Jeep Turns 75 Today: Get Out Your Sunscreen, Fatigues and Small American Flags

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Jeep turns 75 years old today, and its birthday promises to be a lot more upbeat than, say, Plymouth’s.

The storied brand, which started life producing a hastily built battlefield runabout, is now a sales juggernaut for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, which could be its reward for suffering through so many ownership changes over the years. To mark the special occasion, FCA built a one-off Wrangler that takes the brand back to its roots.

You can’t buy it, but you can remove the doors and fold down the windshield on your own Wrangler, head to a nearby field, paint some signs in German and pretend it’s two weeks ’till V-E Day.

Called the Wrangler 75th Salute, the concept was released on the same day the Willys-Overland Motor Company received its military contract for the Model MB back in 1941. The model was soon referred to as a “jeep,” and the company registered the name after the war for use on civilian models.

The concept sheds the Wrangler’s doors and B-pillar and adopts an olive drab paint scheme. A flat front bumper with tow hooks, steel wheels with non-directional rubber, and low-back canvas seats complete the military makeover. You can look, but you can’t own.

The original crop of military vehicles were based on a concept created over the course of two days by the American Bantam Car Company, maker of tiny, cheap passenger vehicles. It was obvious the U.S. would soon find itself overseas, fighting various mustachioed dictators, and the U.S. Army needed a jack-of-all-trades, go-anywhere vehicle. A lot of them. (Meaning: cheap and easy to make, with no creature comforts.)

Contracts went to Willys-Overland and Ford Motor Company, with Willys specifically chosen for its 2.2-liter “Go Devil” four-cylinder engine. That mill, seen by the Army as perfect for the vehicle, made 60 horsepower and 105 pounds-feet of torque. Willys models came with the now-famous seven-slot grill, while Ford’s version had nine slots. In total, 640,000 units were produced during the war.

Since then, Jeep has lived under the roof of nine different corporate parents. (Ten, if you count Renault’s short-lived hand in AMC.) It is the ultimate survivor.

Some of FCA’s brands are struggling, but Jeep’s skyrocketing sales numbers and growing global presence are keeping company executives comfortable and well-fed. Is it any wonder they want to tearfully salute this brand?

[Images: FCA US; Wikipedia]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Testacles Megalos Testacles Megalos on Jul 15, 2016

    Almost 30 years ago I had a rusty CJ3 that was a a great car for banging around the farm, going to town for hardware or groceries. But it was slow and not a car to drive somewhere an hour away. It was small, lithe, and very capable off road. When it burned a valve it came down to selling it to a collector or rebuilding the engine. He offered a good price.... The current jeep is almost a fat parody of the original idea. The new one is probably just as - if not more - capable off-road (I don't know), and probably a lot more comfy. But it's only a cartoon of the original, a common theme in today's faux-nostalgic world.... The "new" Mini is cool, but it will never have the panache of the original item, the "new" Beetle struggles but the original still gets thumbs up.... what is it that the current crop of buyers are attracted to? Is the market for a simple and small CJ3-type vehicle limited to me and half-dozen others? Is the idea of a CJ3 completely antithetical to modern "safety" standards?

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    • NoGoYo NoGoYo on Jul 17, 2016

      @JustPassinThru I know I've seen a M151 for sale in the classifieds, and one in person, because they're the only Jeeps with horizontal bars instead of vertical ones.

  • Mtmmo Mtmmo on Jul 15, 2016

    That black and white picture beautifully captures America's ruggedness and supremacy.

  • Ajla Both Biden and Trump are on record caring ~0% what the WTO says and the US government isn't bound by WTO rulings.
  • Honda1 The FJB Inflation Reduction Act will end up causing more inflation down the road, fact! Go ahead and flame me libbies, get back to me in a few years!
  • Cprescott Fisker is another brand that Heir Yutz has killed.
  • Dwford Every country is allowed to have trade restrictions except the US.
  • 1995 SC Are there any mitigation systems that would have prevented this though? We had a ship hit a bridge in Jacksonville a few years back and it was basically dumb luck it didn't collapse. This looked like a direct hit.
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