50 Fun Facts About Jeep

What did the jeep largely replace in the US Army during World War II?

Horses and motorcycles were obsolete almost at once, because the jeep did their jobs and more. It laid telephone cable, ploughed snow and carried stretchers, and on the right wheels it even ran on railway tracks.

Which machine was built on Jeep vehicles or bare Jeep chassis through the 1950s?

The Zamboni began in 1949 as a one-off pieced together from war-surplus parts by Frank Zamboni, a California rink owner. From 1950 he built it on Jeeps, and it resurfaced the ice in minutes, a job that had taken a crew an hour or so.

What kind of aircraft delivered jeeps to Allied airborne troops during the D-Day invasion?

Gliders such as the American Waco and the British Horsa were big enough to take a jeep inside. That gave lightly armed airborne troops their own transport, and something to tow their guns, as soon as they landed.

What was the 'Go Devil', the feature that set Willys's jeep prototype apart from its rivals in 1940?

Its engine: chief engineer Barney Roos had reworked a modest Willys car engine into the most powerful unit in any of the three rival prototypes. That extra power was the main reason the Army chose the Willys design.

Which carmaker was brought in as a second supplier of wartime jeeps, building them to the Willys design?

Ford built well over a quarter of a million jeeps to Willys's drawings and stamped a script F on many of its parts. One Ford idea became standard on the wartime jeep: a cheap pressed-steel grille in place of Willys's welded one.

Under which American aid program did Britain and the Soviet Union receive thousands of wartime jeeps?

Lend-Lease took the jeep far beyond the US Army. Most of the early Willys MA model, already superseded at home by the MB, was shipped off to Russia and England, and only a few dozen are known to survive.

Which American general called the jeep America's greatest contribution to modern warfare?

George Marshall, the Army's wartime chief of staff, was not alone in his praise. The reporter Ernie Pyle wrote that the jeep did everything and went everywhere, as faithful as a dog, as strong as a mule and as agile as a goat.

What was the amphibious version of the wartime jeep nicknamed?

The Seep, a seagoing jeep, was clumsy on land and easily swamped by waves, and American soldiers disliked it. The Red Army took thousands, liked them, and built its own version after the war.

The most common theory says 'jeep' comes from slurring which two-letter military designation?

GP, slurred, gives jeep, or so the usual account goes. In 1941 soldiers were also calling it the peep, the blitz buggy and Leaping Lena, and one magazine could only predict that jeep would be the name to stick.

One theory says soldiers named the jeep after Eugene the Jeep, a magical pet in which comic strip?

Popeye's pet Eugene said only one word, jeep, yet had extraordinary powers and could turn up anywhere. On this telling, a small car that seemed able to do the same simply borrowed his name.

Up the steps of which building did Willys test driver 'Red' Hausmann drive a jeep for the press in 1941?

The US Capitol steps were a stunt laid on for the press. Asked what the odd little car was called, Hausmann answered 'It's a jeep', and a reporter's syndicated story carried the name across the country.

Which federal agency charged Willys in 1943 with falsely advertising that it had created the jeep?

The FTC, the Federal Trade Commission, found that the jeep was the work of a smaller rival and Army officers, and told Willys to stop claiming otherwise. Willys still won the Jeep name as a trademark in 1950.

How many slots does the trademarked Jeep grille have?

Seven slots arrived only after the war. The wartime jeep's grille had nine, and Willys cut it to seven on the models it began selling to the public in 1945.

In which Ohio city did Willys-Overland build its jeeps during World War II?

Toledo had been the Willys company's home since before the First World War, and the jeep left its mark on the map. Two streets beside the old factory are named Willys Parkway and Jeep Parkway.

What did the letters CJ stand for on the CJ-2A, which Willys put on sale in 1945?

Civilian Jeep: Willys aimed the CJ-2A at farmers who owned neither a truck nor a tractor, and sold it as the All-Around Farm Work-Horse. It gained a tailgate and a power take-off for driving farm machinery.

Which carmaker bought Willys-Overland in 1953?

Kaiser could no longer compete with the established makers in ordinary cars and wanted the Jeep line. Within two years it had stopped building passenger cars in America to concentrate on Jeeps.

Which New York museum showed a military jeep in 1951 as one of eight automotive masterpieces?

