Types of Jeeps For Sale

Types of Jeeps for Sale


Given the generilized trademark that the name “jeep” has become (the name is a trademark of Daimler Chrysler, although it’s widely used to mean any kind of rough terrain vehicle) and their firmly rooted presence in the military, and as a prominent vehicle in use in World War II, you could be forgiven for thinking that jeeps have been around forever. In fact, they have been around only since the forties.

After the First Word War, the US army was on the lookout to create a vehicle that would be perfectly suited to rough terrain. By the time final specifications were made, it was July 1940. Bids were invited to develop a jeep, and a small company called Bantam Company produced the very first model in September 1940. Willys Overland and Ford too submitted their prototypes, and the government commissioned all three of them to produce their vehicles. Willys was later given a government contract to develop standardized vehicles that would incorporate features of all three models.

In the meantime, the US was dragged into World War II, and the need for the vehicle became urgent. At this point, Ford was commissioned to speed up the manufacturing process.

The origin of the word jeep is shrouded in mystery. Some insist that the word was the shortened version of “General Purpose” which was the name of the original vehicles. Another version claims that the name comes from “Eugene the Jeep” from the Popeye cartoons. Both these might be faulty versions. GP, in fact was taken from GPW, Ford’s internal code for the vehicle – the GP came from “government contract,” the “P” stood for the company’s code for 80” wheelbase and the W stood for Willys’ motor. So the origin of the name was actually very practical, and not as cute as is thought!

After the War, Ford stopped manufacturing jeeps. Willy stepped in and began developing the vehicles as off the road vehicles, and trademarked the word “jeep.” The very first civilian jeep – CJ for short - was produced in 1945, and was introduced as a vehicle for farmers and construction workers. In 1953, the Kaiser Company took over Willys, and after that the jeep belonged to various companies before finally settling down with the Chrysler Corporation in 1987.

In 1983, the jeep (still under the American Motor Company) was popular, but there was a growing class of consumers that wanted the utilitarianism of the jeep with all the comforts of a passenger car. The 1987 Jeep Wrangler was introduced to fill this void. It had square headlights (which died out after this model and were never included in another Jeep model) and boasted of the same open profile of the CJ. The 1997 Jeep Wrangler had about 80 percent of its parts redesigned and included many of the features of the original CJ – the round headlights, removable doors. It also offered a choice of a soft top or a hard top.

The Jeep Wrangler Rubicon which came along in 2002 was the best outfitted vehicle out of the Jeep stable. It had push button locking front, 32 inch tires and other features not seen in a Jeep model before.

In 2004, the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited offering more passenger leg room and cargo room was introduced, and combined driving comfort with versatility.
In 2005, the best of the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited and the Wrangler Rubicon were merged into a single roomier vehicle – the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon.

The Jeep Wrangler and Wrangler Unlimited continue to combine creature comforts, fuel efficiency, versatility, and spacious interiors to create some of the most popular SUVs on the road today.

Today, close to 600,000 jeeps are manufactured and sold across the world each year.

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