Willys MB
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The Willys MB US Army Jeep was manufactured from 1941 to 1945.
With the advent of the gasoline powered automobile, the U.S. War Department had been seeking to have a standard reconnaissance and transport vehicle to replace the usage of livestock. With heightening tensions around the world, in September 1940, the American Bantam Car Company, in collaboration with Army officials, proposed and then built what would become the World War II Army Jeep, later also known as the Willys MB and Ford GPW. But because the Bantam Company did not have the production capacity nor fiscal stability to produce it on the scale needed by the War Department, the contract for building the new reconnaissance car was to be determined by a test trial.
The US Army invited 150 manufacturers to submit a design for a car which would conform to their requirements, as stated in the World War II training manual TM 9-803, which describes the vehicle as "... a general purpose, personnel, or cargo carrier especially adaptable for reconnaissance or command, and designated as 1/4-ton 4x4 Truck." They were given 49 days in which to submit their prototypes. The War Department forwarded the plans for the Bantam car to the two respondents, the Ford Motor Company and Willys-Overland Motors, Inc, claiming that the design was owned by the government. Bantam did not dispute due to its precarious financial situation. Indeed, the submitted prototypes were very similar to one another and competed with the Bantam in an Army trial. Bantam's was called the Model BRC 40, Ford's was called the Pygmy or GP, and Willys' was called the Quad. Ford designated its car as GP, with "G" for a "government" type contract and "P" which Ford commonly used to designate any passenger car with a wheel base of 80 inches. Ford's GP designation did not represent "general purpose" which was the government's description. All three cars were declared acceptable and orders for 1500 units per company were given, for a test phase. Willys' car's designation was then changed to "MA" for Military model A. By July 1941, the War Department decided to select one manufacturer to supply them, in order to standardize. Willys won the contract mostly due to its more powerful engine (the Willys Go Devil engine) which the soldiers raved about, as well as its lower cost and lower silhouette. Whatever better design features the Bantam and Ford entries had were then incorporated into the Willys car, moving it from an "A" designation to "B", thus the "MB" nomenclature. For example, it was determined that if the gasoline tank were to be positioned directly beneath the driver's position, combining the two main target fields into one, it would lessen the chance of a catastrophic hit.
By October 1941, it became apparent that Willys-Overland could not keep up with production demand and Ford was contracted to produce them as well. The Ford car was then designated as "GPW" with the "W" referencing the Willys company.
Origin of the term \"jeep\"
There are many stories circulating as to how the car came to be called "jeep." Whatever the source of "GP," whether from Ford or the government, "GP," which obviously sounds like "jeep" when spoken, was used to refer to the car. Even so, "gp" usage was not the main impetus in establishing "jeep" as the car's name. The term "jeep" had already been in use, referring to many varied things, not the least of which being, the then popular Eugene the Jeep character in Popeye cartoons, nor the name of a small tractor made by Modine. But the most influential "jeep" usage was in military circles and referred generally to any variation of untried personnel or equipment. The final catalyst of the name derivation came at a Willys-Overland press publicity event for the car. Early in 1941, Willys-Overland demonstrated the car's prowess by having it drive up the U.S. Capitol steps. The driver was Willys test driver Irving "Red" Haussman, who had recently heard soldiers at Fort Holabird, Maryland (Closed 1973) calling it a jeep. When asked by syndicated columnist Katherine Hillyer for the Washington Daily News what it was called, Irving replied simply, "It's a jeep." Her article was published on February 20, 1941 around the nation and included a picture of the car with the caption, "LAWMAKERS TAKE A RIDE- With Senator Meade, of New York, at the wheel, and Representative Thomas, of New Jersey, sitting beside him, one of the Army's new scout cars, known as "jeeps" or "quads," climbs up the Capitol steps in a demonstration yesterday. Soldiers in the rear seat for gunners were unperturbed." This exposure caused all other jeep references to fade, leaving the 4x4 truck with the name. It was these two main factors, firstly, the term "jeep" used in military circles referring to any untried equipment and, secondly, it consequently having been mentioned to reporters resulting in the newspaper caption, which planted the reference into national public awareness. Willys-Overland Inc. would later be awarded the sole privilege of owning the name "Jeep" as registered trademark, by extension, for no other reason, than that it originally had offered the most powerful engine.
Grill
Willys made its earlier Jeeps with a flat iron, welded "slat" grill. But it was the Ford Motor Company that first designed and implemented the now familiar and distinctive stamped, slotted steel grill into its cars, which was lighter, used fewer resources and was less costly to produce.
Many other design features innovated by Ford were also implemented, which Willys adopted into its Jeep by April 1942. Even today, over 60 years later, Jeeps have retained their historical connection by keeping the visage of their ancestors' grill to one degree or another.
Post-war
During World War II, Willys produced 363,000 Jeeps and Ford produced 280,000. After the war ended, Willys brought its Four-wheel drive marvel into the civilian realm with its Jeep CJ-2A version. It was essentially the same as the MB but was revised, for the most part, with the following alterations: powered windshield wipers, side-mounted spare tire, naugahyde seats, tailgate, chrome trim, rear view mirror, bigger headlights, side mounted gasoline tube, a heftier T-90 transmission (willys mb's was T84). It came in a variety of colors and military "black-out" lights were replaced with standard civilian brake and signal lights.
The Willys-Overland company would be absorbed into other companies over the years (currently Daimler-Chrysler), but its entity would continue to supply the War Department with Jeeps(R) for decades to come.
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