A short history of the legendary Jeep

It was an iconic vehicle of World War II. It was one of the first four-wheel-drive vehicles ever built. It was used as a scout car, staff car, field ambulance and many, many other purposes. It was sent behind enemy lines in gliders during Operation Market Garden, it could be wrapped in a tarp and floated across deep bodies of water, and it could also be adapted to run on railroad tracks. It was the legendary Jeep. With World War II raging in Europe, it was becoming obvious that the United States was going to be drawn into it. With this in mind, the Army began looking for companies to create a four-wheel-drive scouting vehicle. The first company able to meet the demands was Bantam, with their Bantam Reconnaissance Car. However, the Army didn't think that Bantam had the ability to produce enough vehicles to meet the war's demands. Also, the BRC had an under-powered engine. So they took Bantam's plans and gave them to Willys-Overland and Ford, asking the two companies to improve on the design. The Willys design won and became the standard Jeep design. But the demand for the vehicle was so great, Willys-Overland granted the U.S. government a non-exclusive license to allow another company to also manufacture vehicles using Willys' specifications. That company would be Ford. To learn more about the Jeep, I headed to Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site, where I met Jeffery Campbell, from Elizabethton, during the "Walk in Their Boots" event. Campbell is the owner of an original Jeep. "This one in particular was built at the Ford plant in Louisville, Kentucky. Its delivery date was May 8, 1942, so it was in the first run," said Campbell as we walked around his Jeep. "A lot of people don't realize that Ford made it because they think of Willys. Because it was their design that was chosen out of the ones that were submitted as prototypes. Therefore, they had the licensing rights after the war to produce them under the Willys name." Campbell said that Ford produced roughly 280,000 Jeeps during the war. The rest were produced by Willys. The two companies produced roughly 650,000 during World War II. I did some digging and learned that nearly 30% of the Jeeps produced were supplied to the British and the Russians. "This one in particular is known as the Ford script," Campbell said, "because you have this large Ford logo back here on the back. That was part of the first production order of roughly 16,000 Jeeps that were made. Willys did the same thing with their first production run. After that, the government said stop doing that, it's not a billboard. So the later ones you can't tell the difference between the Ford and the Willys because it doesn't have that large, embossed logo." However, Ford found a way around the government restriction. They stamped a cursive f on every part of its Jeeps, even on the bolts. "They stamped f on everything. That was because you have two companies producing parts that were interchangeable. So from a warranty concern, or pride if nothing else, Ford wanted to know that if a part broke was it their manufacture or Willys' manufacture," Campbell said. Another way that Ford and Willys differed was Ford had a glove box and Willys didn't. Willys' design had seats with zippered pockets, also known as "kangaroo pockets," for storing items like maps. Ford decided to modify the design to include a glove box. Because the kangaroo pockets had already been ordered, early Fords had both. "I did mine with what is popular, which is to put a blanket underneath here," said Campbell, referring to how he uses the kangaroo pockets. "It's a great place to store it and it gives you a little more cushion. But I don't on the other side because that puts you a little closer to the steering wheel. For the passenger, it makes it a little bit softer for my wife." War time shortages led to substitutions of materials in Jeeps. "Notice that the shifter boots are made of rubber and these seats are foam rubber," Campbell pointed out. "Later, after this production run, you will start seeing them with leather boots and they used a horsehair mat here (seats) because we started having a rubber shortage. Rubber was hard to get so they replaced them with leather boots." While Ford was making small changes to the Willys design, the Willys design brought about a big change at Ford. "They were very easy to maintain and work on in the field. It's a standard, flat-head four-cylinder engine. It's a six-volt system, that was the standard of the time, it was six volts as opposed to our modern 12 volts," said Campbell. "This was, to my understanding, the actual first ever negative ground that Ford ever produced. Reason being, early Fords are positive ground. German engineers had told Ford that that was the best charging system for them to use. The Willis version was negative ground, so Ford had to produce a negative ground for this. So, it's possibly the first negative ground vehicle that Ford produced." Today, negative ground for the electrical system is standard. The Jeep was loaded with many interesting features. They came with a fire extinguisher, a scabbard for a rifle and pioneer tools. The headlights swung up on the inside to serve as work lights so you could repair the engine at night. The tires were mounted on combat rims to make changing a flat easier. "Another thing about these tires, those are designed to be non-directional. You can't tell which way they are going. If you see the tracks, you can't tell if the vehicle is going this way or that way," Campbell said. He then talked about the star on the hood of the Jeep. "The invasion star was to make them recognizable to distinguish between Allied and Axis vehicles," Campbell said. "Some of these you will see with a yellow looking paint. The paint was made out of material to detect gas. They were still worried about gas attacks, and that yellow paint would actually react and turn brown." How did the Jeep get its name? I did some investigating and found several different stories. The popular idea is that the name comes from an abbreviation for "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P., and soldiers started saying the two letters together, Jeep. A different spin on the G.P. story is that it was Ford's model designation. However Jeep got its name, it was one of the tools that help to defeat the Axis powers and bring victory in World War II. And it's still being made today. Ned Jilton II is a photographer, history lover and columnist. You can contact him at ndjphoto@aol.com.