The Museum of Modern Art picked the jeep as one of just eight cars for its 1951 show Eight Automobiles, praising the army workhorse as a rare, genuine piece of machine art. A military Jeep later joined its collection.

Which 1971 AMC spin-off of Jeep's military and postal vehicle lines later made the Humvee?

AM General also kept building the two-wheel-drive DJ postal jeep that Jeep had created in 1953.

Which Jeep, launched for 1963 under designer Brooks Stevens, is often called the first luxury SUV?

The Wagoneer offered an automatic gearbox and independent front suspension, comforts new to a mainstream four-wheel drive. The same basic body stayed on sale until 1991, under three successive owners.

Which US president was often seen driving his Jeep Scrambler around his California ranch?

Ronald Reagan drove a Scrambler, a stretched CJ-7 with a small pickup bed, at Rancho del Cielo. The same model, fitted with a steel hardtop, delivered the mail for the postal service in Alaska.

The 1984 XJ Cherokee was the first American off-road vehicle built with what kind of construction?

Renault's François Castaing pushed for a smaller, lighter design; Jeep marketed XJs as 'Sportwagons' before 'SUV' existed.

In 1984 Jeep's owner set up the first carmaking joint venture between a Western company and which country?

China's Beijing Jeep built the XJ Cherokee for local buyers. Its early troubles made it a test case for the Western investors who followed, and the subject of a book that took the venture's name as its title.

What did Bob Lutz drive a Grand Cherokee through to launch it at the 1992 Detroit auto show?

A plate-glass window, though a rigged one: crews had swapped in a safer pane ringed with tiny charges, set off by remote as the bumper arrived. Detroit's mayor rode in the passenger seat.

The first Wrangler, launched for 1987, is the only generation with what shape of headlights?

Square headlights were a first and a last for this type of Jeep, as the company itself puts it. The 1997 replacement went back to round lamps, and so did the two generations after it.

What replaced leaf springs on the 1997 Wrangler for a smoother ride?

Coil springs replaced leaf springs front and rear on the 1997 Wrangler and gave it a far better ride on the road. The look went the other way: a deliberately retro shape, very close to the old CJ-7.

Which old-school feature has every Wrangler kept front and rear, just like the wartime jeep?

Solid axles are prized off road for their strength and for the long wheel travel they allow over rocks. They also make a Wrangler cheaper and easier to lift for bigger tyres.

The Rubicon Trail, namesake of Jeep's toughest trim, lies due west of which body of water?

Lake Tahoe lies at the trail's eastern end. The Jeepers Jamboree, a mass crossing first run in 1953, was the work of men from nearby Georgetown who wanted to bring visitors and revive the local economy.

What did the 2007 Wrangler Unlimited offer for the first time on a factory-built Wrangler?

Four doors took the industry by storm, in Jeep's own words, and the long Unlimited became a big sales success. It kept the old tricks too: the roof and all four doors still came off.

The Gladiator, unveiled in 2018, was Jeep's first pickup since which model was dropped in 1992?

The Comanche, a pickup cut from the Cherokee, closed a line of Jeep trucks that had run since 1947. The Gladiator badge is older than it looks as well: Jeep first put it on a pickup in the early 1960s.

In which country did production of the small Jeep Renegade begin in 2014?

Italy built it at Melfi, in an old Fiat plant, beside the Fiat 500X that shares its underpinnings. The Renegade was an early fruit of Fiat's tie-up with Chrysler: designed in America, crafted in Italy.

Which Car of the Year award did the Polish-built Avenger become the first Jeep to win in 2023?

European Car of the Year had never gone to a Jeep before. The winner was one Americans could not buy: the Avenger, designed in Italy and built in Poland, was not sold in the United States.

Which badge does a Jeep earn by passing tests of traction, articulation, ground clearance, manoeuvrability and water fording?

Trail Rated is a badge that, in Jeep's words, is never given, only earned. The road-biased first Compass proved the point, going without one until the 2011 model year.

In which country did war-surplus American jeeps become the jeepney, a stretched and brightly decorated shared taxi?

Philippines: with most public transport lost in the war, Filipinos stretched and roofed the jeeps American troops left behind. The name is thought to blend jeep with jitney, an old word for a shared taxi.

