The main chassis or body component that distinguished a Willys-Overland MB from the Ford-built GPW is the tubular front frame cross-member on the MB as opposed to the inverted U-shaped cross-member on the GPW with a flat top. The Army also insisted that both Willys and Ford drop the embossed company name from the jeep exterior. The Army wanted full parts interchangability and worked with Ford and Willys to get one standard design for both jeeps - the Ford idea for the grill was better, so Willys changed over to the stamped grill by April 1942. When Ford began producing the nearly identical GPW (with Ford embossed on the back panel) in January of 1942, they used the now-standard, less expensive stamped steel slotted jeep grill (photo above, left).
![willys serial tags wholesale willys serial tags wholesale](http://wwiijeepparts.com/WW2/Photos/19411942194319441945MilitaryJeeps/JeepSerialNumberFrameEarlyMBDataPlate.jpg)
The early production Willys MB jeeps, about 25,800 of them, had a grill made of vertical welded slats (called the "slat grill" type, photo right) and had "Willys" embossed in the back panel among other small differences. If you are with the jeep, you can see if it has the Ford script F embossed on the rear panel of the body tub or has the F stamped on most bolt heads. There are many other details of the Willys MB or Ford GPW that are different. But, like all other parts, the engine may not be original. The engine has a stamped serial number, starting with MB or GPW which will tell you the origin of the engine. Unfortunately, the data plate is often missing or has been replaced by an unreliable replica. To discover the origin of a particular jeep, the original dataplate is the best source. As WW II went on, field maintenance facilities used whatever parts were at hand without regard to the original manufacturer of the part or the jeep.
#Willys serial tags wholesale install
It was also common to install parts from Willys into a Ford jeep and vice versa. The Willys MB or Ford GPW jeep of World War II were externally visually the same but with many small differences in production details. Early Willys MB with slat grill, Australia, 1942.