Two years later in 1962 the company underbid the Ford Motor Company,
the original designer of the M151 1/4-ton truck, which had replaced
the M38A1, for a contract to produce over 9,000 of these 1/4-ton utility
vehicles. Later that same year a second contract was won for an additional
9,800 units. Over 20,000 M151s were built in Toledo, and later, over
100,000 were manufactured in South Bend.
It was not until 1963 that Willys Motors was renamed the Kaiser Jeep
Corporation.
The year 1964 marked a significant milestone in the company's history.
Early in that year,the Kaiser Jeep Corporation purchased the Studebaker
Corporation manufacturing facilities on Chippewa Avenue in South Bend,
Indiana. With the purchase of this facility, Kaiser Jeep also assumed
a contract for the production of the M39 5-ton military truck series.
In May of 1964 Kaiser won its own contract to produce M44 2 1/2-ton
trucks at the new South Bend location. Over the next 25 years, the Chippewa
facility was to produce nearly 112,000 5-ton and 150,000 2 1/2-ton trucks
for the armed forces of the free world.
In 1965 the company designed and developed the M715 1 1/4-ton series
truck which was purchased by the U. S. Army to replace the M37 series.
Delivery of over 33,000 vehicles began in 1967 and included the M715
cargo truck, M726 ambulance and the M726 maintenance truck.
In 1967 Kaiser Jeep Corporation formed a special division devoted exclusively
to the research, development and production of Government vehicles.
The Defense and Government Products Division was a direct organizational
forerunner of AM General.
In 1967 the company was awarded a contract by the U. S. Post Office
for the production of the 1/4-ton DJ-5 Dispatcher. This rugged and durable
delivery vehicle had many commercial applications. It was used by the
U. S. Postal Service, police departments, utility companies and small
package delivery firms. Over 150,000 Dispatchers were produced. In addition
to the DJ-5, the company developed the FJ-8 _-ton series and FJ-9 1-ton
series Postal Service vans. In all, 35,000 _-ton and 4,000 1-ton vans
were delivered to the U. S. Postal Service and other commercial users.
