American Bantam® is serious about off-roading so we take safety seriously from design, engineering and manufacturing. We build safety into our products and our manufacturing processes to ensure the safety of our employees and our customers alike. Whether in the USA or in our overseas factory facilities and manufacturing procedures build safety for American Bantam® employees into the manufacturing process every step of the way.

American Bantam® meets the challenge of fulfilling government mandated street-legal vehicle safety requirements for an off-road vehicle by engineering safety into mechanical, software and safety systems from the grill to the tailpipe. American Bantam leads the industry in designed-in street-legal off-road safety features including:

• Low Profile Low Center of Gravity Design
• Stamped Steel Body and Steel Chassis Design
• Lateral Truss Side Impact Reinforced Door Beams
• 3-Layer CCC Approved Laminated Safety Windshield
• Integrated A-Pillar Windshield High-Strength Roll Bar
• Removable High-Strength Steel 6-point / 8-point Roll Cage
• Steel Reinforced Lower A-Pillar / Lower B-Pillar / Lower C-Pillar
• Canvas Covered ¾ inch (19mm) Roll Cage Protective Foam Padding
• 35-inch (888mm) CCC Approved 315/70R17 Deep Tread All-Terrain Radial Tires
• Inherently Stable 66.1-inch (1,680mm) Track Width under 65.7 inch (1,670mm) Wide Steel Body
• Always-Active Traction Control with Front/Back Torsen Mechanical Limited Slip Differentials
• Reclinable Steel Frame CCC Approved Seat with Deep Side and Lateral Bolsters
• Street-Legal 3-Point 2-inch (50mm) CCC Approved Seatbelt
• Mountings Ready for Extra 5-Point Racing Harness Seatbelt

American Bantam® off-road vehicles are designed and engineered with safety in mind. Our vehicles include the safety features off-roaders demand. Remember to Always Wear Your Seatbelt, unless you are wearing a 5-Point Safety Harness!

American Bantam Car Co will launch production of new American Bantam® off-road vehicles in the USA and in China together.

China is a paradise for off-roading. China has an excellent and relatively new national highway system but most of China is sparsely populated. People like to think of China as being very crowded, and the cities are, without a doubt, but 78% of China’s land is relatively unpopulated (the green areas in this map).

China’s terrain is also very suitable for off-roading. More than 58% of China is mountains and 28% of China is desert, so over 86% of China is ideal for a four-wheel drive vehicle. Most of China is empty: more than 98% of China’s population lives on less than half the land in China.

China has the world’s largest online social network for off-road enthusiasts called FBLife.com with 16 Million members. Every weekend off-roading events are held all over the country with thousands of people participating. Every October over a million off-road enthusiasts gather in the desert in western Inner Mongolia to celebrate off-roading during a week long government holiday.

Chinese automobile manufacturers make off-road vehicles for the military but they are oversized, heavy and under-powered. Imported off-road vehicles are subject to heavy duties and must be outfitted to be safe for off-roading. Even ten year old used 4x4s can sell for over $100,000 in China. So right now there is a dearth of off-road vehicles for a market with a huge demand in China.

China has a special “Type 2” off-road vehicle category which doesn’t require crash tests, airbags or an electronic stability control system which are required in the USA. The Chinese regulations for off-road vehicles make a lot of sense: the idea is these safety systems are not really necessary when off-roading because drivers and passengers always wear seatbelts. Certainly the last thing a 4×4 owner wants is an airbag to deploy when their vehicle hits a rough patch.

American Bantam® has spent the last four years engineering our new vehicle chassis and body to produce a quality vehicle at an affordable price. Multiple China vehicle manufacturers have approached American Bantam® to manufacture our new off-road vehicles. We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with one manufacturer and, subject to Chinese government approvals, vehicle production will begin next year.

In 1940 American Bantam Car Co. designed and built the first Jeep in record time because of their many years of experience building what were at the time comparatively small cars. No other car manufacturer at the time had the small vehicle engineering and manufacturing expertise that American Bantam® possessed and without that expertise the Jeep that helped win World War II may never have been conceived.

The predecessor to American Bantam® was the American Austin Car Co., which was founded in 1929 as a subsidiary of the Austin Motor Co. from England. They manufactured the Austin Seven under license for the American market until American Austin went into receivership in 1934.

Austin Motors was founded in 1905 by Sir Herbert Austin in Longbridge, England and grew to become one of the greatest car manufacturers in the world. Austin engineered automobiles were the first automobiles manufactured by American Bantam, BMW, Mini, Austin-Healey, Rover, Rosengart in France, Roewe in China and Nisaan in Japan.

The Austin Seven was an incredibly popular vehicle at the time and was the largest manufactured automobile in Great Britain in 1930. The American version of the Austin Seven had a 15 hp 747 cc (45.6 cu in) inline-four engine with a top speed of 50 mph (80 km/h) in top gear. The car was a tiny 10 feet (3m) long with a 75 inch (1905mm) wheelbase and weighed only 1,130 lbs (514 kg), enabling the car to achieve 40 mpg (5.9 L/100 km) in 1930! The American Austin sold 8,558 vehicles during the company’s first year of production and produced around 20,000 cars before operations ceased in 1934.

