Question

[PAIN]

When was the first jeep built?

 

[mylittlecj5]

thats a loaded question! Do you mean the first use of the term "JEEP" or the actual 1/4 ton military reconnaissance vehicle that we all regard as the first jeep? (That was around 1941 BTW)

Edit: according to my book, "Classic Jeeps" the first WILLYS' produced 1/4 ton 4x4 light reconnaissance vehicle was delivered to Camp Holabird, MD on November 11, 1940. It was known as the 'QUAD', not as a 'jeep'. Noone kows how the term "jeep" really came into use, although there are a few different theories. The "GP" (general purpose) military designation being morphed in to jeep is one. Another is the cartoon character "Eugene the Jeep" and his ability to go just about anywhere.

 

[PAIN]

Thanks for your reply i learned something new

 

[rushpowersystems]

1/4 ton Willys? Was that not the one the government stole the plans from American Bantam and gave to Willys? Ah things are so much easer today, the government just fires the CEO.

 

[2lostspace]

I was just watching a video on the history of the Jeep. Dont forget that they gave the plans to Ford also. Google History of the Jeep and there are several history video.

 

[rushpowersystems]

Yes I remember Ford and Willys, got the contract just could not remember why Willys ended up with it after the war, guess Ford did not need a bail out then either.

 

[2lostspace]

Willys filed a trade mark on the name in the 40s. Baton sued Willys over it and it got dropped when Baton went bankrupt.

 

[rushpowersystems]

Interesting, apparently it is more profitable to make Jeeps than it is to make trailers.

 

[2lostspace]

Interesting, apparently it is more profitable to make Jeeps than it is to make trailers.

I don't know all but one company that produced the Jeep has had financial issues or is no longer around. Baton, Wilys, Kizer, AMC. Chrysler. Ford is the only company that is still going strong and they produced Jeeps durning WWII.

 

[coldwater]

Well, the search for a capable off road utility vehicle (non horse) actually started in about 1916, using the Jeffrey quad, when Pancho Villa was being a PITA down Texas way. Over the next few years, other things were tried out, like a stripped down model T Ford, The Marmon Harrington / Ford, And the belly flopper- Howie Wiley, which was basically a surfboard with little wheels. Enter WWII, we have Hitler to thank for the serious development of what we now call a JEEP. Hitler was getting pretty buisy in Europe, and opening a can of whoopass on everything in sight, which we figured was going to more than just a temper tantrum that a good nap would fix. So, the Army came out with their wish list of specs for a new vehicle. Being the Army, the specks were something that Jesus Christ himself couldn't cover and produce, but what the hell...It is the Army..Three companies made bids for the job out of 135 offers. Bantam, which was basically bankrupt at the time, due to many factors, but mostly piss poor management. Willys, and Ford. All 3 were required to produce a prototype of a completely new vehicle in 49 days. Bantam, having nothing to lose, came up with the Scamp, which was the first vehicle to hit the test grounds, and the Army loved it. Ford and Willys came in right behind, and they were equally liked. The Army ordered 1,500 units from each contractor for testing, with modified specs. The new prototypes were the Bantam B.R.C. The Ford Pygmy, and the Willys Quad. All 3 had issues, but on a 75 point checklist, the Willys was slightly better than the rest. Bantam was tossed out of the ring because of a nearly total lack of manufacturing ability. The final vehicle was a compilation of the 3, and we can thank FORD, for the grill work we have to this day. Willys won the contract, and was to supply blueprints to ford for additional manufacture, all were designated the "MA" Bantam was given the contract to build trailers, and a Limited number of MA models, which were shipped to Russia on a lend lease agreement.

Getting it's name.

Naming it came as a sort of round about way. Little doubt exists that the JEEP term came from a cartoon charactor by the same name. Eugene the JEEP, a little dog like creature the allways told the truth, and could go anyplace, anytime. There were actually several vehicles call Jeep at the time. The Army had a Dodge recon 1/2 ton they called the Jeep, (so it is said) an auto gyro squad that called their rigs Jeep, an oil drilling company, and even a tractor used the same name. It was Red Hausmann, a test driver for Willys that called his rig a "JEEP" from day one, refusing to have it be associated with the "other" prototypes running around all over camp Hollabird. This information is actually documented by Army reports, and by The brass back at the main Willys plant. Red Hausmann drove the name into history in Feburary of 1941 when he took Katharine Hillyer, and some other reporters on the ride of their life, nearly emotionally scarring them for life with his off road antics. When the ride was over, Hillyer ask him "What is this thing!!" And Red answered,

" A JEEP ma'am...It's a JEEP" This was on the same day that the somewhat famous picture of two Jeeps wheelin up the front steps of the capital building, Senator Mead behind the wheel of one of them.

