ADVENTURE RIGS

WRANGLER TJ WILLYS JEEP CJ-5

WRANGLER JK

SEVEN SLOT HISTORY

WRANGLER JL

We’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.

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

WILLYS MB WILLYS JEEP CJ-2A

JEEP CJ-5 RENERADE

WRANGLER JL UNLIMITED WRANGLER YJ

Germany and Japan, Willys started designing a civilian version of the MA/MB. By 1945 Willys started selling the CJ (Civilian Jeep) to the public. The first CJs were essentially the same as the military Willys MBs, except for the civilian version had vacuum-powered windshield wipers, chrome trim, a side-mounted spare tire, tailgate, lower gearing, heavier-duty transmission, and available in different colors. Many variants of the CJs were built, and close to 2 million were sold from 1945 to 1986.

SEVEN IS GREATER THAN NINE

The iconic seven slot grill is another design unique to Jeep. Willys first utilized welded flat iron slats as radiator grills on the wartime MA/ MB Jeeps. But it was Ford that first designed and used the stamped version of the now familiar vertical slotted grill found on modern Jeeps. Ford’s new stamped metal grill featured nine slots and became the standard design on all military Jeeps. It was also lighter and was less costly to produce. Willys eventually adopted the new grill and was put on all their WWII Jeeps by April 1942. They trademarked a vertical grill design for their civilian Jeeps that featured seven vertical slots to avoid infringing on Ford’s nine vertical slot grill design.

WRANGLER GENES

The new Jeep YJ introduced in 1986 was the first Wrangler. It came with rectangular headlights that differed from the round headlights on the CJ model it replaced. Although the YJ carried over many of the CJ features, the former was promoted by Willys new owner, Chrysler, as a new design with a wider track, better road manners, with a safer and more comfortable ride. The YJ design lasted a decade and was replaced by the Wrangler TJ.

The TJ was the second-generation Wrangler that came to market in 1996. It brought back the classic round headlights of the wartime Jeeps and civilian CJs. This new Wrangler had a 4-liter inline 6-cylinder engine, got rid of the front and rear leaf suspension, and replaced them with coil springs on all four corners. A longer wheelbase “Unlimited” version of the TJ was introduced in 2004 that featured four doors.

The third-generation Wrangler JK in 2006 was a complete redesign of the frame, body, and suspension. Modern creature comforts such as power windows and remote power door locks found their way in the new Jeep. A new electronically detachable front sway bar was also added as standard equipment to the topof-the-line Rubicon model. The JK originally came with a 202 horsepower 3.8-liter V6 engine but was later replaced in 2012 with a stronger 275 horsepower 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 engine.

JEEP AFTER EIGHT DECADES

The latest fourth-generation Wrangler JL was introduced in 2018, and its pickup truck twin, the Gladiator JT, in 2019. The redesigned Jeep comes standard with a six-speed shifter, but you can opt for the new and super-smooth eight-speed automatic transmission. A slightly more powerful 285 horsepower 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 is a carryover from its JK predecessor. However, several other powertrain offerings have been added to the lineup. Wrangler and Gladiator buyers can now choose from the 2.0-liter inline 4-cylinder turbocharged engine (Wrangler only), plug-in Hybrid 2.0-liter inline 4-cylinder turbocharged engine (Wrangler 4xe only), 3.0-liter EcoDeisel V6 turbodiesel engine, and lastly, the 6.4-liter V8 HEMI engine (Wrangler only), in addition to the standard gasoline-powered 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 engine.

While retaining the iconic Jeep silhouette, the JL/JT exterior design is more rounded and raked than the JK model they replaced. Jeep also accomplished a more refined ride both on- and off-road with the latest JL/JT iteration while keeping the past Jeep generations’ body-onframe construction and the solid axles.

The Wrangler and its different variants have come a long way from their military beginnings. Automotive technology and design improvements have transformed the diminutive WWII Army reconnaissance 4x4 truck into the modern off-roading Jeep we know today. The wartime Bantam BRC40, Willys MA/MB, and Ford GP, and the long line of CJ and Wrangler models to the current Wrangler JL and Gladiator JT, may not closely resemble each other anymore. Still, one thing is for sure, they all belong in the same seven slot battalion.