American Bantam Car Co. was founded in 1935 by Roy Evans, a former salesman for Austin, who purchased the American Austin assets out of bankruptcy. American Bantam® car’s were built on the same 75 inch wheelbase chassis but with a new 19 hp (14 kW) engine and a new body with more modern styling designed by Alexis de Sakhnoffsky. Production of the Austin Seven resumed in 1937 and in 1940 the engine was upgraded to 22 hp (16 kW) to achieve a top speed of 60 mph. Around 6,000 Bantam® Sevens were built before America entered World War II.

Charles ‘Harry’ Payne lobbied forcefully with the US Army Quartermaster Corps (QMC) to sell American Bantam® cars to the US military but in 1940 the QMC was in no hurry and lacked the budget to develop an entirely new vehicle. Payne wound up convincing Secretary of War Harry Woodring on the concept which eventually led to General Marshall’s office appointing an Ordnance Subcommittee to visit the original American Bantam® factory in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the first jeep was later invented.

At their headquarters American Bantam showed the Army QMC their existing Roadster and the Roadster Pickup. Indeed, displaying these vehicles would later come back to haunt American Bantam® because this is probably where the US Army initially came up with the idea that the “reconnaissance car” could weigh only 1,200 pounds with a 70 inch wheelbase, 200 pounds lighter and 5 inches shorter than the Austin Seven.

While the American Bantam® Pilot was indeed the first small, light-weight four-wheel drive vehicle, the American Bantam® Seven was the first vehicle the US Army QMC looked at when setting the specifications for the original jeep and was undoubtedly the foundation for the design of the first American Bantam® jeep.

The FIAT Jeep Wrangler’s story actually begins with the American Bantam® Pilot, the first jeep, designed two months before the Willys Quad. Even today FIAT Jeep continues to mislead customers with half-truths and inaccuracies regarding the invention of the first Jeep.

In June 1940, with World War II on the horizon, as a result of months of lobbying by Charles ‘Harry’ Payne, the American Bantam® salesman who first came up with the idea of a jeep, the U.S. Army Quartermaster (QMC) solicited bids from 135 automakers for a 1/4 ton “light reconnaissance vehicle” tailored to Army QMC specifications.

American Bantam® Car Co. was the only car manufacturer to submit a complete bid. Willys-Overland wasn’t willing to deliver a prototype according to the schedule laid out by the Army QMC and Ford didn’t even bother submitting a bid. Willys and Ford weren’t really interested in the reconnaissance vehicle project until after American Bantam® delivered the first Jeep, the Bantam® Pilot, to Fort Holabird in Maryland.

The American Bantam® Pilot was truly a revolutionary vehicle weighing only 1,940 lbs. and built by American Bantam® in only 49 days yet rugged enough to withstand abuse by an Army QMC intent on driving (and flying) the Pilot to it’s breaking point. The Army marveled at the amazing jeep invented by American Bantam® and quickly realized they would need hundreds of thousands of these vehicles. The US Army QMC gave Willys and Ford blueprints of the Bantam® Pilot and gave them access to the vehicle to aid the design their prototype vehicles.

In November 1940 American Bantam® kicked off the first volume production run for jeeps with the manufacture of the BRC-60. The same month Willys-Overland finally delivered their prototype “Quad” to the U.S. Army; two months after American Bantam® delivered the first Jeep to the Army QMC. The Willys Quad copied the hood, grille, door shape and drivetrain design directly from American Bantam®, but the Willys Quad weighed 2,520 pounds, nearly 600 pounds (25%) heavier than the American Bantam® Pilot.

FIAT likes to boast that Willys cobbled together the Quad in a “remarkable 75 days”, especially remarkable because Willys copied the Pilot which American Bantam® invented and built from scratch in less time and without a copying competitor’s designs. The Army QMC rejected the Willys Quad because it was too heavy and sent Willys back to redesign and reduce weight from their American Bantam® Pilot copy. The second time around Willys again borrowed design features from both Ford and American Bantam®, including the flat grille FIAT jeeps are famous for today. Within a year’s time the three companies collectively produced the template for the vehicle known worldwide as the “Jeep” by improving the first vehicle conceived and invented by American Bantam®.

After World War 2 Willys-Overland used to brag that they created the Jeep. On April 27, 1948 the US government Federal Trade Commission issued a Cease and Desist Order against Willys-Overland prohibiting them from “Representing, directly or by implication, that Willys-Overland either acting alone or in cooperation or collaboration with the US Army or with any other agency or party, created or designed the automotive vehicle known as the Jeep.”

The notion that the Willys-Overland Quad was “The First Jeep Brand 4×4” is ludicrous: the first Jeep was invented by American Bantam®. The first vehicle to be called a Jeep was an American Bantam®. The first Jeep to go into battle during World War 2 was an American Bantam®. In 1940 the American Bantam® Jeep was in mass production while Willys would wait until 1941 before finally receiving a volume order to produce Jeeps.

There you go FIAT, we fixed it for you!

