Jeeps!
Many of us know the car called the Jeep. However, only a select few know the history behind the Jeep. The history of the Jeep starts in World War II. Once America ended its complete non-intervention and became involved in the war, the Army decided that they needed cars. After contacting 135 companies, however, only two companies were up for the task: the American Bantam Car Company and Willys-Overland. In 1940, while Bantam made a full prototype for the car in merely two days, the Army believed time was of the essence and Bantam’s small amount of workers would not be enough to finish the completion of enough cars in the time that they wanted them. As a result, the Army gave the design over to Willys and Ford and tried to see what these two companies could do. Both of the cars, however, turned out to be very similar in the prototyping stage. The key difference, however, was Willys’s “Go Devil” engine, which was quite powerful. As a result, the Army decided to go ahead and sign an initial production contract with Willys. Willys and Ford both helped develop cars, as Ford was considered the secondary option. In total, over 640,000 Jeeps from both companies were produced, amounting to around 18% of all wheeled military vehicles built during this time. While they were no beautiful sight at the time, the Jeeps were very useful. They served as 2160 pound firefighting pumpers, field ambulances, tractors, and also helped with cable laying and sawmilling. What couldn’t these magnificent vehicles do though? This mystery still eludes us today. Even after the war was over, they served as inspiration for many other vehicles today and eventually evolved into the Jeep we know and love. At that time though, they were critical utilitarian vehicles that assisted the Army due to their size, durability, and power.
Pictured above are some of the images of the Willys Jeeps during the 1940s.
Sources:
https://www.kaiserwillys.com/about_willys_jeep_vehicles_history_specs
https://www.jeep.com/history/1940s.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeep
https://ww2db.com/vehicle_spec.php?q=243
I really enjoyed this post! It was well written and really helped me understand to origin of Jeeps. To add on, the Jeep brand has gone through a number of owners, and has developed the reputation of the "Jeep curse." As the ownership has been passed from Bantam to Willys to Kaiser to American Motor Vehicles, each company has failed. This is how the "Jeep curse" was established, as it was believed that any company that owned Jeep would inevitably go out of business. However, the failure of all these companies had very little to do with Jeep. Currently, Jeep is owned by Fiat Chrysler and the cars are wildly popular.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://autoweek.com/article/car-life/how-has-jeep-gotten-here-check-out-their-miraculous-75-year-story
I did not know that Jeeps had their origin in World War II. I wanted to know more about the different vehicles used in World War II and found that the tank was used widely for armored movement. Although basic tanks were used in World War I to traverse trenches, advancements led to models such as the Panzer III and Panzer IV to be used by the Germans. Armoured warfare, or mechanization, played a huge role in war strategies, such as the German Blitzkrieg.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.britannica.com/technology/tank-military-vehicle
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/blitzkrieg
I liked this post a lot and I did not even know that Jeep was founded to prodcue for the war effort in WW2. I looked more into why Ford was a secondary option for vehicle production and not Jeep and I found out that Henry Ford was against American intervention in World War two and also conspired that the people who sank American boats were those who profitted. He also built the new Berlin Ford industry to solidify his anti-war opposition. However he was later forced to back his country once pearl harbor was attacked.
ReplyDeletehttps://ss.sites.mtu.edu/mhugl/2015/10/12/henry-ford/
I really liked how you went in depth and researched the history of one of America's most iconic cars. It was believed that one of the most important contributions America made in the war effort was the jeep as it was the most versatile vehicle. It was used in later wars and eventually went to the civilian market. The jeep was one of the first four wheel drive cars for civilians, farmers, mining companies, fishing enthusiasts and sporting hunters.
ReplyDeleteSource:
https://silodrome.com/history-willys-jeep/