And a Birthday Takes Place

Every year we celebrate birthdays of loved ones, pets and often wonder how the time has passed. While the looks that we once had as youths may fade, or our ability to perform herculean tasks of fitness and physical strength have dwindled, we can certainly enjoy the passage of time. When you look at it, the alternative to growing older is not one you want to experience just yet. For many vehicles the time that passes isn’t quite as long as our time on this planet, but there is certainly one vehicle that has enjoyed enough time to qualify for senior citizen benefits as it continues to plod along for us.

It was 75 years ago on July 15^th that Willys-Overland begun building a vehicle that would not only last a long time but would eventually be the name used for an entire brand of vehicles. With the contract awarded to build a vehicle for the American fighting forces that would be able to handle the rough terrain encountered during World War II Willy-s Overland offered the first General Purpose vehicle which became the perfect item for all types of use, hence the name of this lauded machine.

The GP (now known as the Jeep Wrangler) was tough, small, capable, powerful and built just right. The wheelbase was perfect for overcoming obstacles and it was made to go anywhere it needed to. With the fragile items such as the headlights protected it was hard to beat the GP on the battlefield. Eventually GP became Jeep and Willys-Overland became part of American Motors. The Wrangler name came to be in 1987, until then the vehicle was simply called a CJ which named the series of the vehicle which had its heritage in a vehicle that helped to win the war.

With this rich history you can see why Jeep is celebrating the 75^th Anniversary of this amazing vehicle with a special edition that’s actually built much like the original model was. This means offering a model that is painted in olive drab paint with the white lettering, a stripped down style with no doors, no roll bars, no body additions and very little in the way of comfort. This beautiful homage sits on 16-inch wheels that are wrapped in 32-inch mud tires with tough bumpers to protect the vehicle and the low canvas seats to offer what little comfort you could find in this military style vehicle. Of course the engine is a bit better than the 1941 version with the 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 attached to a six-speed manual transmission.

Amazingly Willy was able to win the contract for the GP over American Bantam Car Manufacturing and Ford Motor Company. This was to be a vehicle that replaced the old motorcycles and modified Model T’s used in previous wars. The Army had specific requirements for the vehicle and eventual had to change some of them because they wanted a vehicle that was 1,300 pounds or less, but that became quickly unrealistic. The Willys MB which was the second version of the vehicle was the chosen vehicle and was built so well it could leave the assembly line and put into battle right away.

And the rest they say is history, leaving us 75 years later still enjoying this model and the Jeep Wrangler, which is one of our favorite off road vehicles for an adventure in the wilderness. Sometimes it’s easy to forget the fact that this vehicle was built originally for a war and was one of the most important vehicles to ever enter World War II.