Description
After a long time of research I’ll try to give a detailed explanation about the marked parts of a Ford GPW. Unfortunately it is not possible to give 100% evidence with reference to all parts. Now what does GPW really mean? All sources dating back to the time after the war tell that GP means general purpose. But the correct answer is to be found in the manual “ServiceSchool for USArmy Instructors on Ford”.The G stands for Government and means state purposes. P stands for reconnaissance car with a wheel- base of 80 inch (Jeep). The W stands of course stands for Willys. There are also parts which neither have an F or GP/W mark but they are for or of Ford. As an example, the company Electric Auto Lite produced a brown cap distributor and rotor distributor. Willys produced black ones. Another example the bracket horn differs significantly from the one produced by Willys if you have a look at the sikung.If really all parts have been marked on a Ford thiscan’t be traced back. Fact is that cars later produced on the assembly line had no signum. Even today you sometimes with a bit of luck find some parts packed in original Ford cases but not showing any marks.And on the other hand one finds parts which have deliberately been falsified by some dealers who had no scruples to do that in order to get a higher price. Therefore they used reproductions or Hotchkiss parts by sanding the WOF to mark the desired F.I don’t want to think of what has happened to original Willys parts. Some restoration specialists cheat themselves or they only want to show that they drive an original GPW Jeep.I have no understanding for this kind of behaviour. One prefers to build in parts or also screws that originate from war production even if they don’t have any signum. There are some variations as to the F, GP or GPW signum.They can be stamped but also elevated. It is surprising that there were different kinds of writings and sizes for the F in italics, as it was part of the companies’ brand name . Moreover there are also parts showing the complete name Ford. The smallest F I’ve ever discovered was on a part of a transmission cap and the biggest and most famous one is on the pintle hooks.