1945 Ford GPW
Serial 269934
Military Registration Number 20735573 S
Date of Delivery May 29, 1945
Owner: Don Kurjata and Family, St. Albert, Alberta.

The Jeep you are looking at was assembled at the Ford factory in Dallas, Texas and was tested and accepted for delivery by the United States Army on May 29, 1945. Approximately 277,878 Ford GPW's were produced during the Second World War from February 1942 until July 1945. The other wartime manufacturer of the Jeep was Willys-Overland. Willys produced approximately 360,000 of their version of the Jeep- the Willys MB.

This Jeep, like all others, has a four-cylinder, 54 H.P. engine of 134.2 cubic inches. This was mated to a 3-speed transmission and two speed transfer case. It was capable of either two-wheel or four-wheel drive. It had a Gross weight of 3253 lbs. and had a 1/4 ton rating.

This Ford GPW is one of a handful that exist today with the original engine (now rebuilt) still under the hood. It was purchased in Salt Lake City, Utah where it had sat neglected in a shed for close to 30 years. It was brought into Canada in December of 2007 and underwent a complete frame-off restoration by the owner. The Military registration number on the hood is original to this Jeep and was found under four layers of paint during the restoration process.

This Jeep is painted as it would have been the day it left the Ford factory and was tested and accepted by the U.S. Army. The U.S.A. registration numbers on the sides of the hood would originally have been flat drab blue. (One theory for this was that photographs taken of these numbers by enemy agents would be extremely hard to see with the black and white film used in those days.) When the Jeeps were assigned to a particular Army unit, most had these numbers repainted white.

One of the interesting things about the Ford GM version of the military Jeep was that almost every piece made for the jeep had the Ford logo, Ford Name, or the Ford Script 'F' cast, stamped, engraved or some other way marked. Most of the most visible 'F' marks are on the hack panels of both front seats. The largest script 'F' is cast into the pintle hitch. The largest Ford script logo can be seen on the front of the fender mow mounted black out light.