10 things you probably didn’t know about Jeep

The original SUV celebrates its 75^th birthday this year
and remains steeped in heritage

By Jim Gorzelany
CTW Features

The iconic Jeep — the original military-derived sport-utility vehicle — turns 75 years old this summer. “Jeep” is a colloquial derivative of the acronym G.P., which stands for “general purpose,” though it’s also said to be influenced by the character “Eugene the Jeep” from the original Popeye comic strip.

Here’s 10 more facts you might not know about Jeep, courtesy of the Historic Vehicle Association in Washington, D.C. and other sources:

1. The first Jeep developmental prototype was built by the American Bantam Car Company of Butler, Pennsylvania and was delivered for testing to the U.S. Army at Camp Holabird in Baltimore on Sept. 23, 1940. Later design treatments submitted by fellow automakers Ford and Willys-Overland were essentially refinements based on American Bantam’s original design. Bantam went on to build trailers for the military, and later for public use until the mid-50s.
2. U.S. Army planners had originally intended its quarter-ton four-wheel drive general-purpose truck to be named the “Light Reconnaissance And Command Car.” This would have likely made for a far more ungainly nickname along the lines of the “L-Rack” (LRACC), which sounds more like a closet organizer.
3. The vehicle’s trademark slotted front grille with integrated headlights was originally designed by Ford and adorned an early pilot model. The grille eventually evolved from 13 slots in 1940 to nine in 1941 and seven in 1945. To this day, all Jeep-branded vehicles are adorned with a seven-slot grille.
4. The Willys-Overland company, otherwise a purveyor of passenger cars, garnered the majority of WWII Jeep production by virtue of its robust “Go-Devil” engine that powered Jeeps for decades.
5. The vehicle’s renowned four-wheel-drive transfer case, which imbued both military and civilian Jeeps with unrivaled off-road abilities, was neither developed nor produced by Willys-Overland, but by Spicer Manufacturing, later known as the Dana Corporation.
6. Among those who claim or have been credited as the “father” of the Jeep include Col. William F. Lee (U.S. Army, Infantry); Charles Harry Payne (sales, American Bantam); Frank Fenn (president, American Bantam); Charles Probst (design engineer, American Bantam); Harold Crist (factory manager, American Bantam); and Delmar “Barney” Roos (chief engineer, Willys-Overland).
7. Willys-Overland began selling what would become a long line of Jeeps to the public in 1944. The original CJ (for Civilian Jeep) added a tailgate and was stripped of all military hardware. The company was later sold to Kaiser Motors in 1953, which shortened its brand name to Willys; it was later changed to Willys-Jeep and eventually just Jeep. The brand was sold to American Motors in 1970, which was subsequently purchased by Chrysler (now Fiat Chrysler) in 1987.
8. An Overland trim level was added to the Jeep Grand Cherokee line in 2003 and continues as homage to the brand’s initial nameplate.
9. The original Jeep’s descendent is called the Wrangler and is available in both two-door and four-door “Unlimited” versions. It’s due to be redesigned for 2017, with a long-awaited pickup truck version said to be in the works; this would be the first Jeep pickup since the Comanche was discontinued in 1992.
10. Of the first five original pilot vehicles produced by various automakers, only two models built by Ford are known to survive. The 1940 Ford Pilot Model GP-No. 1 “Pygmy” is America’s oldest known Jeep and is on display at the U.S. Veterans Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Alabama. The Secretary of the Interior honored the Pygmy Jeep in 2015 as being one of America’s most significant vehicles.

© CTW Features