The Army’s Workhorse, video and photos: The Army’s Workhorse Willy’s Jeep: “Autobiography of a Jeep” World War II - Soldier of Fortune Magazine
How about that new Liz Warren Special Edition Jeep? It's an all-white Cherokee! Sorry, couldn't help myself... .
I always loved the Jeep in WW2 and often wrote about it on ww2talk.com, as in this case: I've written before about my brief love affair with the Willys Jeep but another strong memory comes to mind about the Jeep's value to various Armies, during and after WW2. My last year overseas was spent at Opicina near Trieste and right on the Jugoslav border. In the evenings, if we didn’t want to go into Trieste itself ,we would use one of the local bars which had a mixed clientele of civilians and British servicemen. One night I was in the bar with a few friends and got drawn into a conversation between them and two civilians who were sharing our table, during which it became fairly obvious we were being propositioned as to our willingness to sell any Army goods. To my annoyance, someone revealed to the civvies that I was a Tech Corporal of a Tank Squadron and, as such, was involved in the control of vehicles and spares. The attention of the civvies immediately switched to me and I was bluntly asked if I could supply any vehicle parts and particularly Jeep parts. I was happy to point out that I was a devout coward who valued my Army position far too much to be involved in any such shenanigans and, even more importantly for me, was just about to go home after nearly four years overseas service. I was, however, sufficiently intrigued to want to know who these gentlemen were and in minutes they openly admitted that they were with the Jugoslav Forces and were desperately looking for Jeep parts, as the British had stopped supplying them. When one of them said they were in the market for an actual working Jeep I openly laughed and said "Even if someone was prepared to sell you a Jeep you would never be able to get it over the border because of all the road blocks" He laughed back at me and said " The Jeep would be driven just round the corner, stripped down to its smallest parts and literally carried over the hill to the other side where it would be re-assembled and driven away!" Ron
A great story, Ron, made better because it is from one who was there. I was lucky that my dad bought one Army surplus from an Airbase in Alabama when I was about 13. Not in good shape but we kept it running for 5-6 years and more important learmed a lot of first-hand mechanics!. Good to hear from you, Gaines
When I was 8 (1959) I saw a jeep being used as a tractor. It was pulling a three bottom plow. First time I ever saw a Jeep. The owner, my grandmother's neighbor, took me for a ride while he went on about the history of the Jeep. Some of it swooshed me then.
An odd variant that apparently only the US Coast Guard used, was the Invader Jeep. Lengthened to carry a squad of men.
Hi. Th japanese army was so impressed from the characteristics and possibilities of the Jeep that they ordered the company Toyoda (later renamed to Toyota) to develop a similar vehicle based on Bantam Jeeps captured on the Philippines. The vehicle was introduced in 1944 as "Type 4 0,5t Compact Truck", factory designation was "AK10". Yours tom!
In addition to the stretch version for the Coast Guard, there was also a 6-wheeler https://karopka.ru/bitrix/components/bitrix/forum.interface/show_file.php?fid=508854