lhfarm
Veteran Member
Received a note and pictures over at Farm Jeep from Ted, who had purchased one of the two plows pictured. The plows are branded American
Bantam, the same company that built the first WWII jeep prototype. The company located in Butler, PA is also known for its small cars. In the late 1940s, Bantam purchased Newgren Equipment for Monroe Auto. Newgren and Monroe sold 3 point lifts for the jeep and Newgren sold a line of implements marketed toward the Willys jeep. In the early 1950s, Bantam settled a lawsuit against Monroe for wrong doings in the Newgren deal. Bantam never recovered and was pretty much out of business by 1954 and had disappeared by 1956.
I've been working with a few collectors and the American Austin Bantam Club to learn more about these plows. We are in agreement that the plows are re-branded Newgren models. But none of us had ever seen an American Bantam plow before. Both plows where find in northern VA. We are researching a couple of questions and are hoping you all might be able to help. We would like to know when Bantam dropped the Newgren name and began branding the implements as American Bantam. We believe it to be in the 1948 to 1954 time range. Second we would like to know how many and what type of implements were sold under the Bantam label.
Very few paper records seem to exist from this time period for Bantam. We are continuing our research and would welcome any information you might have or suggested areas we might want to explore.
Thanks,
Bantam, the same company that built the first WWII jeep prototype. The company located in Butler, PA is also known for its small cars. In the late 1940s, Bantam purchased Newgren Equipment for Monroe Auto. Newgren and Monroe sold 3 point lifts for the jeep and Newgren sold a line of implements marketed toward the Willys jeep. In the early 1950s, Bantam settled a lawsuit against Monroe for wrong doings in the Newgren deal. Bantam never recovered and was pretty much out of business by 1954 and had disappeared by 1956.
I've been working with a few collectors and the American Austin Bantam Club to learn more about these plows. We are in agreement that the plows are re-branded Newgren models. But none of us had ever seen an American Bantam plow before. Both plows where find in northern VA. We are researching a couple of questions and are hoping you all might be able to help. We would like to know when Bantam dropped the Newgren name and began branding the implements as American Bantam. We believe it to be in the 1948 to 1954 time range. Second we would like to know how many and what type of implements were sold under the Bantam label.
Very few paper records seem to exist from this time period for Bantam. We are continuing our research and would welcome any information you might have or suggested areas we might want to explore.
Thanks,
