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yankeedog — Bantam Prototype
Published: 2007-09-24 20:36:28 +0000 UTC; Views: 4937; Favourites: 42; Downloads: 30
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Description
This is an illustration of one of the Bantam GPV prototype built in Butler Pennsylvania that led to the development of the first Jeep for the United States Army. Although Bantam clearly won the design competition, Willys was awarded the contract to build the Jeep. It was thought that Bantam wasn't a big enough company to handle building the Jeep and the contract was awarded to Willys, but even Willys couldn't fulfill the order and other companies like Ford were given contracts to build the sturdy little machines. Bantam had to settle for the contract to build trailers for the Jeep.Without a doubt, the Jeep turned out to be one of the most amazing machines ever built. There was almost nothing it couldn't be used for. From basic transport to ambulance to armed reconnaissance and rapid attack vehicle, the Jeep proved it could do the job, any job. It could pull train cars, it could even be made to float. It did have it's limits, but that never stopped GI's from pushing the Jeep well beyond it's limits and adapting to fit the job. I personally would take a Jeep over a Humvee any day. Humvees are nice, but they're no Jeep, there is only one Jeep.
This vehicle is on display at the John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh.
Adobe Illustrator 8.0 and CS2, Apple G5 Power Mac, OSX Tiger.
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Comments: 50
You're Welcome! Thank You for your Generosity in Allowing us to Fave Your Works. Thank You for your Thoughtfulness in Sharing the Historical History & Reasons for creating your Works of Art! Thank You for Your Pride and Love in our Military History. 'HOOOAAH!'
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Very nice! I like the stories you include, too. They help cement each picture with the place in history it belongs. I feel like I ought to share a little story of the army Jeep I just got to visit. This past Saturday, I went to the annual Cider Days celebration, mainly for the cider and classic vehicle show. There was a Willys Jeep there. It was a bit worse for the wear, but had the original paint, glass, and such. Wish I could be more descriptive.... This reminds me of it. Still ran like a charm!
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Thanks! I usually do a lot of research before I commit myself to doing an illustration, it would be a shame not to share that as well.
I'd love to get an old Willys , I keep throwing hints to my wife about getting one, but she hasn't been too receptive. I guess she still remembers how cold my CJ-5 Tuxedo Park was. 
-YD
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Just can't take a hint. There's some interesting reading about your Jeeps there, too. The dangers of four-wheelin'!
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I think she's ignoring me.
-YD
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Makes for good stories, that's for sure. Lessons learned. And, plus, Jeeps won't get stuck backing out of a steep driveway in clear weather.
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I've been stuck a few times, but nothing serious. A friend of mine who was a little on the wild side, had an IH Scout with a lift kit, monster tires, V8 with some serious engine work, went out one Saturday after a good snow and tried to do some of the trails we would do when the weather was good and got the Scout desperately stuck. His dad owned a road construction company, so he hiked back to his dad's company and borrowed a frontloader and proceeded to get that stuck too! In the end, they had to use a bull dozer to get them both out! His dad christened the dozer "Rescue 1".
-YD
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Ah, hubris. Kind of reminds me of the time Mikey got the truck stuck in "a little puddle" on American Chopper.
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Knowing the way they overreact, I can imagine what that was like.
-YD
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It went over soooooo well. /sarcasm.
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I'll bet. A friend of mine met them for a chopper project we did for HJ Heinz Co. The closest I came to meeting them was when I was asked to design a couple choopers for the USAF. OCC built the design they selected, but it really didn't look like my design except for the gas tank. If I was paying for it, I'd have had them do it over, but the AF liked what they did, so I guess all well that ends well.
-YD
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Yeah, it is a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it!
-YD
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Yes if the price was right! I never posted the AF chopper designs. Here's a photo of one of the AF NASCAR paint scheme I designed [link]
-YD
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I think DuPont is doing it, actually. What with their slogan being "Cover the Earth" and all. So that's your work I've been watching go around my TV at breakneck speeds. I remember the tank, and only the tank from the AF bike build. Yay, you posted 'em, and linked to me! 15 minutes of fame, right here, people.
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You mean the Sherwin-Williams logo, I only know this because my wife hates that logo.
-YD
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15 minutes including a commercial break, I think. One of those 6-minute commercials. On second thought, it is Sherwin-Williams. I remembered it wrong, and should have checked before I shoved a foot in my mouth. 
