designate a car with a wheelbase of . The Ford GP was not only the most numerous (about 4,458) early production jeeps — it was also the first jeep fielded in some numbers to U.S. Army units. Ford's overall design and quality of construction had advantages over the American Bantam and Willys models, but the GP's engine, an adaptation of their Model N tractor engine, was underpowered and not sufficiently reliable. Ford built fifty units with four-wheel steering, of which four have survived. Willys-Overland was the last of the three manufacturers to start early production, waiting until 5 June 1941 to kick off production, reducing the Quad's weight by . After many painstaking detail changes, Willys renamed their vehicle "MA", for "Military" model "A". Only 1,555 MAs were built, most of which went to the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease. Only 27 units are still known to exist. Eventually, virtually all of the Willys-Overland and most of the American Bantam and Ford GP early production jeeps were provided to Britain and USSR, leaving a few hundred American Bantam BRCs and under 1,000 GPs for the home troops. Full production – Willys MB and Ford GPW By July 1941, the War Department desired to standardize and decided to select a single manufacturer to supply them with the next order of 16,000 vehicles. Willys won the contract mostly due to its much more powerful 60 hp engine (the L134 "Go Devil"), which soldiers raved about, and its lower cost and silhouette. The design features in the Bantam and Ford entries which represented an improvement over Willys's design were incorporated into the Willys, moving it from an "MA" designation to "MB". Most obvious is the front design from the Ford GP, with a wide, flat hood, and the headlights moved inward from the fenders to under the hood, protected by a single wide, straight front grille and a brush guard. The jeep, once it entered mass production, introduced several new automotive technologies. Having four-wheel drive for the first time introduced the need for a transfer case, and the use of constant-velocity joints on the driven front wheels and axle, to a regular production car-sized vehicle. In early October 1941, it became clear that Willys-Overland could not keep up with procurement needs, and Ford received government contracts to build 30,000 units, according to Willys' blueprints, drawings, specifications, and patents, including the more powerful Willys engine.