1942 Willy's Hotchkiss Jeep - TAS 558

This jeep is a 1942 Willy's Jeep? It was bought in Belgium in spring 2003 and shipped back to the UK . After a few changes/additions, Mirrors, lights etc to comply with the UK traffic requirements the jeep was used regularly for 6 months up until xmas to get a 'feel' for what needed attention before undertaking a journey of any distance. During that winter the jeep was partly stripped, gearbox rebuilt, new valve fitted, and repainted in 101 Airborne markings and MOT'd 3 days before traveling to Normandy (and back) for the 2004 60 th Anniversary of D Day.

Following a complete engine rebuild last year saw a trip to Holland to celebrate the 60 th anniversary of liberation

Since 2003 this jeep has covered 4500miles and is driven almost every weekend for fun.

Those in the know may recognize a number of features that are particular to the Hotchkiss version of the classic American WWII jeep, Fillets in the front chassis irons, Single motor electric wipers, holes in rear corner for Aerial support brackets etc.

After the conflict in Europe was over in 1945 the American army left most of their equipment rather than ship it back to the states, which resulted in the post war French army having a large number of Ford and Willy's jeep in service and an enormous amount of spares in stock.

In the Early fifties the French army endevoured to find a home grown replacement for the WWII jeep, products from both Delahaye and Peugeot were tried and rejected. The decision was taken to replace the aging and worn out Ford and Willy's jeeps with essentially the same product manufactured under license from Willy's by the French company Hotchkiss.

During the late fifties and early sixties approximately 27,000 Hotchkiss jeeps were produced for the French army.

Also during time a refurbishment centre for Jeeps was set up by the French army in the outskirts of Paris at Meltourmee. Here well used Ford, Willy's and Hotchkiss jeeps were taken in at one end, stripped down and all parts that required it, refurbished or replaced. When the vehicles were stripped down the parts were not kept in sets and therefore at the end refurbished jeeps were built from a stock of spares, axles, chassis's, engines, etc. The result was a jeep built from Ford, Willy's and Hotchkiss parts to which the next set of paperwork was assigned.

Hence this jeep is refurbished with mainly Hotchkiss parts although Willy's parts have been identified and Ford parts have been found in the engine. As for the paperwork, the next set at the top of the pile was for a 1942 Willy's.

Hence this jeep is registered as a 1942 Willy's jeep which in reality is almost pure Hotchkiss. But who cares, it's great fun!