JEEP

I have had some good times and adventures in my Jeep. It may not be the safest vehicle, but you can see the vista so much better in a Jeep with no top or doors.

When I moved to a Metro Atlanta county that required emissions, my Jeep would not pass without spending a lot of money for emission equipment. For the last three years it has sat in my driveway and not been driven. On January 1 it turned 25 years old and now no longer requires inspection.

My friends at Alpha Omega Repair are putting my Jeep back in running shape. I have put the winter top on and it will be ready to roll. My Jeep has gone through some rough times. Several years ago a tornado toppled a huge tree over the hood.There are various explanations of the origin of the word "jeep." The most accepted is that the army vehicle bore the designation "GP" (for "Government Purposes" or "General Purpose"), which was phonetically slurred into the word jeep. Others say the name may have been derived from references to the vehicle as GP (G for government use, and P to designate its 80-inch wheelbase). Another idea is the inspiration in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s of Eugene the Jeep, a character in Popeye cartoons that "could go anywhere."

Willys got rights to the name in 1941. They produced the first Civilian Jeep (CJ). Production went through various models. My 1984 CJ-7 model was made by AMC (American Motors). When Chrysler bought out AMC in 1987, the Jeep CJ was replaced with the Jeep Wrangler or YJ.

Below is my father with an Army Jeep in 1946 in Germany. I am with my Jeep in my driveway today.