Jeep History

Post War Jeeps

As World War two was ending, Willys Overland recognized the importance of the Jeep and registered Jeep as its own trademark and started to prepare for the production of civilian jeeps or as popularly known as the CJ Jeep model. Willy knew the CJ would serve a multitude of purposes for agricultural and commercial tasks

In 1942 the Department of Agriculture researched and investigated the agricultural possibilities for the Jeep. They looked at the GPW and an MB. Each Jeep was evaluated in the use with plows and harrows. Overall, the jeeps were thought not to be wide enough and too low to the ground. In addition they though the Jeeps were geared improperly for this type of use.

After some modifications George Ritter, Vice President at Willys worked on putting together a Jeep vehicle suitable for farmers and general commercial use. It was called the CJ1 AgriJeep. Soon thereafter the CJ2A became the first mass-produced civilian jeep model.