OVERLAND NEWS
Showcasing expedition travelers and resources from around the globe
By Chris Collard
Seventy Years of the Seven Slot Grille
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n 1903, while working for the Standard Wheel Company, Claud Cox founded a small ‘horseless carriage’ company called Overland Automobile. It was the beginning of an overlanding adventure, which to date spans seven decades and has inspired millions. John North Willys purchased the company in 1908, renamed it Willys-Overland, and led the company to become the second largest American auto manufacturer in America. With America’s inevitable entry into WWII, the U.S. Government was in need of a light reconnaissance vehicle to replace the military’s ill-equipped fleet of modified Ford Model-Ts. Their specifications defined a vehicle platform that defied anything in production—and they needed it in short order. American Bantam and Willys-Overland were the two companies that answered the call, followed shortly by Ford. The race to win the lucrative government contract ran at a frantic pace, right up to the 49th day, September 23, 1940, when Bantam rolled out its hand-built prototype, the BRC. The Willys-Overland Quad arrived on November 13, followed by Ford’s GP. The three companies were commissioned to produce 70 vehicles, followed by an additional 1,500 units for field-testing. When the dust settled on the Camp Holabrid, Maryland, testing grounds, Willys-Overland, with its impressive 60 hp “Go Devil” engine, was handed the contract. As you thumb through this issue of Overland Journal, seventy years have passed since the first production Jeeps were delivered. When Overland Journal received an invitation to join Mopar’s Jeep historian Brand Rosenberg in Moab, Utah, and drive some of these historic vehicles—as well as Jeep’s newest offerings—we were honored to accept.
Courtesy of MOPAR
There are mixed theories as to where and how the “Jeep” designation evolved. Some claim it was a slurred abbreviation of the Ford GP (General Purpose), while others argue it sprung from a gravity-defying character in 1930s Popeye cartoons, “Eugene the Jeep.” Whatever the origin, the U.S. Military, the American public, and the world have embraced this moniker, and it quickly became part of the international lexicon.
The first civilian Jeep and a new Jeep Wrangler. During WWII, Ford produced the Willys under contract from Willys-Overland Company.
Jeeps, in their various forms, have been used for everything from mail delivery trucks, personal carriers and mobile artillery deployment, to farm implements, tow and fire trucks— and have been offered with two or four doors, as wagons, pickups, cab-over utility, and luxury sport-utility versions. By conventional definition, the Jeep is no stranger to overland travel; what we would expect from any company with the word Overland as its surname. Jeeps quite likely, if you include the half-million-plus MB flat fenders slogging through the planet’s harshest environs during WWII, may have logged in more off-pavement miles than any other vehicle. Sporting olive-drab paint, fold-down windscreens, shovel and axe mounts on the side, and a rifle rack above the instrument panel, the Willys Jeep has long been considered a key element in winning WWII. The Jeep breed changed ownership a number of times in its first seven decades; sold to Henry J. Kaiser in 1953, then to AMC, and ultimately to Chrysler, which has also had its share of owners and is now held by Fiat. I recently had dinner with Mike Manley, President and CEO of Jeep. The conversation spun from flat fenders and Wranglers, to family and personal goals—and eventually back to the current goals of Jeep. I was impressed with his heartfelt dedication to customer satisfaction and personal convictions about product quality. Overland Journal Fall 2011
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