As promised, I’ve scanned and posted a 1943. I have updated the earlier post with the scans.
I received the June 19, 1943, issue of Liberty Magazine today. The magazine was published in Toronto, Canada from 1924 – 1950. My issue includes an article written by Willys Overland’s President at the time Joseph W. Frazer and titled “The Amazing Blitz Buggy”.
Having read the article, I’m still surprised he claimed the official name of the vehicle was “General Purpose Car”. You can see that claim in the highlighted portion of the article. That explain why the term “General Purpose” has been used in numerous historical descriptions about the jeep.
Click on the images below to get larger, readable versions of each page.
It is also called a peep in the photo. Maybe it is only after the war when the Jeep name was patented and became a public rather than military use that the name jeep became standardized?
After reading the article more closely there is a lot of post war discussion here in this 1943 article. The pictures of the war jeep plowing and the university research citations.
What was gong on in the war when this was written. Maybe something that gave encouragement that the war was going to end shortly??
I also if wonder if the use of general purpose was an iniatial marketing concept that later evolved into Utility. General pupose would have a war connotation but utility more civilian?
On May 12, 1943 the axis forces in North Africa surrendered…………………….
The auburn agricultural tests began in april 1942, so they were thinking ahead from the start to after the war. Wish our current law makers and business men were doing longer term thinking.
http://www.willys-overland.com/auburn.htm
Steve,
To answer a couple of your questions:
1. Peep was one of the names given to the jeep. Even the Stars and Stripes magazine called jeeps a peep: http://www.ewillys.com/2011/11/23/george-carpenters-peep-adventure/ There is some history behind the name peep, which I’ll have to dig up, but I think it related to larger vehicles and/or planes being called jeeps prior to the war. However, the name jeep was used early on and Willys planned to trademark and use the name Jeep on the CJ-2As. However, Ford fought them. Though Willys still stamped some obscure parts of the CJ-2A (which was sneaky) with a scripted Jeep and called Willys Trucks “Jeep Trucks” they never won trademark rights until the early 1950s.
2. I imagine Frazier may have had some additional insights into the progress of the war given he would have had to obtain resources and plan for jeep production. I haven’t ever read a book that discussed the mindset of business leaders who were producing war-related items and how they believed or knew about the progress of the war. I will be publishing an article tomorrow that was in the same magazine and shows how the German population was forced to convert their vehicles to alternative fuels due to rationing. Maybe there was a sense that the Germans would run out of supplies eventually? Or maybe it was part of the effort to create that winning mentality? I couldn’t say.
3. Perhaps General Purpose did transform into Utility. That’s an interesting thought. After reading the article late last night I was surprised to see the breadth of Frazier’s planning for post war jeeps. I’m also surprised he was announcing such broad market plans as well.