American Bantam® began delivering the first mass production BRC-60 jeeps to the US Army on November 23, 1940. The American Bantam® BRC-60 was the first jeep to enter military combat, used by the British during a campaign in northern Africa. The British SAS relied on heavily armed jeeps in North Africa missions. While the first batch of BRC-60 jeeps was in production the US Army came back with a purchase order for 1,500 more jeeps.

After successfully delivering the BRC-60 the US Army increased the Jeep minimum weight specification to enable Ford and Willys to compete. American Bantam® strengthened their already rugged chassis design and the new jeep was designated the BRC-40. Production of the BRC-40 began on March 31, 1941 to fulfill the Army’s 1,500 jeep outstanding purchase order.

By December 6, 1941 American Bantam® had manufactured 2,605 BRC-40 jeeps for the US, China and Russian armies. The BRC-40 was the lightest and most nimble of the three competing models, and the Army lauded its suspension, brakes, and fuel economy. The American Bantam® BRC-40 jeep was preferred over the Willys and Fords by China and Russian militaries because of its light weight and better gas mileage.

During the summer of 1941 the Army QMC made the decision to award the Jeep manufacturing contract to Willys because their bid was $40 cheaper than the American Bantam. The president of American Bantam Francis Fenn went to Washington to testify in the Senate and protest the award of the contract to Willys. Fenn had been told by his contacts in the QMC that they had been ordered to award to contract to Willys-Overland by John D. Biggers, director of production in the Office of Production Management.

In the end the Army QMC awarded the contract to produce standardized jeeps to Willys-Overland. Many believe that when Henry Ford heard about this he twisted some arms and half the production was turned over to Ford. American Bantam® was issued a contract to produce amphibious trailers to be towed by Jeeps and other military vehicles. During the war American Bantam® produced 73,689 T3 trailers made its best effort to continue producing civilian trailers after the war.

After it became clear American Bantam® would not manufacture any jeeps for military production American Bantam® resumed their production of civilian vehicles to reduce their parts inventory. On August 18, 1943 the last American Bantam® rolled off the assembly line in Butler, Pennsylvania.

All together American Bantam® delivered 2,676 Bantam® jeeps leading up to the United States entry into WW2 in six different models:

• American Bantam® Pilot (1 units)
• American Bantam® BRC-60 (62 units)
• American Bantam® BRC-60 4-wheel steering (8 units)
• American Bantam® BRC-40 (1,500 units)
• American Bantam® BRC-40 4-wheel steering (62 units)
• American Bantam® BRC-40a (1,043 units)

The invention of the jeep was critical to the allies victory in WW2, both in Europe and in Asia. In the words of the Pulitzer Prize–winning war journalist Ernie Pyle: “It does everything. It goes everywhere. It’s as faithful as a dog, as strong as a mule and as agile as a goat. It constantly carries twice what it was designed for, and still keeps on going.”

After the war when military procurement ended American Bantam® struggled to find a place in the civilian trailer market until it was absorbed by the Monroe Company, a division of Willys-Overland, in July, 1947. Willys’ directors assumed control stripping the Butler, Pennsylvania factory of valuable tooling and equipment and siphoning off profits, forcing the company to seek bankruptcy protection in 1950.

In 1946 James Brannan used his contacts within Ford to purchase the Gwinnett County Ford dealership and within 4 years Brannan Auto had built two dealerships in the Atlanta suburbs. In the early 1960s James Brannan sold the Ford dealerships and together with his son ‘Jimmy’ F. Brannan Jr. incorporated Brannan Auto Parts, Inc. The new company focused on aftermarket auto parts distribution, building up a chain of auto parts stores and under Jimmy Brannan’s leadership becoming a leading auto parts distributor in the southeast USA.

Charlie Paglee first started working for Brannan Auto in 1980 as a young teenager and in 1993 Mr. Paglee moved to China and began visiting factories and purchasing auto parts in China. Brannan Auto established an office in China in 2007 with Charlie Paglee as the China General Manager. Brannan Auto’s chain of auto parts stores in the USA was acquired by CarQuest in 2008 which is now part of the Advanced Auto group.

Brannan Auto expanded its China operations in 2010 opening offices in Shanghai and Beijing and in 2012 Charlie Paglee became the main shareholder of the company. Brannan Auto leveraged automotive engineering, manufacturing experience and knowledge of China’s off-road industry to become a leading supplier of automotive components for smaller OEM automobile manufacturers.

In 2013 Brannan Auto acquired the rights to American Bantam® brand and in 2015 Brannan Auto delivered its first off-road vehicle to a US customer but quickly realized a much more durable design was required. Brannan Auto began designing and engineering a new off-road vehicle in 2015 with an entirely new steel body and rugged chassis design focused on durability and performance. Brannan Auto produced a prototype vehicle in 2018 and after thorough testing determined it still needed a more durable chassis design and a stronger drivetrain.

In 2019 the new American Bantam Car Corporation was incorporated and immediately acquired Brannan Auto Parts, Inc. in the USA and Brannan Auto Engineering Co., Ltd. in China. The combined company has spent the last four years engineering, tooling, testing and validating the new vehicle design for durability and performance. American Bantam® will launch production of the American Bantam® vehicles in 2020.