Jeep Day July 18th Happy 80th Birthday to the Civilian Jeep
If you know of any events please pass them on happy to post them up, this was sent over by Barry at FarmJeep! Thanks, Barry!
Happy 80th Birthday to the civilian Jeep
“The third week of July 1945 forever changed vehicle history as Willys-Overland made the grand public debut of the civilian Jeep and thereby unofficially launched the Sport Utility Vehicle market. A mass-produced, four-wheel drive, multi-purpose vehicle would now be available for the average consumer. Wednesday, July 18, was the official introduction date, which Willys proclaimed to be “Jeep Day.” So wrote Bill Norris in the Summer 2020 issue of The Dispatcher (https://www.dispatchermagazine.com/) magazine. You can read the entire article here (https://www.farmjeep.com/farm-jeep-history/willys-farm-jeep-history/jeep-day/).
It appears the current owners of the Jeep brand have forgotten this milestone. At least I haven’t seen anything in the media – yet. Perhaps they are waiting for the actual day. You would think this would be a marketer’s dream. Few companies can boast such success.
For our part, we plan to spread the word on social media and elsewhere that July 18th is “Jeep Day.” A day to go for a drive in your Jeep, take your Jeep to work, or celebrate your Jeep in any way you choose.
Tim: Here are a few pictures from some of the newspaper releases, this is from Fort Worth, TX 7-19-1945. It was pretty big news across the nation on the release of these.
To all,
My bone stock CJ2A 11809 has a birthdate around 8-28-45 (front axle date code). The only addition is a bolted in roll bar by the previous owner. Jeep has original paint on body which has faded. Still has a flathead four banger in her as well as the original column shift.
The other issues are stock wheels with700x16 military style tires and converted to 12 volts by previous owner.
The jeep has been shown in various local car shows, much to the chagrin of the high dollar shiny paint and chrome show cars.
Last year the jeep got an award in a local car show.
Y’all have a wonderful summer,
The Fireman
What I’ve found interesting is that there was still a war going on.
Thousands of men were still to die in the Pacific, meanwhile companies were busy jockeying for post war sales.
Rationing was still in effect, but people were in a hurry to get back to “normal”.
Willys was allowed to start production because it was a “utility vehicle” and not a passenger car. Ford wasn’t allowed to start production until September. If you read Sorensen’s letter to the Automobile Council for War Production (reprinted in Bill’s article), he describes it as “the first vehicle in history to successfully combine the basic functions of the tractor, light truck, mobile power unit and passenger car.”
Note that he lists tractor first and passenger car last. Sorensen knew exactly what he was doing in beating Ford and others to production.
Great history.