After forty-years working with both Ferrari, Formula 1, SPEED, and NBC - and having just turned sixty - I've now decided to slow down, a move into semi-retirement. The Steve Matchett channel is an experiment, a way of sharing with others something of what I've learned and experienced over the decades; the content you'll discover here is merely a result of my desire to have a little fun. I've made a short 'trailer' video to introduce the channel. Also, in my engrained desire for kindness and tolerance - and in light of the toxic nature of message boards across all social platforms - I've closed the 'comments' section. That said, I'm always happy to help, to exchange knowledge and ideas, and can always be reached via MrSteveMatchett@Gmail.com. Thank you, and enjoy the videos.
Thank you for sharing this very interesting video. I was amazed about the differences between the original Willis product and the Ford product made under license. One difference I had noted though years ago was the rims with and without nuts and wondered why was that. Now I know the explanation.
A few changes, for sure, though the move from the early fabricated slat grille to the later (Ford designed) stamped grille stands as the most noticeable.
This is fantastic!! Thank you for letting us join you! I look forward to watching all of your other videos. I really enjoyed your special segments in F1 so this is just great! Listening to a Master talk about something he loves.
Split rims were practical. Run over a nail, take rim apart and patch the tube or replace it. As long as the nail was removed from the tire it was a quick fix. I have a hand truck still made this way with split rims and tubes.
now this is the type of minutae i have no use for, and never will, but nonetheless fascinates me. i am nothing if not a repository of useless factoids, it's a terrible addiction, really. the only relevant knowledge i have here is that the US military did the same thing to the willies jeep as they did with almost all equipment: they increased production by farming it out to anybody with production capability. so you get guns made by jukebox manufacturing companies and tractor companies. an M1 garand made by International harvester has a darkly ironic nature to it.
Way back in time my bother supplied all the WWII jeeps, White halftrack and Bedford trucks for the film The Eagle Has Landed. There were 13 jeeps used mostly hired in from owner collectors, who must have been very worried, but anything termed dangerous was carried out with production owned jeeps. Thats how I became involved as my neighbor had one sat at the bottom of his garden covered just with a canvas sheet. Well brother bought it and I transported it to the location in Maple Durham, near Reading UK. I stayed on a few as action driver and the most fun I had was driving the White half=track with a wooden look alike rear body housing the Brenn gun.
I think you missed another detail but I'm not sure. I seem to remember from my high school days when my buddy had a '46 Willys CJ and we were able to compare it to the WWII Ford Jeep, I thought the Ford Jeep fenders in the front were higher in relation to the tire height. Am I wrong?
Hmmm… perhaps the CJ fenders were different to the MB? The MB and the GPW fenders are identical (to my knowledge) with the small exception that the Ford parts were stamped with a cursive F.
When I first the name Steve Matchett I wondered if it was "the" Steve Matchett.? I remember you from your great books on F1 and when you covered F1 for NBC.
I was surprised to see that you need a key for the ignition and even more surprised to see you need a key for the Ford glove box. What happened if the key went missing?
