Jeep gets back in uniform

Decades after the last Jeep saw military service, Chrysler unveils a Wrangler that's ready to enlist.

The icon takes shape
The original "jeep" remains an icon to this day
The icon takes shape
Features of all three company's designs were combined to create what became known as the Willys MB. (The earlier version, called the MA, is today the rarest of the early Jeeps with only about 30 known to survive.)

The MB is the vehicle we recognize today as the iconic World War II military vehicle. Willys (pronounced "will-eez") was awarded the contract and built more than 368,000 of them. Ford built 277,000 more under license.

For some reason, the vehicles became popularly known as "jeeps." Chrysler historians insist the name was not a contraction of GP for "General Purpose." The vehicles were never commonly known by those initials, they say.

In the first World War, according to Chrysler's official account, "jeep" was a slang term for any piece of unproven military hardware but, in World War II, the name became firmly attached to one vehicle.

The term stuck to the MB, in particular, because of "Eugene the jeep," Chrysler says. Eugene, a magical dog-like pet that could walk on walls and ceilings, first showed up in Popeye comics in the mid-1930s. Like Eugene the jeep the MB could go anywhere, so the name stuck.

According to the Patrick Foster, author of the "Standard Catalog of Jeep" and other Jeep books, the name was, iindeed, a contraction of GP. It had been applied to a variety of military vehicles over the years, including a tractor used to haul heavy artillery and an airplane, he says.

The name stuck to the MB, according to Foster's version of the story, because a reporter heard soldiers call the thing a "jeep" and assumed the name applied to that vehicle alone. News reports immediately began identifying it as a "jeep."


J8

MA

MB

CJ-2

CJ-5

Hummer

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.