DIGITAL MAGAZINE 2 Jeep, the Jeep grille and related logos, vehicle model names and trade dress are trademarks of FCA US LLC and used under license by Premium & Collectibles Trading Co ltd. ©2020 FCA US LLC. CONTENTS THE JEEP STORY ® 1 THE WINNING CONCEPT THE JEEP Brand ® 6 JEEP® STATION WAGON © 2020 US CUSTOMER SERVICE Editorial Manager: Phil Hunt Eaglemoss Inc. For questions about the collection, Design Manager: Caroline Grimshaw 315 West 36th Street replacements and substitutions, New York, NY 10018 or to cancel, pause or modify Packaged by: Milanoedit srl, your subscription, please call www.milanoedit.com Die-Cast Club® 2020 our US Customer Service team at 800-261-6898, or email us at Researcher/writer: Roberto Bruciamonti All rights reserved [email protected] Photography credits: © FCA YOUR COLLECTION (pp.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10), Build the WIllys MB Jeep® © Daimler Media (p.3), is available by monthly © SA-Kuva (p.4) subscription. www.build-willysjeep.com Jeep, the Jeep grille and related logos, vehicle model names and trade dress are trademarks of FCA US LLC and used under license by Premium & Collectibles Trading Co ltd. ©2020 FCA US LLC. THE JEEP® STORY THE WINNING CONCEPT THE WINNING CONCEPT ▲ The strength of the Jeep® MB The United States successfully implemented was in its simple concept: an extremely robust, inexpensive, the concept that inspired the Jeep® MB. and efficient vehicle. he modernity of the Jeep® MB didn’t lie designed to be produced quickly and in in advanced solutions for the vehicle’s large quantities. None of the lightweight T mechanics, solutions which in reality, reconnaissance and liaison vehicles used by the when volume production started, were other warring armies could boast the kind of actually quite well-established. What was winning combination of elements such as those extraordinarily advanced about the Jeep® was which contributed to the success of the Jeep®. its overall concept. So much so that the brand’s name, despite It was super-efficient, reliable, and being trademarked, is still commonly used extremely sturdy. It was also easy to repair, today to refer to lightweight off-road vehicles. quick to produce and inexpensive (the The all-wheel-drive, which many say was unit price ranged between US$800–900, the decisive advantage of the Jeep® over depending on the contract), and it was its competitors, wasn’t actually a state-of- 1 THE JEEP® STORY THE WINNING CONCEPT the-art solution for the 1940s. It cannot, on that it was first employed to enable heavy its own, explain the worldwide success that vehicles to be used for industrial and military the Jeep® enjoyed, simply because this type purposes, enabling trucks and tractors to of drivetrain had already reached a level operate in remote locations as well as to tow of technical maturity in the early years of artillery pieces. The leap from these types of the 20th century that could be considered heavy vehicles to the first off-road vehicles more than satisfactory. Ferdinand Porsche, a that carried passengers was relatively smaller, young designer at Lohner at least from a technical in Vienna, had already standpoint. applied the 4x4 concept The all-wheel-drive concept The first genuine to the Lohner-Porsche was of major importance to example of a vehicle around the end of the designed specifically 19th century – this was the off-road sector. for off-road came from to guarantee the heavy Paul Daimler, the son hybrid a level of mobility that matched the of the founder of Daimler Motoren expectations of its upper-class owners. At Gesellschaft (DMG). In the early 1900s, the the beginning of the last century (1903), the German Imperial Colonial Office asked the Dutchman Spijker even applied the all-wheel- company to design a motor vehicle able drive concept to sports vehicles. to cover long distances off-road, whilst The all-wheel-drive concept was of major simultaneously providing the levels of comfort, importance to the off-road sector. It was here versatility, speed, and reliability that motor A Lohner-Porsche Mixed Hybrid from the end of the 19th century, one of the first all-wheel-drive vehicles. 