Whether you’re a Jeep fan 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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CJ2A.
GPW.
CJ3B
M38A1
YJ
TJ |
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