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Jeep 1941 - 2001

The Original 4x4 Sport Utility vehicle is now 60 years old. Here we chart the meteoric rise from a military drawing board to one of the best selling off-road vehicles of all time.

1946-1950 THE MOVE TO CIVILISATION:

When World War II ended, Willys-Overland held true to its war production motto, "The sun never sets on the Willys-Built Jeep," by creating a civilian role for its famed Jeep vehicle.

While it may be true that the design and name of Jeep were not originally a Willys-Overland possession, it is indisputable that they were responsible entirely for the present-day impact of utility transportation on industry, agriculture and the consumer. It was Willys-Overland that turned Jeep from a war vehicle to the ultimate recreational vehicle for man, woman and family.


Willys-Overland president J W Frazier

Willys-Overland officials perhaps mapped the future of Jeep vehicles with this statement taken from a late 1946 internal memo:

"The Jeep of the future is still evolving and will continue to evolve as new uses are found for it. The Jeep is an ever-changing functional vehicle. Its development differs from that of the conventional transportation vehicle in that it does not stop with transportation alone."

The civilian evolution of the Jeep vehicle actually began before victory was ever achieved in Germany and Japan. In 1944, plans were underway to exploit the use of Jeep vehicles for agricultural purposes. That year, Willys-Overland produced 22 prototypes of the projected civilian vehicle under the code-name of CJ-1A, or Civilian Jeep, first model of the Army.

Those prototypes led to the production of the first civilian Jeep CJ, the CJ2A, introduced in August 1945 at a price of $1,090. The CJ2A was heavily based on the wartime MB model and included "civilian" features such as the addition of a tailgate, automatic windshield wipers and an outside gas cap.


Jeep 4wd Pick-Up from 1947

These models were to have the Jeep name stamped on the tailgate, window frame and hood. However, at the time of early production, Willys-Overland was still involved in litigation with American Bantam Car Co. and Minneapolis Moline Power Implement Co. over the origin of the Jeep trade name before the Federal Trade Commission. So as production CJ2A models went down the assembly line in Toledo, they were stamped with the Willys name. Even though Willys-Overland eventually won the right to use the name Jeep on its products, the Willys name stayed on the Jeep vehicles into the 1950s.

The potential for post-war Jeep vehicles did not stop with wartime derivatives. In 1946, Willys-Overland introduced the auto industry's first all-steel station wagon and sedan delivery vehicles. These two-wheel-drive vehicles featured a maximum seven passenger capacity and reached a top speed of 65 mph. When four-wheel drive and a Willys six-cylinder engine were added in 1949, the Jeep All-Steel Station Wagon truly became the forerunner of the modern-day Jeep Cherokee.

Willys-Overland followed the All-Steel Wagon introduction with the 1947 Jeep 2WD and 4WD pickup trucks and, in 1948, increased the fun factor of the Jeep line with the introduction of the two-door Jeepster. Called a sports phaeton, the Jeepster was powered by the famous four-cylinder Willys engine. By 1949, Jeepster was also available with a six-cylinder powerplant.

Willys-Overland closed out the 1940s with further development of its CJ line, known to the world as the Jeep Universal, with the introduction of the CJ3A in 1949.


1946 7 passenger Station Wagon

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