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The
History of the Jeep
An Abridged
Version By Rick Péwé |
tech |
Whether you’re a Jeepfan or
not, the diminutive vehicle
played a big role in all of our
lives, from winning wars to
freeing our souls in the search
for the outback. And while
DaimlerChrysler doesn’t look
kindly on trademark
infringement, the word Jeep or
jeep is bandied about in a
multitude of versions, and often
applied to other 4x4s simply
because the word seems as
generic as Coke, Kleenex, or
Clorox.
So
how did this history-making
vehicle come about and survive
all of its permutations through
the years? It’s a convoluted
story and would take more pages
than most of you would care to
read, so we present the
abridged, condensed, and
compacted version for your
reading enjoyment.
Most
historians agree that the
world’s first ¼-ton 4x4 in a
form recognizable as a Jeep was
the Bantam Reconnaissance Car,
built by the American Bantam Car
Company of Butler, Pennsylvania.
This prototype was developed by
the Army and Bantam in the
summer of 1940, with Bantam
building and delivering the
first vehicle to Camp Holabird,
Maryland, on September 23, 1940.
The testing proved that
four-wheel drive on a small,
light vehicle delivered
phenomenal performance off road,
a concept still in use today.
During the testing,
representatives from Ford and
Willys inspected the Bantam and,
according to Bantam, stole the
ideas for their own vehicles.
Both Willys and Ford produced
prototypes for testing, and
Bantam produced an improved
model. After all three prototype
vehicles were deemed
satisfactory with many
improvements, a final contract
for 1,500 vehicles from each
manufacturer was awarded. These
pre-standardized jeeps are rare
and highly sought after by
collectors, and some may still
lurk in musty old barns.
Finally, the standardized ¼-ton
4x4 contract was awarded to
Willys, partially due to the
Go-Devil engine, which gave the
Willys the best performance.
With Bantam out of the picture,
Ford was granted a contract to
produce the Willys design, and
together they made more than
half a million jeeps during
WWII.
Willys was, needless to say,
ecstatic about the contract, and
hyped and advertised that it had
invented the jeep, whereupon
Bantam sicked the government
hounds on Willys. The Federal
Trade Commission slapped Willys’
hands soundly, and ordered the
company to cease and desist the
inaccurate advertising. When the
smoke had settled from
Congressional hearings of who
invented the Jeep, Willys
attempted to trademark the name,
which it wasn’t able to do until
1950.
And
what about that name, Jeep?
Other than family names, the
word first crops up as Eugene
the Jeep, a mystical animal of
sorts, capable of anything, who
appeared in the Popeye cartoon
strip in 1936. From here, the
word was also noted in
publications as an unproven
recruit or vehicle in the
military, and was applied to the
first jeeps as well other
vehicles, including airplanes.
And no, jeep didn’t come from
slurring the initials GP, which
supposedly stood for General
Purpose vehicle. In the Ford
nomenclature system, G stood for
government, and P indicated an
80-inch wheelbase vehicle.
Sorry, Ben Stein. You owe us
money. A final note: While
DaimlerChrysler owns the
trademark Jeep, vehicles built
before the trademark was granted
in 1950 can be spelled jeep,
although usually any post-WWII
Jeep is capitalized. If you want
to know more of early jeep
history, Jeep Genesis: the
Rifkind Report and Jeep, both by
Jim Allen, are must-read books
for the true Jeep enthusiasts.
The
Rest of the Story
But
what about after the war? In
reality, Willys was far ahead of
the game by testing agricultural
derivatives of the WWII model.
As soon as the war was nearly
over, the CJ2 was developed and
produced, giving rise to the
CJ2A. This vehicle was marketed
as a replacement to the tractor,
and over 214,000 were produced
between 1945 and 1949. At the
same time, Willys introduced the
two-wheel-drive Jeep all-steel
station wagon, trucks, and
Jeepster models, and later
offered four-wheel-drive wagons
and trucks.
In
1948, the improved CJ3A was
introduced and was made until
1953. With the Korean War
looming, the flattie got a face
lift and makeover to 24-volt
electrical, and the M38 version
was made from 1950 to 1953. The
M38 was probably the strongest
flatfender made and is highly
desired by both collectors and
modifiers. The trucks and wagons
received minor facelifts as well
in the early ’50s, and the
Jeepster quietly faded away.
The
most revolutionary change in
Jeepdom was the simultaneous end
of the regular flatty era and
the introduction of the CJ3B and
the M38A1. The CJ3B was
basically a CJ3A with a high
hood to house the new F-head
four-cylinder engine which was
also used in the M38A1, the
military predecessor of the
CJ-5. The M38A1 was the bulbous
brother of the angular M38, with
many parts being
interchangeable. The A1 was
produced from 1952 to 1971,
while the CJ3B was made from
1952 to 1968.
Finally, the famous CJ-5 made
its debut in 1954 and was
produced until 1983, longer than
any other derivative. And
speaking of derivatives, we
could not begin to fit all of
the other styles from DJ3As to
CJ10, along with many one-offs
and prototypes, but remember
this is the condensed Jeep
history. In 1976 the CJ-7 was
introduced, which ran until
1986. In 1987, the Wrangler YJ
broke tradition with rectangular
headlights and later gave rise
to the Wrangler TJ in 1997, with
no ’96 models being produced of
either type.
As
for fullsize models, the
Wagoneer and Gladiator were
introduced in 1962, with the
last fullsize bowing out as the
Grand Cherokee in 1991. By now,
the Cherokee XJ had captured a
market since its introduction in
1984, but it ceased production
in 2001, the year the new
Liberty first sprouted its wings
as an ’02 model. The new Grand
Cherokee arrived as a downsize
in 1993, and is still in
production as we well know from
our 4x4 of the Year competition.
As
we mentioned, a true Jeep
history would take more than all
of the books ever written on the
subject to be complete and
accurate. We simply hope that
you have garnered a bit more
information and that you’ll put
that knowledge to good use. If
you have any interesting facts
or trivia about Jeep history
that you think we haven’t heard,
please drop us a line.
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