The history of the WW2 Willys Jeep

From the Normandy beaches on D-day a salt of the earth British Tommy gives us a concise history of the Jeep with original archive footage

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• jeep
• war
• ww2
• wwii
• wartime
• willys
• history
• army

[johnlunar]

okay it's clear Jeep history is pretty controversial, so if you don't agree with what you see and think you know better then politely tell it like it should be.

[johnlunar]

to be honest this was put together as a demo only. Most of the quoted figures are from wikipedia.

[randy109]

When I was a little kid half a century ago my uncles all had Jeeps. They really would go anywhere and we used them on the farm and for deer hunting. I've always believed they called the "Jeep" because of the Popeye character but the GP title does make sense. Great memories!

[speedstick77]

Very educational! Thank you. Can anyone tell us how "Willys" was originally pronounced?

[WhatThePresidentSays]

I think all men wants a willy's jeep

[MsSMOTOR]

Мне понравилось

[208stroker1]

I own a original 1942 willys jeep,..i do parades with it decked out with equipment and camo netting ect...

[filmlunar]

@thirdactmontage Thanks - and too right; films don't make enough of jeeps. I've just been reading about the PPA and LRDG in North Africa in WW2... when they got their first Jeeps they were stunned, it was a game-changer for them.

[thirdactmontage]

Looking at all that stock footage of Jeeps flooring it through some pretty rough terrain makes me wonder why we've never seen them push to such extreme and versatile limits in the movies... A Jeep going hell-for-leather through the French countryside outrunning shells and out-manoeuvering tanks... THAT I'd love to see.

Nice video though. Informative, fun and eye-opening. Thanks.

[silver760]

@silver760 It was 49 DAYS not 36 HOURS to build a prototype to meet the military specs.Bantam succeeded in producing the perfect prototype from parts they had to hand,Bantam lost the contract to build the numbers required due to not having the facilities required.So Bantams design was given to Willis and Ford,much to the annoyance of Bantam who got totally forgotten.Eisenhower is also to have said that the Garand rifle was also one of the weapons that won the war.

[silver760]

Bantam put together the first vehicle that met the military criteria in I think it was 36 hours from components they had to hand,this was for a competition set up by the military and the prize was the contract to produce it.Bantam won but did not have the facilities to produce the large numbers required.That's when the military gave it to Willis and Ford and they basically stole Bantams design and built them in their thousands,Bantam got nothing,not even any recognition,

[polarroller]

I don't know where this warped history of the jeep came from but it is a joke...