Which Indian company built Jeeps under licence for decades?

Mahindra's long tie to the jeep ended up in court. When it began selling the jeep-shaped Roxor off-roader in America in 2018, Jeep's owner complained, and a US trade judge found that its looks infringed.

In The Dukes of Hazzard, who drove a white Jeep CJ-7 named Dixie?

Daisy Duke began the series in a yellow Plymouth Road Runner and only took the wheel of her trademark Jeep midway through the second season.

What did the 1976 CJ-7 square off, a quick way to tell it from the CJ-5?

Door openings were squared off so that proper hinged doors would fit; the CJ-5's were curved. The wheelbase grew as well, which made room for an automatic gearbox.

Which British 4x4 began life in 1947 as a prototype built on a war-surplus jeep chassis?

The Land Rover was the idea of Rover's chief designer, Maurice Wilks, who used an army-surplus jeep for work on his farm in Wales. It was launched at the Amsterdam motor show in 1948.

Which company has owned Jeep since 2021?

Stellantis was formed in 2021 when Fiat Chrysler merged with the French group PSA. Based in the Netherlands, it added Opel and Vauxhall to a stable where Jeep already sat beside Fiat, Maserati and Alfa Romeo.

Which German company was Chrysler, and with it Jeep, merged into in 1998?

Daimler-Benz, the maker of Mercedes, billed the deal as a merger of equals. It lasted nine years: in 2007 Chrysler, and Jeep with it, was sold on to the private equity firm Cerberus.

Which Korean carmaker has built an army truck derived from Jeep's Vietnam-era M715?

Kia's KM450, a modernised M715, served South Korea's army for decades after the original's short life. The M715, a militarised Jeep Gladiator pickup, was built only from 1967 to 1969.

Which French arms maker built Jeeps under licence from Willys in the 1950s?

Hotchkiss built the comeback: the French army had chosen a more advanced Delahaye to replace its wartime jeeps, then returned to the simple old design. Hotchkiss ended up owning Delahaye too.

In a long-lived post-war legend, how could bargain hunters buy an Army-surplus jeep?

Still in the factory crate, promised the adverts, and the legend lasted for decades. Buyers who sent money got only a pamphlet on bidding at government auctions, advice the government gave away free.

Which tiny carmaker alone met the Army's 49-day deadline for a jeep prototype in 1940?

Bantam delivered on time, yet the Army feared so small a firm could never build enough and passed its drawings to two bigger rivals. Bantam ended up building the trailers that jeeps towed.

Which Utah desert town hosts the Easter Jeep Safari, nine days of trail driving each spring?

Moab's first safari, in 1967, was one free Saturday trail ride, and in the early years ice cream was dropped to the drivers by aeroplane at lunch. It now lasts nine days, ending on Easter Sunday.

Which of his own films did Bill Murray revisit in Jeep's 2020 Super Bowl advert?

Groundhog Day was the natural choice, because Super Bowl Sunday fell on 2 February, Groundhog Day itself. Murray went back to Woodstock, Illinois, where the film was shot, and called the advert his first and his last.

Which French carmaker bought into Jeep's parent company in 1979 and sold Jeeps through its European showrooms?

Renault's chairman Georges Besse championed the investment, but in 1986 he was shot dead outside his Paris home by the far-left group Action Directe. Within months Renault had sold its stake to Chrysler.

Which 1946 Willys model had an all-steel body when its rivals still used wood?

The Jeep Station Wagon is billed as America's first with an all-steel body, which would not weather, peel or squeak like timber. Even so, its panels were painted to imitate the wood it had replaced.

Which company bought Jeep in 1970?

American Motors bought Jeep to round out a range of cars, and the sideline became the prize. When Chrysler swallowed the company in 1987, Jeep was what it wanted most.

Which marque was created alongside Jeep as a Chrysler division after the 1987 AMC purchase?

Eagle existed for legal reasons tied to Renault's sale of AMC and was gone by the 1998 Daimler merger.

What do Jeep owners leave on each other's vehicles in a friendly custom that began in 2020?

Rubber ducks began with Allison Parliament, a Canadian who left one on a stranger's Jeep in 2020 to lift her mood after a nasty run-in. The owner caught her at it, smiled, and urged her to post it online.