From: Everette (194cbteng@bellsouth.net)
Date: Sun Nov 13 2005 - 04:31:16 PST
Flame away, shields are up and 100%
I go this from History Channel, just like the last one about jeep, that
resulted in numerous flames, but I am big boy with lots of tail feathers..
Everette
November 13
1940 Willys-overland completes original Jeep prototype
In 1939, the U.S. Army asked America's automobile manufacturers to submit
designs for a simple and versatile military vehicle. It would be two full
years before the official U.S. declaration of war, but military officials,
who knew this declaration to be inevitable, recognized the need for an
innovative troop-transport vehicle for the global battlefields of World War
II. The American Bantam Car Company, a small car manufacturer, submitted the
first design approved by the army, but the production contract was
ultimately given to Willys-Overland, a company that had a larger production
capability and offered a lower bid. The Willys Jeep, as it would become
known during the war, was similar to the Bantam design, and featured
four-wheel drive, an open-air cab, and a rifle rack mounted under the
windshield. On this day, the first Willys-Overland Jeep prototype was
completed, and submitted to the U.S. Army for approval. One year later, with
the U.S. declaration of war, mass production of the Willys-Overland Jeep
began. By the war's end in 1945, some 600,000 Jeeps had rolled off the
assembly lines and onto the battlefields of Asia, Africa, and Europe. The
efficient and sturdy four-wheel drive Jeep became a symbol of the American
war effort--no obstacle could stop its advance. Somewhere along the line the
vehicle acquired the name "Jeep," likely evolving from the initials G.P. for
"general purchase" vehicle, and the nickname stuck. In 1945, Willys-Overland
introduced the first civilian Jeep vehicle, the CJ-2A--the forefather of
today's sport utility vehicles.
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