the Jeep for the military in a last-ditch effort to stave off bankruptcy.

What started as a curiosity has turned into more than twenty years of studying and writing about the early history of Jeep for Paul. He uncovered an origin story about the Jeep that narrative unfolds as a soap opera of sorts.

Bantam, the small company with the least resources, scrambled to win the rights to the Army contract and survive as a company. Battling it out with Willys-Overland, and later The Ford Motor Company and still being the first did design the first Jeep, which would later be called the MA model, and be instrumental to the Allies winning the war.

Paul is the author of three award-winning books called Project Management in History: The First Jeep, The Original Jeeps, and The Original Jeeps in Pictures.

Click here and can get yourself a copy of Paul's book THE ORIGINAL JEEPS