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The term Jeep today is seemingly used to describe all off-road 4x4 vehicles but where the actual word came from to describe these vehicles is a source of much debate. Some remember the character in ‘Popeye' (a very popular strip cartoon of the time) and his friend Eugene the Jeep who could walk through walls, upside down ceilings, fly, and seemingly go wherever he wanted to. Eugene, it seems, represented the new vehicles versatility and the soldiers informally named it so. Another theory, and probably the more believable one is that Jeep is derived from the designation ‘GP', standing for ‘General Purpose'. The two letters were phonetically merged to make the sound Jeep.

The Jeep was born out of necessity; the original specification for a versatile, off-road vehicle came from the United States Army and was sent to over 130 companies. Time was running out however, the ease of mobility with which the German Army was advancing through France worried the Allied forces. The companies were only given a 49 day deadline to respond to the call, with a running prototype. The Army were desperate; they had been looking for a fast, light-weight, all terrain reconnaissance vehicles since as early as the First World War. Only two companies rose to the impossible challenge: Bantams Car Company and Willys-Overland, with Ford also offering up a prototype much later on. The original specifications from the Government were as follows:

• Vehicle weight: approximately 1,300 pounds (This proved to be totally unrealistic and later was raised to 2,160 pounds.)
• Four-wheel drive
• Engine (power): 85 pound-feet of torque
• Wheelbase: Not more than 80 inches
• Tread: Not more than 47 inches
• Ground Clearance: Minimum ground clearance of 6.25 inches
• Payload: 600 pounds
• Cooling System: Good enough to allow a sustained low speed without overheating the engine

Bantam had previously supplied the Army with reconnaissance vehicles they had developed after procuring the British company Austin of England who had gone bankrupt. The Austin based Roadsters were given to the National Guard for evaluation. The original Austin design was employed by Bantam, except with added improvements and a larger range of models were made available. It was as early as 1939 that Bantam had spotted the potential for a lightweight all-terrain vehicle. The overall task here was to design and submit 70 vehicles finished for evaluation. The prototype was to arrive in 49 days and the rest to arrive within 75 days.

The bantam prototype was delivered on time and was extremely close to the specifications required. The only drawback was that it didn't meet the Army's torque requirements. They were also worried about the size of the Bantam company and whether they would be able to build the required amount, so they approached Willys-Overland and Ford, who were given the same specifications. Despite Willys-Overland not meeting the deadline and with Ford showing little interest it was somewhat surprising that they were both allowed access to the Bantam prototype trials. Soon after, the Willys-Overland prototype called the Quad, and the Ford prototype called the Pygmy were delivered for testing. The trials continued throughout the winter of 1940 and should have resulted in one outright winner, the Bantam. This was not so in the end. The Army had identified many weaknesses with it, as with the other prototypes on offer. The Bantam was considered too high off the ground, the Quad had a powerful engine but was far too heavy and the Pygmy, although the best for steering had a problem with the linkages breaking. The only solution for the government and Army was to give all three companies an initial order of 1500 vehicles each. This was only providing they met the original specifications with the new increased weight limit.

The vehicles from the three companies were all remarkably similar as each of them copied the better ideas from eachother. The military recognised the difficulty in store for them to operate three different designs of vehicle. So a decision was made to offer the next consignment of 16,000 vehicles to Willys-Overland whose design proved the cheapest to manufacture.

The army then added more specifications to their design including blackout lights, sealed beam headlamps, trailer socket, centre dash handbrake control and radio suppression amongst other minor things. This ensured that the classic standard Jeep design was emerging. The Jeep is accredited to winning the Second World War for the Allies. They were deployed to Europe in their tens of thousands to all the Allied forces to perform a variety of different duties.

Ever since its invention, many car manufacturers all over the world have copied the Jeep concept, adapting them also for other uses such as a railway jeep and an amphibious jeep.

DaimlerChrysler are the most recent successor to Willys-Overland, and they now own the Jeep trademark and the front grill design.

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