Through clouds of flying sand and gravel it is roaring across the panorama of today’s war,”like a bat out of hell” – the JEEP from Willys-Overland.
With these lines the Willys Jeep burst upon the eyes of the American public. It was the beginning of WW2 and the reputation of the mighty Jeep had just begun to be established. As the war continued, many reporters not only carried stories of its exploits, it downright embellished them. This was a full page color ad carried in several magazines of the period. It was the first of a series of 60 continuing, monthly endorsements of Americas new answer to the mechanized infantry of the Germans. It was mobile, quick and with its low profile… a hard target to hit. Not only could it tow artillery, it carried multiple personnel and equipment. By replacing its wheels with railroad style, the “jeep” could tow a line of fully laden rail cars. (Just how laden,we’ll never know; it did work,however.)
Throughout the course of the war, a carefully crafted campaign was established to gain the trust of the American people. “Brush”* reporters were hired to prepare many of the images utilized in the ad campaign. They mainly drew from photographs and never actually went overseas.
Some of the additional text read: “Tough soldiers idolize this modern mustang of metal-which gives them power,speed,action, reliability – and a seemingly bottomless gas tank.” ( As the Jeep probably averaged 8 miles per gallon this last assertion was a stretch)
They went on to praise the US Quartermaster Corps and their own engineering dept, but the fact was that they were handed plans developed by American Bantam Company. Willys did have a powerful engine which was used in the final product. In turn, Ford was also given the plans to standardize production for the machine. In the end,Willys called their model the MB and Ford the GPW. Unfortunately, Bantam was shut out entirely and given a contract to build trailers.
They wrapped up the ad with the contention that their passenger cars after the war would be up to Jeep standards due to the rigorous testing in the theater of war.
* Those who painted pictures of the war, often watercolors.
