DUDE454

Well I have to write a report on the history of Jeep (I will include the almighty XJ of course) and ive been lookin for a good while now and it seems noone has a real answer. Ive herd fords designation of their WWII prototype that ****** beat was called the GP they called jeep. And the story of popeye. Anyone know the real originization or just some more, their all pretty interesting.

Desert Rat

Built as a military General purpose vehicle (or GP) is the story I grew up with. Not sure when it became a J, not much info, I know, but maybe a little to go on.

Irongrave

1. Fords GP was Government Production not general purpose

2. its from Pop Eye

The word “Jeep” was coined by Popeye’s creator, E.C. Segar. Popeye had a strange little “jungle pet” named Eugene the Jeep that could apparently pop in and out of dimensions and solve any problem with his special abilities. The word “Jeep” first showed up in the Popeye comics in 1936; the American military started using the phrase “Jeep wagons” two years later. It’s suggested that soldiers started calling the military vehicle such because, like Eugene the Jeep, it was able to show up in seemingly impossible situations because of how versatile it was. The word “goon” also appeared for the first time ever in a Popeye strip.

mudderx

According to Wikipedia its either the popeye thing or GP slurred into Jeep. GP was applied to the bantams fords and ******... no one really knows the origin though many claim to. Logically the GP thing makes sense but eugene rocks and how many times have you seen a Jeep somewhere you would swear no vehicle could go?

jeepgirl99

It better be from little Eugene since I went thru the pain of having him tattoo'd on my leg! hehehe

xjmarc

Before WW2 all military vehicles were referred to a jeeps by the soldiers not just the 1/4 ton vehicles built by Bantan, Willis and Ford.