These two pre-1940 news items highlight how “jeep” and “jeeping” already had definitions prior to the launch of Bantam’s prototype.

In 1937, this article on “Jeeping” as a swing dance, as testified in court by Detective Fred V. Boye, was widely distributed among newspapers. I have been unable to isolate exactly what moves define the “jeeping swing dance”. This example article comes from the July 28, 1937, issue of the Park City Daily News out of Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Two years later, in 1939, a couple of Washington State vagrants (no, they aren’t relatives of mine) got caught “jeeping” pin ball machines using a “jeep”. A woman, along for the ride, even had a marijuana cigarette! This article is from the November 29, 1939, issue of the Green Bay Press Gazette: