Do you drive a Jeep? Does a friend or family member? Almost everyone has had some experience with a Jeep. How did this vehicle become so much a part of our culture?

The American infatuation with the jeep started during World War II when the Army wanted a small, four-wheel-drive vehicle. They sent out a request for designs giving the companies mere days to respond. Only three companies responded: Willys-Overland, Ford and Bantam. A designer with Bantam sent in the first design which the military liked so much they asked Ford and Willys-Overland to replicate it and produce prototypes. The prototypes were put through the wringer with every test the Army could come up with. The little vehicle performed like a champ. All three companies were given contracts to build the jeeps, with the requirement that all the parts must be interchangeable. During the war over 600,000 were produced.

Jeeps were used in every theater of the war – from Europe to Africa, from Hawaii to Singapore, from Australia to Japan, and everywhere the Allies went around the world. The servicemen and women loved this little vehicle. It was used to simply transport soldiers, as a reconnaissance vehicle and as an ambulance. It towed artillery pieces and ammo trailers. Female drivers chauffeured officers in jeeps. On air bases the jeep carried pilots and crew members to their airplanes. Even the Navy used jeeps on their naval bases.

The jeep went practically anywhere. It traversed swamps, mountains, deserts, snow and jungles. You didn’t have to be much of a mechanic to work on it on the rare occasion it wouldn’t run and parts were easily available thanks to the early planning. The tough vehicle became indispensable.

The designers and manufacturers of the original military jeep never imagined that this little utility vehicle would become a major automotive brand. After the war, ex-servicemen bought up surplus military jeeps. Willys created a civilian version in 1945 and the four-wheel-drive craze began. Over the years the jeep evolved into the SUV’s we drive today.