Yesterday’s Buzzyblog post showing a jeep parked in front of the Mast Store, got me thinking about them.
First off, it reminded me of when LP Mercure rolled into Buzzy’s Country Store some years ago driving one. LP explained to me how he had located this one in an old barn over in Calvert County and secured it from the owner.
He went on to tell me how it was an original Willy and a very famous vehicle. As LP told me all of this however, my first thought was still “Why the hell would anyone ever want an old Army jeep?”
Here is a photo of LP’s jeep at one of our Buzzy Car Shows from several years ago. (Note that he has since spiffed it up from how it appears here.)
Turns out that, as LP indicated, there is quite an interesting history and even a little bit of controversy to the jeep and how it came to be. Many folks credit John North Willys for originating the vehicle named after him (click here.)
However, giving full credit to John is a little controversial because after the Army had initiated requests for the jeep’s development, several folks and automakers worked on the project. Here is how all that went down:
That Mr. Willys managed to have his name associated with the vehicle is nice; but the original patent for the jeep was given to the U.S. Army. You know how those bureaucrats like to take credit for things they didn’t do. This from Wiki:
Another “controversy,” and a very minor one when compared to the messy patent business, has to do with the pronunciation of Willys. John Willys pronounced his name Willis as in “What you talking about Willis?” However, thru the years the jeeps have been referred to as either “Willies” or simply Willy.
As for how it came to be known as a Jeep, even that part of the story gets complicated (click here.) One account has it that the Army dubbed it a “General Purpose” vehicle which led to it being called GP or Jeep for short. Other accounts say the G meant it was a Ford contract and the P stood for 80 inch wheel base. Again GP morphed into Jeep. A third explanation claims that it was a Popeye character from 1936 that led to the name:
Music today for you, the Popeye theme song along with the introduction of Eugene the Jeep. (Never know what you’ll find here on the Buzzyblog do you? Strong to the finish!)