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History Of jeep

8K views 33 replies 14 participants last post by  gajeepguy 
#1 · (Edited)
this is something i enjoy, history of cars. i mean you cant really get where we are today with out learning of the jeeps of the past. So for a while ill try to update it everyday, going into different models and evolutions until we get to the jeeps of today and even of the future, including jeeps never released. So hope you enjoy reading this stuff as much i enjoy learning it. Feel free to add to it if i forgot something in my most recent piece but please do NOT jump ahead. feel free to ask questions too and ill try my best to answer them. here goes nothing:

9/4/11: The beginnings; Part I-Bantam

As most of us know the original jeeps, was the grandfather of what we know today us the wrangler. This original jeep began production in 1940, to meet the needs of the US Military during the raging WWII. What many people don't know is that not only was the well known Willy's-Overland produced but so did Karl Probst with the American- Bantam automobile company. This is today's topic.

probst had the plans laid out for his early jeep in an astonishing 2-days. The army accepted it and began production of the BRC. because the bantam company was previously bankrupt (reason Probst was hired) production began in PA with mostly off the shelf parts. In April of 1940 the army gave its test. The bantam was great for them. good off road and everything but the torque frankly sucked, and the army decided that Bantam was not large enough company for the mass production the army would have required for the war, so the bantam deal was dropped. Needing something the army gave the plans to the eventual choice in Willy's-Overland and Ford. Ford gave the pygmy and Willy's gave the Quad.

stayed tuned tomorrow for more.
 
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#5 ·
9/5/11: The beginnings; Part II- Willy's and Ford

So yesterday I left off saying that The army had given Bantam's plans to both Ford and Willy's- Overland. So all three companies (including Bantam) built over 1,000 "jeeps" for testing. It was Willy's who won out here becasue of theiir design changes which made it possible for them to use a more powerful engine. The new Jeep was dubbed The "MB". Willys overland had used thier own performance and design specs, with the overall look of the bantam, and that legendary front grill was a Ford design.

Now Remember we are in WWII here the army is gonna need alot of jeeps and Willy's jusnt couldnt keep up with the production the Army needed. So an agreement was made were Ford could take Willys exact design and they would both produce the vehicle. The Ford models were dubbed the "GPW" so between the two companies during the war (actually under control by the VP of Ford) over 600,000 were produced. During the war other variations included The Ford GPA or nicknamed the seep. It was basically an aquatic jeep but in the compromise it made it suck so it was no real success.

Id like to add that inbetween the batam and the final models their were other produced but I dont know enough about them nor or they of huge importnace. Stayed tuned tomorrow for the birth of the civilian jeep.
 
#6 ·
9/6/11: The Civilian Jeep; Part I- CJ-1 - CJ-2A

Okay so where we left off yesterday was still In WWII. Now imagine you are in charge of Willy's in 1944 and the war is coming to a close. Now you've got this awesome vehicle and without a war to make it for what does one do? You make it available to the public, and thats exactly what Willy's did and started a revolution. What they made was the CJ series (civilian Jeep) and the DJ its 2-wheel drive counterpart. for this i will just refer to everything under its CJ name and number, becasue a 2 wheel-drive jeep is just plain dumb.:p

So, its still 1944, and Jeep begins to make its first CJ. The CJ-1. people really dont know too much about this one because it wasnt really anything special. Basically it was just the old MB, that i wrote about yesterday with out all the military stuff. it also included a new top and tail gate. there arent any reported CJ-1's left in existence today.

Well pretty soon after, it was time for a dfferent Civilian jeep. Funny thing about this new CJ-2 was it really wasnt a civilian jeep. It was widely used for testings purposes and was dubbed the AgriJeep. Only 45 were ever made and some are still in existence today. It was basically the same CJ-1 design with some new additions.

