Jeeps (Winter)

The Jeep name has now become associated with the Chrysler motor company, but the word Jeep has its origins in the vocabulary of the US Army. The first use of the word Jeep applied to a motor vehicle occurred during World War One. Jeep is an old Army mechanic term that was used in referring to any new motor vehicle received for a test.

Jeep was still used in Army motor pools well into the 1930’s as General Purpose or GP for short, though in a 1941 Army manual it refers GP as Government 80 inch wheel base car (Jeep). In 1936, the term Jeep was introduced to the world by the Popeye comic strip character, Eugene the Jeep. The only words Eugene could say were Jeep, Jeep, and GP then became Jeep.

On September 23, 1940 in response to an Army Invitation for Bids, the American Bantam Car Company of Butler, Pa. delivered a prototype vehicle to Camp Holabird for testing. The test vehicle was immediately recognized by the Army as an important and innovative vehicle. Delivered and tested as Bantam Reconnaissance Car #1001, it was soon thereafter that its testers dubbed it the Jeep.

Though the design and development of the first prototype jeep was primarily the work of Bantam Car Co., both Willys and Ford later supplied prototypes to the Army also. The Army tested all three designs. As the test went on the three companies gradually borrowed ideas from one another until they were all very similar. The Contract was awarded to Willys, and when the war broke out for America in 1941 Ford was brought on board to manufacture the Willy’s design under license.

Willys and Ford went on to produce approximately 650,000 standardized jeeps between November 1941 and August 1945. Ford stopped producing jeeps with the end of World War Two, but Willys adopted the jeep name and developed many successful civilian versions of the trusty wartime jeep.

It’s simple, robust design gave the World War Two jeep a legendary reliability in the field. The jeep served well beyond its intended purpose acting as not only a Reconnaissance Car, but as weapons platform, ambulance, troop transport, equipment hauler, gun tractor, and in many other roles. It was beloved by the troops and remains one of the most recognizable vehicles in the world.