2 THE JEEP® STORY THE WINNING CONCEPT An early 1900s Daimler Kolonial, the first vehicle to be designed specifically for off-road use. vehicles had already been offering for a an impression of power and sturdiness. number of years. In addition, the stringent requirements The project, called simply Daimler of its special purpose didn’t impact too Kolonial, culminated in the construction of a negatively on its looks.” The price the German sturdy all-wheel-drive car with a 156 in government paid for this vehicle was DM (400 cm) wheelbase, an axle track of 55.2 in 34,750 and, following intense testing in (142 cm), minimum Germany, the model was height from the ground then sent to what was of 12 in (32 cm), overall Even for the time, called German South length of 193 in the Kolonial’s dimensions West Africa (the region (490 cm), and a that approximately total height of were noteworthy. corresponds to Namibia approximately 118 in today). The mechanics (300 cm). The vehicle’s operational weight was were based on a 415 cu in (6.8 l), four-cylinder approximately 3.6 tonnes. Even for the time, petrol engine capable of generating 35 bhp the Kolonial’s dimensions were noteworthy. at 800 rpm and the vehicle, as was the norm One press article declared, “this Mercedes at that time, came supplied with an extensive certainly doesn’t stand out for its light and range of spare parts and, incredibly, even a elegant build, but at first glance it conveys driver-mechanic. 3 THE JEEP® STORY THE WINNING CONCEPT During the First World War, motor vehicles approximately US$1,840 – more than twice had to endure extremely uneven terrain. the price of the Jeep® MB. However, since operations during that war Other lightweight 4x4s were also were largely static, the need for lightweight produced in Germany. One example was the vehicles to be able to travel significant standardized lightweight off-road vehicles distances from tarmacked roads was of developed through a joint military project secondary importance. This was despite the between BMW, Stoewer, and Hanomag, which fact that the ability to quickly move one or had a 50 bhp, 2-liter engine, independent more machine guns together with all the four-wheel suspension and permanent all- necessary equipment along combat lines wheel drive with three locking differentials. was starting to gain a certain appeal among They were a splendid example of German the military hierarchy of the Allied armies. A automotive technology, and though they number of attempts were made to develop a were beautiful and elegant during parades, suitable vehicle, particularly with Ford’s two- they were not terribly well suited to the wheel-drive Model T, which was equipped austere conditions of war. Their cost did not with machine guns and hence became a help either, which was in the order of 6,000 patrol car. A 4x4 was actually derived from the Reichsmarks per unit, around US$5,220 – Model T in 1914 – developed by the American more than the price of five Jeep® MBs. Jesse Livingood, it remained available until Incidentally, up until the beginning of 1928, but only enjoyed limited commercial the 1940s, even in the US it was considered success. to be impossible – as well as financially and Some lightweight 4x4s were developed militarily implausible – to develop a military through the private initiative of car producers, truck which shared the MB’s extraordinary including the Tempo G 1200. This peculiar characteristics. It was thought that the 4x4 was powered by two twin-cylinder, 594 minimum payload would need to be half a cc engines, one connected to the front wheels and the other to the rears. The G 1200 was sold in more than 40 countries, around 1,153 vehicles with the standard arrangement and at least one hundred with specially designed bodies. Its initial price in 1936 was 4,100 Reichsmarks, which increased to 4,600 Reichsmarks in 1939, an amount that equated to ▶ A Tempo G 1200, a reliable vehicle even in the most extreme conditions – in this case, snow. 4 THE JEEP® STORY THE WINNING CONCEPT A Willys “Quad” prototype, with a look that resembled a vehicle produced during the previous decades. tonne, double that stipulated for the MB. 1930s. Looking at these solutions today, they The first lightweight, all-wheel-drive military seem like a combination of the powerfully truck that the US Army deemed suitable for innovative and incredibly imaginative. their needs was a standard 1936 Ford pick-up It was only the arrival of the Jeep®, truck with adapted body; it was converted designed and produced using typically into a 4x4 by Marmon-Herrington, a company American methods and techniques, that which specialized in such showed the way, modifications. and represented the At that time, the The “Quad” prototype benchmark for the sector Jeep® MB was still to was a rather old-fashioned- right through to the be developed, and beginning of the new designers in the off-road looking vehicle. millennium. However, at vehicle sector were still the very outset when it developing the technology. They proposed was being developed from scratch, even the solutions such as the “Belly Flopper”, which MB didn’t give any particular indications of was nothing more than a motorized platform how successful it would ultimately be. This for transporting a machine gun and its related was especially considering the initial look of equipment around the battlefield; it was the 1940 Willys “Quad” prototype, which was developed in the US in the second half of the a rather old-fashioned-looking vehicle.