2023-07-20 11:33:01
Jeep is very clear about its birth. It was on July 15, 1941, almost 5 months before the entry of the United States into World War II, the American Government signed a contract with Willys Overland to provide the Army with an innovative quarter-ton multipurpose vehicle.
But what he is not certain about is the origin of his name, which has ended up exceeding the limits of the brand to give a name to a whole type of car.
The theory with the most official borders and seals points to the bureaucracy of the then United States War Department, specifically to the strict specifications for which it requested proposals to create a “multi-purpose vehicle” for the needs of its Army.
According to this legend, the “General Purpose Vehicle” of the original document would be changed in subsequent paperwork and informal conversations to a more concise “GP” (pronounced Dji Pi in English). From there, calling the Willys Oveland MB “Jeep”, which was the original name of the model, was only one step away.
A second hypothesis also points to the military environment. It seems that in the jargon of certain units, any type of vehicle was called a “Jeep”, although there is no documentary evidence to certify it. Yes, there is evidence that, in the 1920s, the word “jeepers” began to be used in colloquial American English to express surprise as great as that of the soldiers who checked the performance of their Jeep.
The Avenger is one of the most recent models of the FP brand
Precisely, the off-road character of the Jeep Willys it would be the origin of the third story about his name. In those years, Popeye was a comic strip that enjoyed great popularity, with radio serials, movies, albums… One of its characters was called Eugene… the Jeep (in Spain it was translated as Eugenio the Genius).
It was a strange animal endowed with a large nose that was capable of sneaking into any place and solving all kinds of problems. The parallelism with the Jeep was evident and, in fact, the brand did not hesitate to use this cartoon hero in different advertising campaigns.
The only certain thing is that Willys Overland registered the name “Jeep” in 1950, giving rise to one of the most recognized and recognizable brands in the automotive world.
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