So...no ONE, invented the JEEP. It was a compilation of many concepts and designs rolled into the final design. The birth of the "khaki burro" Jeeps just evolved out of thin air, and were made to save the world, which they did. It is well documented that wherever the Khaki borro hit the ground in numbers, the tides of battle were instantly turned in our favor. The history of the Jeep is amazing. Born to serve in war and fight for freedom all across the globe in world war, and providing the same freedom to people in time of peace for over 68 years!

 

[susie]

That was like reading a book report...

 

[CJ]

That was like reading a GREAT book report...

FTFY

That was a great post CW!

 

[2lostspace]

That was a awesome wright up CW!! That is what the videos had said that I watched last night on the Jeep.

 

[dreamzunlimited]

It was most probably 1941.

 

[barp]

i have learned lot about the history of jeep.Thanks guys.

 

[amanda]

The first jeep prototype (the Bantam BRC) was built for the United States Army Quartermaster Corps (QMC)

 

[digity]

That entire Jeep history is kind-a of ironic. Let me tell you why, the character "Eugene the Jeep" is from those that do not know, "Popeye" the sailor man. The reason I say it's ironic is the creator of Popeye was Elize Segar, who was born in my home town, Chester, IL.. The character all (most) came from this town, many moons ago. Later Elize moved to Chicago when the comic strip became a hit.

Here is a little history, if anyone wants it. E. C. Segar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[BajaEdition]

To add to Coldwaters answer

lets go for the first jeep in what we call a jeep today

Bantamn was the only company that answered the call for a 1/4 ton vehicle by the army. they designed, built, and drove the prototype (they only could afford the one) and got to the army depot on the last day they could. The designer did it on a paid if it sells basis, they used as much off the shelf parts as they could and chose a appliance manufacturer for the body as it would be cheaper that way.
Anyway the army loved it, but because they thought Bantamn was such a small company they let others, such as Willeys and Ford get into the development and bidding wars. All there responded and they changed stuff according to what the Army wanted. Weight was specked so light that they were cutting off bolts after the nuts were on to save weight. After extensive testing they chose Willeys because their engine was 20 horse power more powerful. However, because of the size of Willeys the let Ford build them also paying Willeys a building fee. Looking at numbers of those built, you will see that Wileys made quite a bit more than Ford, Wileys were called MBs and Fords were GPWs.
Bantamn got the contract for the famous Jeep Trailer, went bust after the war, Bantamn did build around 1500 Jeeps for testing that were sent to Russia under the lend lease program.
that is the history of the WWII jeep

how it got its name
In the military they use acronyms, the GP meant general purpose, they called it jeep, however the press saw the first jeeps being demonstrated and one Lady Reporter asked what it was called, a military person called it a Jeep and the name was published and stuck. Jeep was a word used in the military for a lot of general purpose stuff before this but that is what got the word rolling for this vehicle
Willeys called it the universal in civilian form

the first recorded 4x4 was 1894, it was a steam powered vehicle

Wileys copyrighted the word jeep so they could build them after the war,
unlike popular street legend the word cj does not mean civilian jeep
the first jeep by Wileys, was the MA, M being the military letter given to the contractor Wileys, and A for their first model, The MB was the offer they accepted. (oh, by the way the stamped grill we all recognized is a Ford design, the first MBs had a welded post type grill) When
Wileys released the first civilian Jeep they called it the Universal, The AgriJeep was another early civilian Jeep, the engineer code was CJ, C being for the third model and J for jeep, No need for MCJ as it was not a military model however the press called it the CJ for civilian Jeep. Instead of fighting such a strong free advertising promotion as every paper in the US was writing about the Civilian Jeep, they stuck with it, calling them the CJ2a , CJ3,CJ3b , CJ4 (A Developmental jeep based on a project the military was developing) 1 only example exist, CJ5 ,CJ6 , CJ7 , CJ8 , and a airforce only model called the CJ10. I need to research if a cj9 was ever produced, I have heard of it but am not for sure. All CJs were called universals by everyone who built them, AMC came up with the word Wrangler so they could stop calling they universals and they were about to change the engineering code to YJ

so, the answer would be

first military jeep, 1941
first CJ, 1945
first time anything was called a jeep? no answer as only the military would know

 

[BajaEdition]

original Bantam Jeep
the grandaddy of it all