Now the CJ-2 is widely considered the first real civilian jeep. It was the very first mass produced one for civilians. Willy's used the lessons they had learned with the CJ-2 and made a nice jeep. It had some more civilian comforts like rear seats, and a rag top. It also had the 9 slot grill and a long list of other comforts and accessories but to keep this brief and not boring i wont list them all. from 1945-1946 only 2 colors were available Green or Tan, showing its military roots. in mid 1946 other colors like red were added to the options. Despite all the new things the CJ-2a remained a capable offroad vehicle for its time. So thats the first CJ's tomorrow ill start getting into some new Cj's. stay tuned
 
#13 · (Edited)
here are a few great links for the ones that want to read up and jeep history... I have read looked at the pic's over and over... and for the most part at one time or another have owned or have good friends that have owned each and ever kind of jeep..LOL heck I have had lots of the different modles and years in my yard all at the same time.. lOl I am working on buying a m751 in the new year...


Jeepin.com » Jeep History

Discover Jeep History | Heritage and Story of the Legend | Jeep

Jeep History
 
#15 ·
woah I forgot about this. Im sorry for my absence but with school. etc. It proved harder to do than I would ahve liked. I will try and continue to where i was. Im glad people read and I hope you guys enjoyed
 
#16 · (Edited)
9/12/12: The Civilian Jeep; Part 2 CJ-3A - CJ-4

Alright so more than a year ago when i stopped writing this :brickwall:, i had finished up with those early "willy's so to say", where the jeep was becoming accesible to pretty much anyone who wanted one. They started to add more creature comforts, and the jeeps popularity as a civilian vehicle was starting to grow. Now in the late 40's post war America, jeep was ready for somethingnew, well sortof. They released the Jeep CJ-3a, which at the time was pretty much the same as the old 2's. well not quite. They had a beefier suspension and even something a little cooler, a 1 piece windshield that included none other than, wait for it.... Wipers. also available in the DJ 2wheel drive


Now next you may think the CJ-3b would be next, and before i started learning about thsi stuff, i thought teh same. well actually the CJ-4 came next. and guess how many they made. Not hundreds, not even 10's. They built 1. thats right ONE CJ-4. This one in the early 1950's as a military experiemnt. This is my favorite CJ though, it was ahead of its time. Now it had the same hood as the CJ-3b which wouldnt come out for another few years, and similar body styling to the CJ-5!. pretty cool. Now for you engine buffs, it actually had the Willy's Hurricane. Yes the same one in the CJ-5 and 6 and in the famous, Willy's pickups. This jeep even had an 81'' wheelbase.


alright that's pretty much all I know, about the 4, so next as promised is the CJ-3b. This was 1953 I believe, and actually this was when Willy's-overland was sold to Kaiser, so subsequentillay Kaiser dropped Overland, and now it was finally Just Willy's. So out came the 3-b. Kind of like a cross between the 3a and the 4. Had teh same engine as the 4, but closer styling to the 3a, with a bigger grill and hood to fit the new Hurricane engine, and later on a 4speed manual tranny. The CJ-3b was produced until the late 60's believe or not, but in reality was going on till the late 90's and in a sense today. I know it sounds weird but, kaiser liscensed out the 3b to both Mitsubishi and Mahindra, and they both made the CJ-3b with there own names. Pretty cool. also available in the DJ, 2 wheel drive


Thats it for those, Im gonna try to do these maybe weekly now, its not everyday anymore but atleast its not once a year haha :rofl:. Tomorrow I'll do the CJ-5 and maybe touch on the 6
 
#23 ·
Small update here

There were some variations of the WWII Jeep. Here is a link to show some:

http://oldcarandtruckpictures.com/Jeeps/WorldWarIIJeeps.html

Not shown was an ambulance conversion, which I have seen at shows. It has a shelf extended out the back and long top to accommodate stretchers. Also available on them was an optional rifle rack for an M1 carbine mounted to the windshield, pedestal mounted 30 cal machine gun that attached to a special cross member behind the front seats (I had one of these) and I found out yesterday a passenger seat mounted 30 cal for the passenger to use. Another option was a 3 inch cannon mounted in back. That had to rock the little guys. Original weight was 2700#, far short of the 2000# goal of the army. Another rare option which I have had was a factory governor to limit speed to 35 mph on bases. This required a bump in the hood to accommodate the extra height of the carburetor, which I also have owned.
 