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I'll get 15 minutes more tomorrow night at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix's Victory Lap [link] I did the 2007 race poster and they are going to give me a plaque!
S-W's logo is kind of strange.
-YD
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Oh, rock on! You not only get to have that in your city, but you get to design the poster. I haven't seen a promo poster in a long time that actually had good artistic standards. Now that dry spell is broken. I used to love to hang out at the cinema to check out the movie posters. Not so fun anymore. Concert promos are getting better, but overall, not so much. This year's Pikes Peak Hill Climb had awful promo posters, too, with a "digitally enhanced" picture of last year's race. Not even a good photo, and a poor digital mod. In contrast to... wow. I want one of those posters. And I want to see the vintage Grand Prix.
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Thanks! It's a really fun race venue through a very beautiful park setting and these guys take it pretty serious, there is some all out racing going on! The show cars are impressive too, I was like a kid in a candy store. It was a real thrill for me to do the poster this year. I think you can still get them through the PVGP store, I think they are $12. I had some, but I gave them all away.
-YD
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(eyes glaze over) I can imagine that setting. So much better than taking over the football stadium's spillover parking lot on game night to run a modern-vehicle Grand Prix. They never pulled that again. Don't know where they moved it. The only real scenic race we get going on around here is the Pike's Peak Hill Climb.
I got some insane photos of that, including the whole vintage motorcycle class (all Triumphs for some odd reason) and one of the japanese dude breaking the record just above Devil's Playground. You can actually see me and my camera on the arial footage of his run. Shitting my pants, because he was coming right at me. I got some great photos of that guy, too, if only I could find the rolls. I never knew it was possible to turn that tight, on gravel, going 90. But he managed it and nearly ran into me and the boulder field behind me, overcorrected, nearly went off the cliff, and left like a bat out of hell to repeat it at the next corner.
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It is a cool venue, very photogenic, but the stone walls will turn a classic to scrap in a split second!
I've seen the Pike's Peak Hill Climb on TV and every time I see it, I get this sick feeling in my gut at the break neck speeds, deadly curves at nose bleed heights! Amazing racing!
-YD
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Although the photo of the wall-incident certainly won't be a scrap.
The city of Colorado Springs is paving the road now and is a couple of years from being done, as well as installing guardrails. A great thought, but there's no way to anchor them. Seems like it would just make ordinary people drive more reckless the rest of the year.
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I didn't see any accidents while I was at the race, other than cars hitting a hay bale, but those stone walls have claimed a few classics over the 25 years the PVGP has been run.
That is pretty wild, when you think of some of the technology and it's limits, I'm sure racing Pike's Peach was and still is something just short of suicide.
Yeah, if you want to make people drive crazy, just pave or repave a road.
-YD
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How true. And for some people, it's not short of it at all. All of the official '07 photos are at [link] under "photo galleries." The sidecar racing's especially wild. As for crashes, all the photos they have of 'em are in there, but there aren't many crashes that hang around for the photo op.
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Wow, that is so cool, I love this car: [link]
-YD
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That's a great one. I remember I was changing film when he went by. Hurried up and barely got the back end of the Cobra. These guys [link] were something else. It takes some cajones to be a monkey on one of those and post a 16 minute time.
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Yeah, that's a cool looking Cobra. I'm sure those guys in the sidecars might need a change of drawers after a hot run up that hill. The Air Force guys call that the pucker factor.
-YD
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Air Force guys seem to have a name for everything.
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I can live without that too!
-YD
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Okay. I'd paint it for the right price
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Haliburton probably already got the job.
-YD
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Well done on a great piece of vector work buddy 
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Wow! this one looks fierce! perhaps due to the tyres (the tyres have a bit purple shade in them) a very original illustration!
- Ahmed Nayyer
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Thanks Ahmed! Yeah, those tires are wild, they look like farm tractor tires to me. I've been having trouble getting colors to look right. I got a new wide screen monitor and what looks good on it, looks different on other monitors, it going to take some getting used to.
-YD
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Thanks Turn! I haven't heard from you in a while, how's it going?
-YD
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Didn't they start with the horn button when the started to design it?
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I don't know about that, but it wouldn't surprise me. I guess hey had to start somewhere?
-YD
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Yeah, I watched something on the History channel that talked about this. I remember it. Great job once again.
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Thanks! I'll have to watch for that. Was it on Modern Marvels?
-YD
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You're welcome. I forget what it was, it's been so long. It might have even been the old Automobiles program.
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