Heritage / The Name
The
Bantam
Name
A name that meant small, scrappy, and ready to fight. The name that built America’s first compact pickup truck. The name that invented the Jeep. A name that never forgot what it started.
When a company’s name contains the word American, the products they sell in the USA must be built in the USA. No two ways about it.
Etymology
Where the name comes from
A bantam is a breed of small domestic fowl known for one thing above all others: it fights well above its weight. Small in stature. Outsized in attitude. Willing to take on anything larger. And win.
Roy Evans knew exactly what he was naming when he founded the American Bantam Car Company in Butler, Pennsylvania in 1935. He was building a small car in a world dominated by large ones. He was a smaller company in a market run by giants: Ford, General Motors, Chrysler. The name was not accidental. It was a declaration.
Small company. Serious vehicle. Willing to fight anyone for the right to build it.
What It Means
The traits that define us
In 1940, the U.S. Army needed a reconnaissance vehicle, and needed it in 49 days. They asked three companies. Only American Bantam delivered on time. On budget. Ready to go to war.
That’s not luck. That’s Bantam.
Today’s BRC-50 Muritruck™ carries the same philosophy: not the biggest vehicle on the road, not the most expensive. Just the most capable for its price, built by people who have something to prove.
Small in Size
Compact enough to go where full-sizes can’t. Designed to fit the job, not fill a parking space.
Outsized in Capability
4,411 lbs payload in a compact footprint. More than most 3/4-ton trucks. Don’t judge by the size.
Ready to Fight
In 1940 American Bantam competed against far larger manufacturers and delivered first. In 2026, American Bantam is doing it again.
American by Name and Nature
The word American is in our name. That’s not marketing. That’s a legal and moral obligation to assemble every product we sell in the USA in the United States. We take that obligation seriously.
September 23, 1940
The day the name proved itself
The Army needed a reconnaissance vehicle and gave three manufacturers the same assignment. The vehicle had to weigh under 1,300 lbs, carry three men and a machine gun, and be ready to test in 49 days. American Bantam was the smallest of the three companies. American Bantam was the only one that accepted the terms and delivered on time. The vehicle became the foundation of every Jeep that followed, and helped win World War II. The world gave credit to a different company. American Bantam knows the history.
The Record
91 years in the making
A name protected by the work behind it.
American Bantam Car Company Founded
Roy Evans, owner of the largest U.S. automobile dealership chain, founds American Bantam Car Company in Butler, Pennsylvania. The name is chosen deliberately: small, scrappy, and ready to fight.
First Jeep Prototype Delivered
September 23, 1940. American Bantam delivers the first Jeep prototype to the U.S. Army at Camp Holabird, Maryland, 49 days after Purchase Order. The vehicle works. The name “Jeep” begins here.
The Contract Goes Elsewhere
The Army scales production to a different company, a larger manufacturer with more capacity. American Bantam receives almost nothing. Their design goes to war. Their name does not.
American Bantam Jeeps Serve in Every Theater
The vehicle American Bantam designed serves on every front of World War II. The world calls it the Jeep. The world remembers a different company. American Bantam knows what it built.
Trademark Acquired
American Bantam Car Corp. reorganized. The trademark is secured. The name, and everything it carries, is protected.
The Muritruck™ Goes Into Production
87 years after the first Jeep prototype. American Bantam is building again. The BRC-50 Muritruck™ and BRC-54 Muritruck™ begin production: American steel, American jobs, American assembly.
“The world remembers a different company.
We remember American Bantam built the first.”
American Bantam Car Corp., Est. Butler, Pennsylvania, 1935