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A road that is only suitable for off-road vehicles is often called a jeep trail. The most famous is perhaps Black Bear Road, made famous in the song of the same name by C.W. McCall.
The origin of the term "jeep" is somewhat of a mystery. Popular notion has it that the vehicle designation "GP" (for "General Purpose") was phonetically slurred in pronunciation, eventually becoming "jeep." R. Lee Ermey, on his television series Mail Call, has stated that the vehicle was designed for specific duties and was never referred to as "General Purpose," and that the name may have been derived from Ford's nomenclature referring to the vehicle as GP (G for government-use, and P to designate its wheelbase size). However, many (including Ermey) claim that the more likely origin is a reference to a character from Popeye cartoons known as Eugene the Jeep . The character could walk through walls and ceilings, climb trees, fly, and just about go anywhere it wanted, and it is thought that soldiers at the time were so impressed with the new vehicle's versatility that they informally named it after the character.
The original prototypes were built for the Department of the Army by American BantamThe American Austin Car Company was a United States automobile manufacturing corporation tied to the British Austin Motor Company. The company was founded in 1929, and produced motorcars from 1930 through 1934, in which year American Austin filed for bank. The model MB military Jeep was first built in quantity by WillysWillys (pronounced "will-eeze") was the brand name used by the United States automobile company Willys-Overland Motors, best known for its production of military and civilian Jeeps. History John North Willys in 1908 bought the Overland Automotive Division-Overland Motor Company in Toledo, OhioToledo is a city in Lucas County on the northern border of Ohio. In the 2002 census, the city had a population of 309,106, which is down as from the 2000 census, in which the city had a total population of 313,619. Toledo is known as the Glass City becaus. Due to their inability to produce the vast number of vehicles required, the U.S. government also allowed jeeps to be built by Ford Motor Company and designated GPW. Combined production by Willys and Ford during World War II was more than 500,000.
The Jeep was widely copied in countries other than the United StatesThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in. There were versions adapted to run on railways. As part of the war effort, Jeeps were supplied to the Soviet Red ArmyThis article is about the armed forces of the Soviet Union. See Red Army Faction for the German militant group; Japanese Red Army for the Japanese militant group; and People's Liberation Army for the Chinese Red Army. Red Army and RKKA are abbreviations f during the World War.
In U.S. military use, the jeep has largely been supplanted by the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled VehicleThis article refers to the Military HMMWV, not the civilian Hummer sold by General Motors The M998 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle HMMWV or Hum-Vee is a highly durable military motor vehicle. It has largely supplanted the role formerly served b ("Hum-Vee").