The Kaiser-Willys Jeep Wide-Trac concept was built to be an affordable, easy to assemble all-terrain truck that was inexpensive for third-world countries. It may have been under consideration by the United States Army, although that’s based on hearsay. It has an all-aluminum body and what appears to be an angle-iron-built front and rear, skid-bumper.
Very little is known about this truck, a lot of the material written about it is based on speculation or partial facts. I know one thing, the design is outstanding. It was built in 1960.
This is another bizarre component, a full camper that looks like it was tailor-made for the Kaiser-Willys Jeep Wide-Trac to use. It looks a bit tippy, but it’s very sharp looking. I believe it’s a Sport King camper. Sport King Coaches is a (now) defunct camper builder that was based in Torrance, CA and Nampa, ID.
Some say the Kaiser-Willys Jeep Wide-Trac was based on the same platform as the Jeep FC-150, which was based on the CJ-5. One Jeep “expert” says it was built on the Commando platform like some overseas Jeep FCs. Others say it may have been based on the Willys XM443 platform, a platform that underpinned other experimental vehicles.
It may have used a the Super Hurricane 6-cylinder gas engine or a Perkins 4-cylinder diesel power-plant. It may have used a T-98 4-speed manual transmission which was was used by the Jeep FC-150.
To be completely honest, I’m at a loss with this one. There are conflicting “facts” available online, but there are very few tidbits of information that can be corroborated using other sources. In an effort to keep what few facts I have found intact, I will revisit this story and make changes over time, as facts are discovered.
If you have any facts, or something else we can use to bolster this post, please let us know below!
