The French army obtained most of its 1/4 ton jeep trailers as war surplus from the Americans. These consisted of both the Willys MB-T and the Bantam T-3 models. Trailers, like jeeps, were maintained and modified in the workshops of Etablissement de Réserve Générale du Matériel Automobile (E.R.G.M)

1950’s improvements to the trailers included the addition of a spare wheel carrier, wheel brace on side bracket, and a central ridge pole to allow the water to run off the canvas. Later modifications included the larger NATO towing eye on an adjustable swan-neck which allowed the trailer to be towed behind other vehicles, radial tyres which also became standard on jeeps, an additional NATO plug lead, and vinyl cover. My restored 1943 Bantam T-3 1/4 ton ex-French army jeep trailer (below) exhibits all of these modifications. It remained in use / reserve until 1994 when it was sold off at auction in France.

The markings and number plate (in France trailers have their own unique number plate) were retained during restoration. Initially I thought I had a 'Willys' as it has the two-piece axle joined in the centre with a cast steel sleeve that is typical of early Willys examples. Although the data plate had long since lost the printed details of the manufacturer, the stamped serial no. 10469 and date of manufacture 1-20-43 (month, day, year) are still legible. I am grateful to Harold Lang in Canada for pointing out to me that only Bantam recorded the day as well as the month and year on their trailers. Willys recorded the month and year only. Obviously my trailer is a Bantam and has had the axle changed at some point for a reconditioned Willys one. ( This seems a fair assumption in that it is also common to find a mix of Willys and Ford parts on ex-French army jeeps. )

Trailers that remained in service during the 70's and 80's (rather than in reserve) had the rear lighting clusters and reflectors upgraded to comply with civil regulations.

As part of this upgrade the original WW2 style lead with four-pole plug was finally removed leaving only the NATO style cable and multi-pin connector. When not in use the NATO plug was stored in a cylindrical bracket on the opposite side to the original L shaped WW2 bracket. Thanks to Jean-Louis Martin for the above photos.

The photos below show an unusual in-house modification made at an ETAMAT workshop for 1er RHP. The mounting rack is to carry the generator for large High Frequency transmitters used by the transmissions section of 1 RHP. The hole in the side of the trailer is for the exhaust.

A brief history of WW2 jeep trailers

In late 1941 Willys were commissioned to produce a dozen 'jeep' trailers for evaluation, nine conventional and three flat-bed design. They were delivered and tested in early 1942 and from these trials the standard welded steel amphibious trailer evolved. Orders for the standardised trailer were quickly placed with two companies, Willys - who's product was designated MB-T, and the American Bantam Car Company who had failed to secure a contract for producing the standard jeep. The Bantam made trailer was designated T3 and the contract basically kept the company in business. Jeep design was changed at this point to include the familiar electrical socket for the trailer.

The two makes of trailer were identical apart from the identification plates and a few basic details. Early Bantam trailers had three chassis cross-members whereas the Willys had four and the Bantam's Gabriel shock absorbers were secured by nuts unlike the Willys which used Munroe units secured with split pins as found on the jeep. Bearing in mind that during 1944-45 nearly 20,000 trailers were re-manufactured by two military facilities at Lima & Richmond and a further eight civilian companies, alterations occurred that mean that these differences cannot be taken as definitive in the case of all genuine WW2 trailers.

By the end of the war Bantam and Willys had produced over 133,000 T3 / MB-T trailers which, together with orders placed with 10 other companies in 1944 and delivered in 1945 produced a grand total of 143,357 WW2 style jeep trailers. The basic design was so good that after the war it evolved into the M-100 post-war US trailer for the M38-A1 and was also copied by other manufacturers for armies around the world.

Later trailers often mistaken for WW2 units include:

• The 1950's M100 trailer for the M38-A1 jeep which was built by a number of different companies and looks almost identical to a WW2 trailer but has a different hand brake lever and the body tub is fitted with a grab handle at each corner.

• The 1960's M416 trailer was built to go with the M151 Mutt jeep and has the same WW2 body tub design but with grab handles and easily distinguishable flat angular mud guards.

• Trailers built in the 1950's & 60's for the French, Dutch and Swiss armies by various manufacturers in each country including some by Willys. These were very much WW2 copies but with variations to lights, brakes etc.

Bantam also produced a civilian trailer based on the WW2 design. The example opposite is of the model T3-C and has the serial no. 13853. It was restored by Mark Harpootlian, Southfield, Michigan USA and he would love to hear from you if you can offer any further information about Bantam trailers including when this one would have been built. His e-mail address is harpo@majormicro.com

 

You can find out more about trailers by
visiting the jeep trailer spotters guide

If you own a Bantam trailer complete with original
dataplate then Chuck Lutz would love to hear
from you. He's compiling an important database.