Jeep Willys MB History

The Willys MB entered production in 1941 as the US Army's standardized quarter-ton 4x4 light utility vehicle, built in huge numbers (with an identical Ford-built version, the GPW) through the end of WWII. Its rugged simplicity made it one of the war's most important vehicles and the origin of the 'Jeep' name.

Willys-Overland filed the 'Jeep' trademark in 1943 and registered it in 1950, then turned the wartime design into the first civilian Jeep, the CJ-2A, for 1945 — the foundation of the entire brand that followed.