The Slat Grill.

After winning the contract for the standard production of this new military 1/4 truck (the Willys MA), the original order was for 16,000 units, so Willys went back to the drawing board. The selection of the Willys MA standardised the design on the Willys chassis, though the final product incorporated Ford's square hood design and grill made up of heavy bars, as well as flat fenders.The Willys name was no longer stamped on the front edge of the bonnet and the head lamps were now set into the grill area. The final standard version was dubbed the Willys MB after a run of nearly 25,808 slat grill units. By the end of March 1942 the new MB made its debut, the grill design was revised yet again to the 9 slotted grill stamping that we all know and love today.

The slat grill was named for its welded steel grill (not unlike the Ford GP). The early production MBs were definitely 'works in progress'. Many running changes appeared during their production, all of which evolved into the final version of the MB. An early production slat grill is an entirely different animal to a late production Jeep. At least 5,112 slat grills were built without glove boxes (although the dash plates were still in the same place), and around 3,545 of the very early production models used a shorter MA style windscreen. Most early MBs also have a very noticeable squared-off fuel tank sump, different from the later rounded look. Other smaller differences included the black-out light, which was mounted on the left front wing. A round exhaust muffler was used on these early models instead of the familiar oval one in later years. AC air filters were used instead of the later Oakes units, rubber bonnet bumpers were used instead of the later wood. Most early MBs had solid disc wheels (not the combat split rims, seen on later models).There is a noticeable lack of a spare Jerry can holder and no trailer light connector.

the three grill designs together

Today, you can still find some Willys slat grills around (more so here in the UK), and even though not so many were made their value is still similar to that of the standard grill design. The reason appears to be that most Jeep owners or buyers are looking for that well known 'standard' grill look rather than the one they don't know much about; hence they're not really sought after although in my mind they should be. It would appear that most of these early slat grills were sent overseas (under lend-lease programmes). As for the USA, it is estimated that there are only around 300 that survive there today.

Since the Willys MA had the Willys logo on the grill, the new MB grill did not have room for it. So Willys stamped the Willys name on the rear left of the body tub. This also carried over to the early stamped grill MBs, and the same was also done on early Ford GPWs; these became known as script bodies. Today many people ask why were the names removed? Well the answer to that is very simple, the US Government did not wish to see any free advertising on any of its military equipment, so Willys and Ford were told to remove their logos as soon as they could. Hence the slat grill and Script bodied MBs and GPWs are becoming more sought after today.