Posted by Ken Dunnington on Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 11:37AM :
In Reply to: G.P., help me out here old vets... posted by Dana on Tuesday, May 28, 2002 at 10:34PM :
It doesn't come from GP. The name of the MB,GP,GPW was called a "1/4ton Command Reconnaissance Truck" until mid 1942 when the General Purpose part was added. Since it was called a jeep before this time, that cannot be the source of the nickname.
A list of things known as jeeps prior to the MB/GPW lifted from the website below:
- WW1 era, any new motor vehicle received for a test
- a less-than-complimentary term for new recruits
- Popeye character
- Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company used the name "Jeep" for a custombuilt exploration/survey vehicle. Built by the FWD Corporation to Halliburton specs, the truck was a converted 1935 or '36 model. Like all FWDs, it was an all-terrain rig but differed from the standard cargo truck by having a vantype body. The truck had "Jeep" painted on both sides and was once used in advertising.
- This brings us to 1937 and another Jeep. According to test pilot Col. G.F. Johnson, U.S. Army Air Corps, the prototype YB17 bomber was nicknamed "Jeep" because of its sterling performance.
- Gen. H.F. Gregory, the Army Air Corps' first helicopter pilot, said the Jeep name was used for another, smaller, aircraft, with the official of Popeye's publisher. Had this experimental autogyro, a predecessor to the helicopter, gone into production, it would have officially worn the name "Jeep". While testing these amazing Kellett autogyros at WrightPatterson Airfield in Ohio in the late 1930s, Gregory and his fellow test pilots were called "The Jeep Salesmen."
- in August of 1940, during testing at Camp Ripley, Sergeant James T. O'Brien is quoted by several sources to have applied the name "Jeep" to the MinneapolisMoline prime mover. In a letter to MinneapolisMoline dated March 31, 1943, O'Brien explained how the name came about. "One evening," he wrote, "in a gathering of enlisted men, it was suggested that a short descriptive name be found for these vehicles, such names as 'alligator' and 'swamp rabbit.' I brought forth the name 'Jeep' as a result of reading Popeye in which Eugene the Jeep appears as a character, and the fact that these vehicles would go where you would least expect them to go. The name was unanimously accepted and subsequently painted on the vehicles, which have since become familiarly known." During testing at the Fourth Army maneuvers in August 1940, the MM Jeep was photographed climbing six feet up an oak tree. (The tree gave up at that point, and the tractor crushed it into matchsticks. So much for Treading Lightly!) The tractor was also said to have "walked" through a forest of 5inch trees. These photos appeared in the Army Times (Sept. 14, 1940) in an article entitled "Army Likes Jeep." the Molines found their ultimate niche as aircraft tractors, but even as late as 1943 newspaper headlines still referred to them as Jeeps. "Jeep Helps Save Lives of War Heroes" was the headline of one '43 news story, describing a photo of a MinneapolisMoline NTX tractor and a tale of strafed, burning aircraft being towed off a runway so a group of outof fuel fighters could land.
*********Dodge part here***************
- In 1940, several more "Jeeps"emerged. In the fall of 1939 and spring of 1940, Army units were issued a series of new vehicles that became popular with the troops. The T202 and T207 Dodge 1/2ton 4x4 trucks came in several configurations. The Command Car version, officially designated C&R (Command and Reconnaissance), was the opentopped fourby that was most often called a Jeep. The same basic chassis also came in Pickup, Weapons Carrier, and Carryall body styles. These trucks proved to be very good performers, and it wasn't long before GIs all over began to refer to the common Dodges as "Jeeps" for the same reasons as the MM. This name stuck through the evolution of the 1/2ton Dodge until it was replaced by the more commonly known 3/4tons in mid '42. As late as 1943, some troops were still calling the Dodges "Jeeps." The later Dodges began to be known more or less officially as "Beeps," short for "Big Jeeps."
- According to a number of Army sources, the nickname most GIs chose for the little Willys fourby was "Peep" (the 1/2ton Dodges remained "Jeeps"). When the first units left overseas, these terms of endearment stayed with them for some time, but it wasn't long before a tide of change overwhelmed everything. By this time there was a huge influx of GIs going into service, many of whom had been subjected to a veritable media blitz about the new 1/4ton 4x4, which the press insisted on calling a "Jeep".
When Willys began using the term "Jeep" in advertising, MinneapolisMoline balked. In June 1942, the House Committee on Military Affairs substantiated MM's claim to the name, citing numerous references in newspapers and magazines dating back to before 1940.
Ken