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This article was published in the October 1945 issue of Coronet Magazine. The name of the article, “Jeep of all Trades”, is the same as a 1943 article published in Colliers posted here.
Willys-Overland must have been happy to get all the free publicity articles like these provided. Still, at the end of the war (late 1945) upper management must have been somewhat apprehensive about whether the jeep would sell well or not. It was a completely new consumer product with an unknown future, and even with the jeep’s great wartime reputation there really was no guarantee of its future success. Remember, the outdoor/offroading market just didn’t exist in 1945, and that’s why the primary emphasis on their advertising (like this article) was towards farming and industry.
It would be interesting to understand the thought processes behind the early distribution of the first civilian jeeps. For example, we know a few early ones went by plane to Los Angeles (we saw that photo a few weeks ago). Was that to stimulate movie/newsreel interest perhaps?
That’s a great guess, David.
Can you imagine if they had product placement in movies back then like they do today? Back then the movie producers would have happy featured those early civilian jeeps in their films, I imagine.