We just recently featured an AMC Mighty Mite and I thought I was about to write up another one. However, this is yet another variation, as the “Jeep” in question is a 1975 M151A2, essentially a Ford product that was later built by AM General. You’ll notice I used Jeep in quotations, and this is because the only real way the M151 avoided a nasty copyright or patent lawsuit has to do with the horizontal – as opposed to Jeep-owned vertical – grill slats. There are a few other features that set this military rig apart, which is listed here on craigslist for $6,000. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Patrick S. for the find.
The M151 packaged a number of innovations benefitting its speed and agility qualities, including an independent suspension and unibody design. Despite this, the M151 still had handling qualities that made them prone to dangerous oversteer, causing the U.S. Military to restrict them to military use only. Unlike other Jeep variants that saw wide use among civilians, the M151 rarely comes up for sale as a private vehicle. This one is an “A2” variant, which had some of the needed suspension improvements addressed.
One of the other ways that the designers attempted to mitigate safety concerns was with the installation of a roll bar (otherwise known as the ROPES kit), as seen here in this example. This additional roll-over protection is a welcome feature in a vehicle like this, and it also likely looks pretty good with the soft top pulled down. The seller notes there is some rust that isn’t structural, but that the M151 comes with all sorts of desirable equipment, including the fording kit and a heater.
There’s a lot to like here, and the subtle differences between this and a Mighty Mite will test even the most seasoned Jeep enthusiast’s knowledge. The M151 likely offers one of the more comfortable driving experiences of all the military Jeeps with the independent suspension and more composed structure, and provided you don’t try to outdrive it, the handling issues likely won’t reveal themselves to most owners. The seller seems motivated – would you buy this or a Mighty Mite?
Mighty Mite was aluminum and built to be carried in helicopters etc. M151s were built to be cheap. Unibody and no rust proofing. I was drafted in 1968 and had a military drivers license. I drove these. I was a foreign car mechanic before the Army and drove may VW’s and owned a 1954 Porsche. I was used to a rear swing axle. Most GI’s were not. This lead to problems.
I believe there was a restriction on selling surplus M151’s to the public, due to the roll over risk.
Yes the M151s were not allowed to be sold as a whole unit and was required by federal law to be chopped up into pieces for salvage. Mainly because of the rear independent suspension that require drivers assigned to these vehicles to take special driving training in the event of a roll over which was very common until the issue of the rear end retro kit that helped to improve handling.
When the Navy was done with them in the 80’s they cut them up so they couldn’t be sold ……….
I’m no lawyer but the “face” of the Jeep was entirely the result of Ford design ideas in the very earliest prototypes submitted to the army. The oldest Jeep still around is the Ford Pygmy, now residing at the Veterans Memorial Museum in Huntsville Al. Click the link below and scroll down to see the Pygmy.
https://www.memorialmuseum.org/displays/military-jeeps
Note the flat grille, and headlights behind the grille also. The Bantam and Willys submissions had headlights mounted on the fenders and curved grilles. When the Army finally settled on a final design, which used various ideas from all three, Bantam Willys and Ford they had shown a preference for the Ford grille. Ford would take it a step further and develop the stamped steel grille prior to going into regular production of the GPW. The army allowed some variation between the Willys and Ford Jeeps, with one caveat. All parts had to be functional equivalents and fully interchangeable but did not have to be identical. The first 25,000 or so of the Willys had the old “barbecue grille” then they switched to the stamped grille Ford was using. The face of the Jeep is Ford.
The original “Jeep” was designed and built by American Bantam in Butler, PA. The design was appropriated by the US government as Bantam could not produce the number of vehicles the military required. Specifications were shared with Ford and Willys for mass production. To compensate for stealing their design Bantam was awarded a contract to produce the quarter ton trailer that was to be towed behind the scout car, or “Jeep” as it became known. American Bantam never realized compensation for their design and eventually folded.
These were indeed restricted in surplus sales. They used to sell 20 at a time for 1500.00……….the rub was they had to be destroyed. The program went through many iterations, at first, they simply had to be torch cut in half………the guys would weld them back together…….then they had to be X cut into 4 pieces…….the guys still welded them together…..then the suspension mounting points had to be destroyed along with the X cut…..that worked better……but they still got rebuilt. The last program allowed the buyer to go strip anything they wanted off the chassis and the body was cubed to be sold separately as scrap. At one time they were quite expensive. My buddies in the movie car business bought them to rent to the studios. The Canadian’s had no restrictions on them and many uncut versions came from there. There were a few that got out in the US early before the restrictions (like the Hummers) I had a buddy in the busisness that made a congressional inquiry into why they had to be destroyed. The consensus was the manufacturers (Ford and others) made the deal that they would never be surplused to the public to limit market competition. There were few useable parts, the engines were unique, starters mounted on the transmission so they couldn’t even be used for power units. The switches and electrical was common to other military vehicles but there were so many around, they had no value. The tires and wheels had no value. They would frequently sell for 75.00 each in large lots. Interest has declined in them making them less desirable and expensive today. I spent years trying to figure out a way to make a buck on them……..without any practical solution.
The breadth of obscure vehicle knowledge on BF is just amazing! Fascinating stuff guys! Thanks mucho
I remember when we had them on the NAVY Base…….when they quit running they were used for parts for the other ones then CUT UP So they couldn’t be sold at DRMO.
The 151’s were supposed to be cut in half and sold as scrap. So many were cut to facilitate an easy repair that in later sales they had to be quartered, then quartered and crushed. They were not sold with certificates of origin (a form 99 if I remember correctly) Some did leave DOD sales in one piece.
SF Form 97……
Mighty Mite or M151? Tough question….
I’ll go with GAMA Goat.
These are cool though, sort of the evolutionary missing link between the Jeep and the Hummvee.
Gamma Goats was junk that stayed broken down because no parts were available. I served from 74 to 95., thankfully the goat was starting to disappear in the mid 80’s.
The M880 was the best way to go in the 70s-80s
I drove these for my commander and we went everywhere and I put them to the test , I heard they roll over easy , maybe I drove mine professionally and never ever had an issue with that I took this jeep where a Billy goat would not go I beat the hell out of it and that’s a understatement , i never got to drive a hummer we were just dxing our jeeps and got the hummers the day I ETS,ed these were good jeeps i would love to buy one.
I served from 1979 to 2017. The 151A2 was the best all around vehicle for multi use and simplicity of operation.