American Bantam Car Co. workers built 70 prototypes in 12 weeks. They also produced 1,500 vehicles by May 1941. But the contract to build more Jeeps went to Willys-Overland and Ford.

Iconic and recognizable are two words that describe the Jeep.

“The Jeep is an iconic vehicle because of its great impact on the war and post-war America and later the world,” said Julius Lorentzson, 68, of Fairmont, W.Va. “It was one of the first production vehicles that offered four-wheel drive.”

The ninth annual Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival is a tribute event for the father of all Jeeps, the history behind it, the people who created it and its birthplace, Butler.

Gen. George Marshall, World War II Army chief of staff, called the Jeep “America's greatest contribution to modern warfare,” said Patti Jo Lambert, festival director.

In 1940, the U.S. Army asked 135 tractor and auto manufacturers to design and have a working prototype of a four-wheel drive, 40 horsepower, 1,300 pound reconnaissance car that could haul soldiers as well as heavy artillery ready for a test run within 49 days, according to the Butler County Tourism & Convention Bureau.

The American Bantam Car Co. of Butler promised to deliver in 45 days and won the contract.

Bantam's factory manager Frank Fenn, former General Motors executive Arthur Brandt and a skeleton work crew worked on the project when Fenn called freelance designer Karl Probst in Detroit and offered him the design job, according to the Butler County Tourism & Convention Bureau. Probst agreed to design the car in five days and forgo payment for his services if Bantam did not win the Army contract.

The Bantam prototype was called the Bantam Reconnaissance Car, or BRC. After nearly seven weeks, the Bantam group managed to bring the layouts and spec sheets to life.

Ralph Turner of Butler drove the vehicle to Camp Holabird, Md., on Sept. 23. The Army tested it for 30 days. Unfortunately, Bantam could not meet the Army's production demands of 75 vehicles per day, according to the tourism bureau.

The Army gave Ford and Willys the Bantam's blueprints and they produced the vehicles the Army required. Ford and Willys fulfilled the Army's contracts for 600,000 Jeeps for World War II.

Bantam produced a total of 2,675 jeeps and never produced another vehicle after that, according to the tourism bureau. They then produced 'Jeep' cargo trailers, torpedo motors and other items until they closed in 1956.

The Bantam Jeep was the first of what would eventually evolve into the World War II U.S. Army Jeeps, the Willys MB and the Ford GPW, according to the tourism bureau.

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower once attributed the Allied victory in World War II to two things, one of which was the Jeep, Lorentzson said.

“They were mass produced in great numbers,” he said. “Industrially it overwhelmed the Germans.”