The differences between a Willys, Ford and Hotchkiss Jeep
Posted By RichC on August 5, 2020
Ever since reading Boys’ Life magazine as a kid and perusing the “military surplus” advertising, I’ve wanted a classic military Willys MB Jeep (or Ford GPW). I’m sure that I was not alone? 
The old restored Jeeps have been staples at car shows, parades and aviation fly-ins for decades and I’m always attracted to them .. and yet only recently learned about the Hotchkiss M201 versions that were built well after WW2 and were nearly identical.
PHOTO RIGHT: Once the jeep’s design had converged, and was standardized, Ford and Willys built over 600,000 jeeps virtually identical to this 1944 MB (see Wikipedia link on the Willys MB)
Also the fact that Jeeps are made in Toledo, which is my original hometown, gives the “GeeP” (GP or GPW) soft spot in my heart. I can remember playing with the Tonka version of the little go anywhere topless “toy vehicle” the beach and ogling the Jeepster Commando (below), CJs, Wagoneer, Cherokee and pickup trucks (J-series and Comanche) when I was contemplating first and next cars.
An acquittance from church and husband of Katelyn’s High School German teacher has a restored Jeep and I’ve always wanted to nose around and check it out in more detail. Anyway, last week I read an automotive article about the very slight differences between manufacturers, and thought it was worth saving this automotive link:
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