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The original Jeep vehicle was born of necessity, and hand-built in just seven weeks with lots of hard work and genius.
Since at least as early as World War I, the U.S. Army had been looking for a fast, lightweight all-terrain reconnaissance vehicle. In early 1940, however, things became urgent as the Axis powers began to score victories in Europe and Northern Africa and the need to rapidly develop this vehicle became more urgent.
The Army put out a call to automobile manufacturers asking for a running prototype for such a vehicle in just 49 days.

Female employees working on a Jeep assembly line at Willys-
Overland Motors plant in Toledo, Ohio, on December 2, 1941.

A batch of Jeeps parked in the factory yard waiting to be driven away to
army camps in Willys-Overland plant in Toledo, Ohio, on June 19, 1942.

American soldiers touring London take a ride in a popular midget-army
jeep with a London bus following close behind, on March 5, 1942.

A combat Jeep advances to the attack through a smoke screen
during Practice maneuvers in England on October 5, 1942.

U.S. assault troops, equipment, bulldozers, lorries, and jeeps come
ashore from landing crafts during an assault exercise
in England, on January 11, 1943.

The Army’s Jeep, the little car that can maneuver with the greatest
of ease, even goes over water. Wrapped in canvas, a Jeep
provides a skiff for a squad crossing a stream.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt reviews a crack detachment of African-American troops from his army jeep, during his stop-over in Liberia, on his return from Casablanca, Morocco, on January 31, 1943.

Allied soldiers push a jeep while others unload military equipment and vehicles from nearby transport ships at a beach in Sicily, on July 30, 1943.

American Red Cross jeeps are lined up to be shipped across
the English Channel to France on June 16, 1944.

A jeep drives along the causeway to Mont St. Michel in France on July 8, 1944, well known to many British holiday makers before the war.

American soldiers in jeeps make a detour in a street of Coutances,
France on August 1, 1944, mined by the retreating Germans.

American soldier firing a machine gun from his Jeep - 1944

American soldiers huddled around a Jeep listening to the radio - 1943

Airfield controller in his Jeep guiding incoming airplanes in WW2.

An American soldier drives a jeep with a large "Follow Me" sign to a designated parking spot for the giant bombers on the airfield at Eniwetok,
in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific, on September 12, 1944.

The first Americans to enter the Rhineland capital of Cologne, Germany, on March 6, 1945, studying a map in their jeep
before pushing towards into heart of the capital.

A jeep filled with American soldiers goes past a huge fire consuming
bridging materiel in Pyongyang, North Korea on December 3, 1950.

An Army captain calls from his communications jeep for artillery support for five tanks in his command which were caught in an ambush by Chinese on the Korean front northwest of Chunchon, South Korea on March 30, 1951.

During heavy fighting in the western part of Saigon, a Vietnamese Marine jeep carrying a wounded man passes a less seriously wounded Marine being carried by a buddy on May 29, 1968.

President Jimmy Carter, right, and West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt stand in a jeep as they watch joint U.S. and West German forces air-mobile training at nearby U.S. Erbenheim airbase in Germany on July 15, 1978.

Girls mounted on a jeep during a training session at Women’s
Military Academy in Tripoli, Libya, on January 14, 1986.

Protesters leap from their jeep as police stone and fire teargas at them
outside the American Center, Sunday, February 12, 1989 Islamabad.

Tom Sidlik, chief platform engineer for Jeep, left, and Chrysler Group president Dieter Zetsche stand in front of DaimlerChrysler's 2002 Jeep Liberty, at the American International Auto Show on January 7, 2001.

Argentine soldiers jump from a jeep during a training
session in Buenos Aires outskirts, on June 16, 2004.

Palestinians run from Israeli army jeeps during an Israeli army operation in the West Bank town of Jenin, on January 4, 2006.

The new 2008 Jeep Liberty is displayed at the New York
International Auto Show in New York, on April 4, 2007.

A man stands on a jeep on the beach of Arromanches, western France,
June 5, 2014. World leaders and veterans marked the 70th
anniversary of the invasion in Normandy.