Jeep Grilles: the early years

"Just Jeepin'" (macintux)
11/23/2019 at 13:55 • Filed to: jeep grilles, jeep history, jeep

I’ve written about the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! along with a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . In fact, pretty much everything automotive I’ve published here is about Jeeps, so why change things now?

I expected this to be a single post, but I realized there’s just too much history and too few hours in my day today, so you get to wait s e veral weeks for the rest of the series. Merry Christmas!

(Warning: this draft sat around for more than a year, so it might be a while for the next one.)

(Expect quite a few links to my own content herein. You are morally obligated to read them all, of course, but fortunately for you most are just blurbs.)

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Someone on Jalopnik once expressed surprise that !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! had 8 slots instead of 7 in its grille[*]. Much to my chagrin I somehow had failed to notice this after many Jeep waves, but I pointed out that Jeep has a long history of grilles and quite a few did not have 7 slots.

(* In fact, both the XJ Cherokee and Comanche had 10 slots when they debuted, but I’m getting ahead of myself.)

The original Jeep, in fact, had a very different style of grille than anything we ordinarily associate with Jeeps, and for most of WWII Jeeps had 9 slots.

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Even without diving into the debate over the etymology of “jeep” and its application to other vehicles before and after the entry of the U.S. into WWII, it’s not easy to agree on what the first Jeep actually was. It’s entirely reasonable to argue that the first Jeep wasn’t made by Willys or Ford, but rather !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

Bantam Number One, the original Jeep prototype. Note the round bars in the grille.

In the years before the war, Bantam tried to persuade the military that it could provide a reconnaissance vehicle. When a request for prototypes was issued, Bantam was the first to deliver something that was close to the specifications the army had asked for, but Willys and Ford were given Bantam’s plans and asked to create their own versions.

Ford GP-001, the oldest surviving Jeep prototype.

The earliest Willys MB/Ford GPW production vehicles used the same flat slats.

All of the prototypes (that I can find) and the earliest production Jeeps used similar grilles, but as the story has it, Henry Ford himself decided a simpler grille could be stamped out, and the famous 7-...er...9-slot grille entered the history books.

The 9-slot grille in its WWII glory.

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Willys recognized the Jeep’s commercial potential and started building the CJ (“Civilian Jeep”) models when it was clear that the war would end soon. They trademarked a 7-slot grille to distinguish it from Ford’s design.

The Willys CJ-2A. 7 slots and a trapezoid grille shape that would survive until Daimler.

Despite the trademark, Willys wasn’t content to use the same grille for all Jeeps.

The first Jeep that wasn’t directly derived from the MB was the Willys Jeep Station Wagon (commonly shortened to “Willys Wagon”) (also available as a “utility wagon” with four-wheel drive and a panel van, and in Brazil later to be !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ). It was followed soon after by the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

Both the wagon and truck debuted with a flat, 10-slot grille strongly reminiscent of the CJ, but famous designer Brooks Stevens !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to shake things up.

The !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , launched in 1948, was a dramatic departure from any Jeep produced to that point. It had none of the rugged, off-road chops associated with Jeep, but it had style in spades, courtesy Stevens.

The Willys-Overland Jeepster was the beginning of a beautiful relationship between Brooks Stevens & Jeep

Among its stylistic choices was an angled front grille that would make its way to the Wagon and Truck.

1962 Willys Wagon

After releasing the relatively luxurious Wagon and Jeepster, Jeep returned to its utilitarian roots in the mid-50s with the Jeep DJ and Forward Control trucks.

Jeep FJ Fleetvan

Related to the DJ is a Jeep that, no matter how many times I write about it, I always forget ever existed: the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , built from 1961-65, not to be confused with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . I only remembered it for this piece because I have !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in another display for reference.

The FJ seems to have had a different grille for vehicles built for the USPS (see !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! for yet another variation), but most sported a more traditional 7-slot CJ grille.

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The next article, if and when I get to it, takes us back to Brooks Stevens and into many more grille styles, ranging from plebeian to sublime. Hope to see you back here. Eventually.

DISCUSSION (7)

Goggles Pizzano > Just Jeepin'
11/23/2019 at 14:11

CJ10 t oo. Not sure if the name was derived from the number of slots.

Kinja'd!!!

Just Jeepin' > Goggles Pizzano
11/23/2019 at 14:16

Oh, yeah, the CJ-10 will feature in my next article. I’m fairly confident the number wasn’t related to the slot count, however; its predecessors were the CJ-6 and CJ-8.

Just Jeepin' > Goggles Pizzano
11/23/2019 at 14:17

Unfortunately it apparently sold, but somewhere wandering the roads is a fascinating truck.

Xanadu603 > Just Jeepin'
11/23/2019 at 15:03

Yep. Rea l Jeeps are Bantams , but they were screwed out of building them and built trailers for the war. Ford designed the grille we know.

Just Jeepin' > Xanadu603
11/23/2019 at 15:08

From what I remember of the scramble to create the first prototype, Bantam was in really bad shape financially. I don’t blame the military for deciding they weren’t up to the job.

It’s tough that they got screwed like that, but it seems like the right decision. Certainly can’t argue with the military outcome.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Xanadu603
11/23/2019 at 21:34

american bantam

Kinja'd!!!

Willys overland

Kinja'd!!!

It sucks, but there was a snowballs chance of AM able to fufill the order

Xanadu603 > Just Jeepin'
11/24/2019 at 10:51

I’m s ure but it’s funny how Chrysler has Jeep now and even the most iconic feature was Fords contribution!