When most people stumble upon something like the 1943 Ford GTB “Burma Jeep” you see in the lead photo, they look for a second and them move on. Not this guy, I freak out and then quietly assess my options if I were to make an offer on a vehicle I cannot afford that is clear across the country from me, has no windshield, and would take about a month to actually wrangle home. I then spend the rest of the time quietly weeping in the corner. KIDDING (it isn’t a sob but more of a quiet, single tear type of deal).
This is a pretty rare find as far as WWII military trucks go because only 6,000 of these Ford GTBs were produced and they were worked hard in a number of roles during the later stages of WWII. So what is it? This pug-nosed little bastard is a compact one and a half ton truck with four wheel drive that was specifically designed to have a low silhouette which would have made it easier for air transport if the need ever arose. The three versions they were made in were cargo body, wrecker body, and bomb service body and this one appears to have been outfitted with the cargo body as evidenced by the low sided bed here. The bomb service trucks had a rig in the back of them and if this were a wrecker version I would have abandoned all of my worldly responsibilities to own it. Alas, it isn’t. This one is equipped with the 10,000lb winch that was optional equipment for the GTB.
The seating setup was weirdo as the driver sat in the typical position but the passenger sat facing the driver with his back toward the outside of the truck. If you were in a combat zone that seems like a bad place to be. Just our opinion there. Timken axles underpin the truck and the transfercase was a divorced affair that sent power front and back via a couple of driveshafts. With a 110-inch wheelbase, the thing was super maneuverable and could be zipped around with ease as power was coming from a 226ci Ford G8T militarized six cylinder engine. This was an L-headed inliner that made 90hp and did it reliably. No word if first gear was low enough to pop wheelies. Top speed was 45mph and the cruising range was 220 miles. One last interesting tid bit about the GTB is that this was a spring under axle design to keep the truck as low as possible.
This little thing would be awesome to cruise with the windshield laid down and no roof on it. It looks super tough with the dually rear and the big steel grill guard deal up front along with the 10,000lb winch for pulling duties. The 6,000 units were produced by Ford between 1942 and 1944 at their Edgewater, New Jersey plant. So freaking cool.
SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE PHOTOS OF THIS 1943 FORD GTB “BURMA JEEP” AND THEN HIT THE LINK TO SEE THE EBAY AD –
CLICK HERE to see the eBay ad for this 1943 Ford GTB
I don’t know if it’d be a chick magnet or repellant but it’s cool anyway. And being married it better be the later. 🙂
Cool, decent price.
See: http://money.cnn.com/2014/07/15/autos/littlefield-tank-auction/ Sad to see the Littlefield collection broken up but so it goes.