WRANGLER TJ
WILLYS JEEP CJ-5
WRANGLER JK
SEVEN SLOT HISTORY W
e’ve all heard country songs about fishing, hunting dogs, guns, cowboy boots, red dirt roads, and of course, Jeeps. In the song “Country Man,” Luke Bryant belts out, “I’ve got a Jeep with camouflage seats, that way nobody sees us parked back up in these trees. Your little iPod loaded down with Hoobastank. Don’t be a tape player hater girl; we’re groovin’ to Hank.” It’s a fun, lighthearted, contemporary country song about the archetypal rural men and their lives in provincial America that happens to mention Jeep as a common vehicle driven by country folk. The Jeep has been a big part of American music, film, television, video games, and other facets of U.S. pop culture for generations. However, many people may not even know or may have already forgotten Jeep’s DNA has its origins in the U.S. Armed Forces. ARMY RECON 4X4 The author and historian Charles Hyde said, “In many respects, the Jeep became the iconic vehicle of World War II, with an almost mythological reputation of toughness, durability, and versatility.” The WWII Jeep was a “design by committee” involving military officers, civilian engineers, American Bantam, Willys-Overland Motor Company, and Ford Motor Company to build a ¼-ton four-wheel drive reconnaissance truck for the Army infantry. The truck that came out of testing and design was small, light, agile, and outperformed its heavier ½-ton and 1-½-ton 4x4 counterparts already used by the Army during WWII. 34
WRANGLER JL
IT’S AS FAITHFUL AS A DOG, AS STRONG AS A MULE, AND AS AGILE AS A GOAT.” - Ernie Pyle (Pulitzer Prize-winning Journalist and War Correspondent)
The U.S. Army wanted a small four-wheel drive truck for three people with a 75-inch wheelbase and a 47-inch track. They also required that the truck feature a fold-down front windshield, a motor with 86 lb-ft of torque, haul a 660 lb. payload, and a curb weight of 1,300 lbs. The configuration was a design challenge and an ambitious manufacturing demand with the time crunch dictated by the war already underway in Europe. American Bantam was initially awarded the contract to deliver a prototype model in 49 days and a production model in 75 days. The company, however, didn’t have the production capacity and financial resources to deliver the number of units needed by the military once a prototype was approved. Willys and Ford were later awarded contracts to complete their own prototype entries. Three Jeep versions were produced for the war: Bantam BRC40, Willys MA/MB, and Ford GP (Sound familiar? GP...Jeep.). Between the three iterations, 650,000 were manufactured for the allied forces during WWII.
THE PEOPLE’S CAR Jeep’s popular history extends beyond American shores. After WWII, surplus Jeeps left behind by American troops in the Philippines were sold to Filipinos. The locals stripped them down, added roofs, stretched the small trucks to seat several passengers, painted them with colorful murals, and chrome trim and accessories dressed the entire vehicle. As they are called in the Philippines, the Jeepney is the country’s primary mode of public transportation. Today, several tens of thousands of these colorful Jeepneys could be seen weaving in and out of heavy traffic on Manila’s city streets. According to the most recent registration records, there are more than a quarter-million Jeepneys in the Philippines. JEEP FOR THE MASSES Willys trademarked the “Jeep” name in 1943. When it became apparent that the Allied nations were going to win WWII against
