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The following Prototypes were non Jeep
however as you can see they were similar to and potentially
led to Jeep predecessors and prototypes.
Among a number of four-wheeled prototypes based on the Crosley
passenger cars, Crosley also tried in 1942-43 to sell the Army
on its Pup, a four-wheel-drive “extra light weight” truck,
powered again by the air-cooled two-cylinder engine. Crosley
built 37 of them for testing purposes, the one pictured being
the first. They could only carry the driver and one passenger,
and the military testers, initially enthusiastic about the
Pup, found weak steering knuckles, weak springs and a weak
steering column. According to Crimson, one of the later
production versions existed in the Transportation Corps Museum
in Ft. Eustis, Virginia - at least in 1983, when the book was
published.
Predating Henry J’s company’s purchase of the
Jeep brand by 10 years, Kaiser submitted a couple designs for
a lightweight reconnaissance vehicle in the same category as
the Crosley Pup above. The first, the Kaiser Lightweight,
looked a lot like a wide Willys Jeep, but the second, the
Kaiser Extra Lightweight, well, looked like a regular Willys
Jeep with a Dodge Command Car’s slanted back end.
The KEL was a two-seater with an X-type frame,
trailing-arm/torsion-bar four-wheel independent suspension and
a 25hp 85-cu.in. air-cooled Continental flat-four engine in
the front (the KL used a rear-mounted air-cooled Continental
two-cylinder). It apparently ranked good in tests, with
excellent engine performance and fuel economy, but the lack of
ground clearance relegated it to also-ran status in the
military’s WWII search for a smaller jeep.
[source: Hemmings]
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Onboard
Air
