This restricted, silent film CF-579, shows U.S. Army modifications to a Willy’s Jeep to make it into an amphibious vehicle. At :34, a look under the hood shows engine components sealed against water incursion. At :39, the jeep enters deep water and literally drives across the bottom, thanks to a snorkel visible on the vehicle’s right side. At 1:22 tests continue, with a Dodge Command Car or truck emerging from the water at 1:54.

While these tests appear successful, it’s not clear how many modified Jeeps made it into inventory, if any. Roughly 13,000 purposefully designed amphibian jeeps — which look quite a bit different — were built by Ford under the name GPA (nicknamed “Seep” for Sea Jeep). Inspired by the larger DUKW, the vehicle was produced too quickly and proved to be too heavy, too unwieldy, and of insufficient freeboard. In spite of participating successfully in the Sicily landings in July 1943, most GPAs were routed to the U.S.S.R. under the Lend-Lease program. The Soviets were sufficiently pleased with its ability to cross rivers to develop their own version of it after the war, the GAZ-64.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com