#26 ·
yeah, they did some cool stuff to the ww2 ones. I wasnt planning in going into to keep it short, but thankkyou for adding. anyone else that has info to add please do. I'll still do general posts as i have been doing, but if you want add to them, correct me if i am wrong, etc
 
#24 ·
Small update on the CJ2 and 3 civilian Jeeps. After WWII, there was interest in the agricultural community for a utility vehicle. Jeep and Dodge competed for the honors here. The CJs could be ordered or retro fitted with a rear facing PTO capable of running things like a side mower or bailer, another PTO off the bottom of the tcase to run a winch in the front etc. The Dodge Power Wagon came with the same options for farm use. The rear axle was upgraded in the CJ2 and M38 to a D44 and later in the CJ3 to a D53. Pretty big rear end for a 1/4 ton vehicle.

Although only one CJ4 was made, and upgraded to the CJ5, there are CJ4As produced in India that are a straight sided 3B complete with all the old engines, trannys etc only fresh off the assembly lines.
 
#25 ·
Small update on the CJ2 and 3 civilian Jeeps. After WWII, there was interest in the agricultural community for a utility vehicle. Jeep and Dodge competed for the honors here. The CJs could be ordered or retro fitted with a rear facing PTO capable of running things like a side mower or bailer, another PTO off the bottom of the tcase to run a winch in the front etc. The Dodge Power Wagon came with the same options for farm use. The rear axle was upgraded in the CJ2 and M38 to a D44 and later in the CJ3 to a D53. Pretty big rear end for a 1/4 ton vehicle.

Although only one CJ4 was made, and upgraded to the CJ5, there are CJ4As produced in India that are a straight sided 3B complete with all the old engines, trannys etc only fresh off the assembly lines.
 
#27 ·
9/12/12: The Civilian Jeep; Part 3 CJ-5 - CJ-6

Now before I start there are points about this segment worth mentioning. Willy's still had the CJ-3b in production. I believe that they aimed to replace the 3-b with the 5, but rather than that they kept both in production. Also pretty much whatever i say for the 5 goes for the 6. exact same jeep and same changes through the years, just had a 20'' longer wheelbase.

Alright, so here we are in the the early 60's and willys is putting something out newalot of styling came from a Korean war jeep, as well as previous models. Remember the CJ-4 from the last passage. even ideas from that came to the 5. Now one thing to point out is that in 1964, the name was changed from the Willy's CJ-5, to the Jeep CJ-5, that we all know and love. these early ones had the same Hurricane engine as in the 3b. also was an option for a perkins Diesel engine.

IN '65 kaiser had something big happen, and they got the casting rights to a buick engine, eventually giving the famous Dauntless V6. while still offering the hurricane.

In the timeline of Jeep's life one major thing to point out is the 1970 purchase of teh Jeep name. Jeep was now a division of AMC.

amc stopped using the hurricane too. they began to start using there own engines. v6 and later an optional v8 engine were added to the CJ. this wasn't the only change that AMC had done. a full floating d30 front was even added later. the rear which was changed later went from a d44, to the amc20 and even before that trak-lock limited slip diff was added as standard.

BY 1976 the tub and frame were getting a slightly different look just small small updates. Even teh fame had a change. what was once an open channel was now a boxed channel. One change that did upset some people during this time was that of teh windshield. The windshield was changed just enough so that any CJ-5 top from before 1976 would not fit the newer models. instead of the stronger one-piece design used in the Dana.

as teh years went on, newer trim packages and there were several, added new things. AM/FM radio, power disk brakes, a tach, and several other things. also changed was in the CJ-5's late life it once again got a new engine. the 4.2L I6. which became the standard engine.

as I mentioned there were several different levels of trim packages offered over the 5's long life. Just as today the JK has the Rubicon, Islander, black-op's and so on. If any one wants to know about a particular one, I'd be happy to share what I know and do some more research.
 
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