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German "Jeep?" contact.


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Go and watch the football game!

SHEESH!

ps - "jeep" was used as a generic term. Did you know that in many units, for the entire Second World War, what we call a "jeep" was actually called a "peep"? It's true. The 1/2 ton command car was called Jeep, with the 3/4 ton called "beep" - for "Big Jeep".

"Peep" was a term used early on for the 1/4 ton truck the game calls a jeep. Willy's Overland ran a pretty good ad campaign ensuring that the Jeep monicker got applied to their vehicle, and in the end, the name stuck.

it's like calling a HUMV a "hummer" - it's totally a civilian thing, but eventually, it sticks.

I am sure GIs called Kubelwagens "jeeps" all the time, just like the MP 40 was always a "schmeisser" and an MG42 a "spandau" - or, when it was shooting at them, more likely it became a "****in' machinegun" (pardon the French).

- and the Brits and Canadians called the 1/4 ton truck a "blitzbuggy" -

[This message has been edited by Michael Dorosh (edited 01-28-2001).]

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Most people don't know the difference, maybe it was not the same back then but today most people call anything with 4 wheel drive a Jeep, average GI Joe probably didn't know any better or care. (I keep telling my wife it is a Toyota FJ-40, not a Jeep, now stop calling it that ...$#%^$#) oh sorry got a little of topic but I can relate.

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It would be fair to call any four-wheel-drive vehicle a "jeep", since it's simply a phonetic version of "GP", or "General Purpose". Thereafter the term became a marketing ploy because it was common vocabulary and being associated with it was lucrative. I'm not sure how the Jeep company came into being, but their claim to be the "original and best" is a load of rubbish.

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Originally posted by David Aitken:

It would be fair to call any four-wheel-drive vehicle a "jeep", since it's simply a phonetic version of "GP", or "General Purpose". Thereafter the term became a marketing ploy because it was common vocabulary and being associated with it was lucrative. I'm not sure how the Jeep company came into being, but their claim to be the "original and best" is a load of rubbish.

It appears that the term may have been in common vocabulary before it became "a marketing term". In the mid-30's there was a creature called "Jeep" in the Popeye cartoon before the term was applied to any vehicles. There is a pretty good article on the name jeep and it's evolution in the Jan/Feb 2001 issue of Military Vehicles Magazine. There were also several other vehicles (including large tractors) that people claimed to have called "jeeps" first but it stuck with the Willys/Ford 1/4 ton.

I'm not sure what you mean by "the Jeep company", I guess Willys Overland (but they pretty much stole the design except for the engine from Bantam), yeah they claimed there product was the "best", kinda like every other automobile maker on the planet. I wouldn't hold it against them.

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"The Germans found out who the 'master race' was when they met us" - Henry Havlet 45th Infantry Division "Thunderbirds"

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Guest Madmatt

We thought about having it say "Staff Car" but we all figured that "Jeep", even if a more Amercian/Allied term, just made more sense and is more common vernacular.

Madmatt

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Originally posted by Michael Dorosh:

...it's like calling a HUMV a "hummer" - it's totally a civilian thing, but eventually, it sticks.

A few notes:

It's not HUMV, it's HMMWV (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle). Sometimes it's faulty referred to as "Hummer".

Nowadays Hummer is the brand for the civilian versions of HMMWV, featuring comfier seats, stereo, and some other stuff, while not being quite as rugged as the original.

Likewise Jeep is now a brand for what was originally a G.P. vehicle, produced by a couple of different manufacturers.

Cheers

Olle

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Strategy is the art of avoiding a fair fight...

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