The first samples of the new American "jeeps" arriving at the Northern Russian ports in late 1941 had been built neither by Willys nor by Ford, but by a relatively small firm from Butler, Pa., called "American Bantam".
Though technically equal if not superior to its competitors, but due to the economic potential of their producers, production of the Bantam BRC40 ceased after 2,600 samples being delivered to the British and Russian allies.
The latter used the car mainly as command vehicle and were so enthusiastic about the machine that they would have prefered it over its successors, the Willys MA / Willys MB and the Ford GPW, had its production continued.

Special thanks to Mr. Vladimir Ivashkevich, Russia, for providing precious informations.