• It had to be able to carry 600 pounds and weigh less than 1,300 pounds, although the Army later revised this to 2,150 pounds.
• Its wheelbase — the centerpoint of the front tire to the centerpoint of the rear tire — had to measure less than 75 inches.
• It must be less than 36 inches tall.
• The driveline must be smooth running up to 50 mph and possess four-wheel drive with a two-speed transfer case.
• The body must be rectangular-shaped, have a fold-down windshield and be furnished with three bucket seats and blackout and driving lights.
Of the 135 manufacturers asked to bid on the project, three responded: Willys-Overland of Toledo, Ohio; American Bantam of Butler, Pa.; and Ford Motor Co. from Detroit.
Each company produced prototypes, with Bantam building its vehicle within a remarkable 49 days. The company, a spin-off of American Austin, already built diminutive cars and trucks, so adapting them to Army specs was easy.
In a move that could be termed “dirty pool,” the government turned over Bantam’s blueprints to Willys and Ford to aid their prototype development.
So it’s no surprise that Willys-Overland’s Quad and Ford’s Model GP (also known as the Pygmy, it was powered by a Ford/Ferguson tractor engine) looked a lot like the Bantam.
With prototypes delivered to the Army in the summer of 1940, each company received approval to build 70 sample vehicles, which were delivered to the Army in November. Four months later, the Army requested another 1,500 from each auto manufacturer.
Ultimately, the Army selected the Willys Quad, and named Willys the primary manufacturer, although Ford also built them under license. American Bantam, having built 2,643 Jeeps, was deemed too small to produce a significant number of Jeeps.
Instead, they produced the Jeep’s trailers used by Willys and Ford Jeeps.
Of course, the vehicle wasn’t known as the Jeep. The Willys Quad became the MA, and later the MB; only later it was it named Jeep.
Two theories have emerged, neither proven. Some claim that the name came from the slurring of the letters “GP,” the military abbreviation for “General Purpose.” Others say the vehicle was named for a popular character in the “Popeye” comic strip named “Eugene the Jeep,” who possessed magical abilities.
The vehicle weighed around 2,500 pounds. Its 60-horsepower, 2.2-liter four-cylinder engine and three-speed manual transmission could generate a top speed of 62 mph; reaching it took more than 30 seconds.
Willys-Overland built more than 368,000 Jeeps, and Ford some 277,000 for the Army during World War II.
After the war, Willys trademarked the Jeep name and abandoned car production to concentrate on Jeeps. The company expanded the Jeep line-up, introducing half-ton and 1-ton models, along with phaetons, wagons and pickups. In the process, they created the sport utility vehicle.
But just as the plucky Jeep survived many battles, it also outlived the companies that owned it.
In 1953, Kaiser Industries took over Willys-Overland. Kaiser kept expanding Jeep’s product line, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a sales slump in the late ‘60s. At that point, Kaiser-Jeep was sold to American Motors.
AMC built Jeeps through 1980s, until AMC was acquired by Chrysler in 1987. Although Chrysler inherited all of AMC’s brands, Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca admitted that it was Jeep he was really after.
Chrysler was acquired by Daimler-Benz AG in 1998, which sold Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management in 2007.
These days, Chrysler is controlled by Italian automaker Fiat.
How ironic for a vehicle born in the shadows of World War II.
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