Very cool photo!

The Mighty Mite (M422) was an aluminum, V4 powered, lightweight alternative to the Jeep that was built by American Motors for the USMC from 1959 - 1962 to be airlifted to its areas of deployment. I'm wondering now, after they had installed V4 engines in these, why didn't AMC utilize a V4 in any of their 'economy car' offerings (Rambler, Gremlin, etc.) afterward?

I've never read an actual 'drive report' about the M422. That would be interesting, indeed!

The original (G503) 'Jeeps' had been airlifted with considerable success since WW2, but it had been evident that a smaller, lighter version would be an improvement.

Here are some earlier prototypes,

From Willys:

Ford:

Kaiser:

Here was an effort to 'airlift' Jeeps by towing them with aircraft, the Hafner Rotabuggy:

Jeeps used with gliders, as was done in WW2: