Barry spotted a 1943 trademark application for the term Jeepmobile. The application may have been denied, as the USPTO does not have a record of that term being awarded a registered trademark status.

So, why trademark the term? My guess is that W-O had noticed that the term was, at times, being used to describe the jeep. For example, the third paragraph in this 1941 article that appeared in a variety of newspapers describes the jeep as “jeep-mobiles” or “blitz buggies”:

September 09, 1941, The Daily Reporter out of Greenfield, IN.

The application claims the term was first used by the company on March 01, 1943, which likely means it should appear in some ad some where, but I couldn’t find any ad with that term.

Perhaps securing the term was a defensive measure against others using it (especially Ford)? We’ll likely never know.

After the war, the term pops up several times in newspaper articles as well. So, in some form, the term was used by the public most likely in casual conversation rather than as a formal description by W-O.

UPDATE II: This sold for $455.

UPDATE: This topper has reached $229.83 with several hours to go. There’s some concern that this plate topper is not really vintage. Read through the comments to see some valid issues with this topper.  There are certainly fakes on eBay, indicated by the comments of some buyers of these toppers.

One of my concerns about the topper is that no dealer is mentioned. I would expect a dealer name to be included if this were a dealer-created topper. But, then, if the seller went to all this trouble to create this topper, you’d think they would have added the dealer associated with the ad below.

I spent some time looking at other 1940s era license plate toppers. The shape and design of the one below seems consistent to me with some others shown on Google Images. But, then, are the ones shown on Google also fakes? I just don’t know.

Still, I like the piece. If you purchase it, but then determine it is fake, complain to eBay:

“If the merchandise is fake, report the listing to eBay and let them take action to enforce their policies. … Your purchase is covered by the eBay Guarantee, which entitles you to receive your money back if the item you receive doesn’t match what is listed. The seller has three days to respond”

Since the seller is claiming this topper is vintage, if they lied, they have no recourse. eBay will likely refund your money and not expect you to return the item (Unfortunately, some buyers are scammers themselves and use this very tactic to get free stuff).

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Maury spotted this CJ-2A topper eBay a few days ago. It’s already at $122.50 (and will likely go higher) with just over a day to go (as of this writing). It’s a really neat piece. I expect this will hit several hundred dollars.

The “Truck Utility Plus Tractor Power” wasn’t a tag line that was used very often. In fact, the only documentation that I can find for it was on an ad for Willys-Overland dealer Caver-Wiggens on May 23, 1947. I have found other ads from that dealer from 1947, but can find no evidence that phrase was ever used again. Whether Caver-Wiggens was responsible for the plate topper or not I can’t say for sure, but it is a possibility. Below is the 1947 ad (from this page):

View all the information for the plate topper on eBay

“The Universal Jeep Metal License Plate Topper Sign. Nice topper some wear but great condition overall.”

Here’s the license topper itself. you can see the design is the same that appears in the ad, including the square bolt heads on the windshield.