The American Bantam Car Company was an American automobile manufacturing company incorporated in the state of Pennsylvania. American Bantam is credited with the invention of the Original Jeep in 1940. The company's founders, Roy Evans and William A. Ward, Jr., combined resources to purchase the assets of the bankrupt American Austin Car Company in August of 1935 during liquidation. In 1935 the new company produced vehicles based on the American Austin tooling, operating as Evans Operations Inc. The new company was incorporated as American Bantam Car Company in June 1936. The new company launched a public fundraising campaign and redesigned their entire vehicle line to launch a completely refreshed selection of American Bantam roadsters and delivery vans in 1937. The company continued to manufacture vehicles well into 1943, until all of its manufacturing efforts were focused on World War II weapons production, including the manufacture of torpedo engines, aircraft controls and parts, torpedo tail gearing, amphibious trailers and cargo trailers. History On June 2, 1936, Roy Evans and his co-founders incorporated American Bantam Car Company in Pennsylvania and transferred the assets purchased from the American Austin Car Company, along with $500 in cash to the new company. In early 1937, Evans phoned Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, the original Austin body designer, and asked him to design a new line of bodies improvised around the existing tooling. No funds were available for a costly styling program, much less to engineer new body dies, so the new design had to use as much of the original tooling as possible. In early 1937 Alexis de Sakhnoffsky visited the American Bantam factory in Butler, Pennsylvania, and designed a completely new front grille, new front fenders and new rear fenders. The Austin engine was also redesigned with a new aluminum induction system and cylinder head, retaining the 45.6 cubic inch (747 cc) displacement, but while adopting a fully pressurized oil system, increasing the compression ratio by 40% to a 7:1 ratio and implementing plain babbitt crankshaft bearings to produce 20 horsepower at 4,000 rpm, a 50% improvement over the Austin engine. American Bantam's 1938 model was the inspiration for Donald Duck's car which was first seen in Don Donald (1937). Despite a wide range of Bantam body styles, ranging from light trucks to woodie station wagons, only about 6,000 Bantams of all types were produced. American Bantam continued to build cars until August 18, 1943.