Vintage WWII jeeps restored in Surat will be displayed at Asia’s largest Vintage Car Show in Vadodara

Surat (Gujarat) : Collectors and fans from across Asia will be able to witness two rare classic jeeps used by the US Army in the World War II (WWII) from 1941 to 1945 restored in Surat by the Nawab of erstwhile princely state of Sachin, Faisal Khan at the tenth edition of Asia’s largest vintage car show titled ’21 Gun Salute Concours d’Elegance 2023′ to be held at the regal Lakshmi Vilas Palace in Vadodara from January 6 to 8.

The 21 Gun Salute Concours d’Elegance 2023 will attract 200 vintage and classic Indian marques. The tenth edition of the event features 25 international cars, 120 veteran motorcycles, and Maharaja cars. Vintage and classic cars from the United States, Switzerland, Belgium, and France will also be entered in this competition, which will be judged by 35 international judges who are renowned experts in the motoring fraternity and will travel from all over the world to judge as connoisseurs of cars, beauty, taste, and design.

The two rare classic jeeps belong to Surat-based advocate Kapil Ramubhai Ahir. The first classic jeep is known as the Willys Slat Grille (MB) or Willys MB, and the second is a Ford company classic jeep. The Willys MB jeep was the first of the 25,808 vehicles built with an iron bar stock grille, resulting in what collectors call the ‘Slat Grille’.

“During the five-year-long World War II, Willys and Ford companies produced 5.70 lakh cars of this model, which has many features,” said Faisal Khan, a renowned vintage collector and restorer. The production of these Jeeps was halted after five years.”

“It took us about seven years to restore the jeeps to their original condition. The car is fully loaded and their vital parts were imported from the United States. Both of these jeeps were restored by me, along with Murtuja Malek, the 82-year-old main foreman, Sohail Sheikh, Afzal Sheikh, Asif Sheikh, Waseem Sheikh, and Yunus Pathan,” Khan added.

The characteristics of vintage jeeps

The jeeps have only three gears, left-hand steering, a special wireless set, an anti-aircraft gun, a winch system (engine generates enough power to pull 1100 kg), a lathe machine system, combed wheel rims-meter gauge train (remove jeep tyres). It has a design wheel rim that can run on train tracks). The 4-cylinder petrol engine produces 57 horsepower. This jeep runs on a 6-watt battery. This four-wheel-drive vehicle has a top speed of 60 miles per hour (100 kilometres).

This jeep was driven at night using a unique technique.

During WWII, a large number of these jeeps were kept together at night with essential goods to transport from one location to another. To keep the car from becoming stuck in the mud, a special chain was attached to the tyres. At the time of the air strike, only the first car in a long line used headlights; all the other jeeps used cat’s eye lights to avoid being spotted by enemy vehicles in the dark. Only three rays were emitted by the cat’s eye light, which was located near the rear light reflector of the jeep in front. The fuel tank is located directly beneath the seat in this vehicle. In addition, some of the space around the petrol tank was kept filled with water, which helped keep the tank cool in the desert heat.