History of Jeep

The word "Jeep" today is a commonplace for the manufacturer which is well know for its four-wheel-drive vehicles. Many vehicle manufacturers can be identified with specific vehicles they produce that have made a mark in history, but no vehicle made such a mark as did Jeep. The reason Jeep is recognized as being one of the most versatile, reliable and capable vehicles ever produced is because of the great impact it had on society in its early stages of production. The history of Jeep is not comparable to the history of any other vehicle on the road today.

Before the word "Jeep" even fell into the American vocabulary, there were three automobile companies: American Bantam Car Company of Butler, PA; Willys-Overland Motors, Inc. of Toledo, OH; and Ford Motor Company of Detroit, MI. (Cowdery). The one link between these companies was a bid which was sent out on 27 June 1940 for the development of a rugged vehicle for military use. Of the many manufacturers who had been sent the bid, Ford, Bantam and Willys were the only to respond. Bantam had been the company that had sparked to whole idea with its roadsters. In 1938, the National Guard had tested the vehicles for utility uses and soon Bantam hired Harry Payne to try to sell the vehicles to the Army. Not much later Army officials had visited the company and set out specifications and designs which prompted a call for 70 pilot models. As a result, Bantam hired an automotive consultant by the name of Karl Probst. He took the position of Chief Engineer on the project for these reconnaissance vehicles and soon these vehicles were seen as very useful machines to the military. Willys-Overland and Ford had both responded to the bid but were unprepared to meet the 49 day deadline set by the government. The companies eventually were given the drawings of the Bantam vehicle and were instructed to build their pilots. The Army was quite satisfied with the Bantam vehicles and soon the Quartermaster Corps Technical Committee, which was responsible for procuring these vehicles, decided that it would request of the three companies 500 vehicles in order to test the production capabilities of each. The Quartermaster knew that Bantam would not be capable of producing the 1500 vehicles in their small facility. A couple of proposals were made and the final decision was to give Willys-Overland the contract but Willys would have to hire Ford Motor Company as a sub-contractor to build a majority of the vehicles. Ford had a greater ability to build vehicles in large numbers, so this was the only logical choice for government in war-time. Ford did not want the contract because they felt that it would have been a damper on their other production operations. Over the years, the two companies combined built a grand total of 646,064 vehicles. (Cowdery)

Some of the earliest models were called the MB, which was built by Willys and the GPW, which was built by Ford. Both vehicles were very similar due to the strict guidelines set by the government. Each vehicle was to be no more than 1200 pounds, a wheelbase of approximately 75 inches and a maximum height of 36 inches. An approach angle of 45 degrees and a departure angle of 40 degrees and the ability to travel at speeds up to 50 miles an hour were part of the many other requirements which were made by the statement of work that was laid out for the companies. (Rifkind)

John North Willys purchased Overland Motor Company in 1908, and renamed it fittingly