WORTH TWP — David Hustler will tell you that when it comes to wartime Jeeps, the Korean War model has it all over the Vietnam War model.

Hustler is from a military family, and is a former Allegheny County police officer and current historian. He gave a presentation at Saturday's Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival at Cooper's Lake Campground about the different wartime Jeeps over the years.

Hustler prefers the M38A1 Jeep, which was manufactured during the Korean War, to the M151 Jeeps used in Vietnam. He said they're “better” and offer “more stability.”

“They're very easy to roll over,” he said of the M151s.

At the time, the U.S. Military thought the rollover problem was with soldiers not driving properly, but Hustler said this was not the case.

“I think it was the vehicle, myself,” he said. “The vehicle is very unsafe.”

The positive of the M151A1 and M151A2 was that they offered more versatility in that soldiers could get in and out of them faster and more easily.

“If you look at it, it was versatile for that time period,” Hustler said. “The other ones you couldn't get out as quick.”

The original Jeeps were manufactured by the American Bantam Car Company, which was located in Butler. Bantam made Jeeps that were used on D-Day in Normandy.

“They were the ones that hit the beaches,” Hustler said.

Though Bantam was relegated to building trailers for Jeeps and aircraft landing gear, the Jeep continued to thrive under different manufacturers.

The M38 was the next model, and the M38A1 was built for the U.S.'s Korean War soldiers. The M151A1 and M151A2 were built for the Vietnam War, but the military was not fond of those models.

“When they came back to the states they wanted to chop (the models) up,” Hustler said.

However, Hustler does not think the vehicles played a factor in the war.

“They didn't hinder the war effort,” he said.

The average speed of these Jeeps, from the World War II brand to the M151s, was 40-45 mph.

Jeeps stopped being manufactured for military purposes in 1982, when they were replaced by the AM General Humvee.

However, Hustler said that Jeeps are still utilized at National Guard bases to this day.