One of the greatest legends of America, the Jeep car (jeep), appeared in formidable times, in the era of hopelessness. In June 1940, the US Cleaning Service gave an announcement in the newspapers that it urgently needed a car with a capacity of a carrying capacity of 250 kg. The announcement also reported that the main condition is to create a completely ready -made prototype no later than a month later. 135 firms took up this almost impossible work, but only two of them achieved real results: Willys-Overland, which asked for an additional 45 days and guaranteed the production of a car, and a small engineering company from Detroit called Bantam “(Bantam), which received a contract.
The birth of the legendary Jeep
The production of a new car began in the workshops “Ford”, “Willis” and “Bantama”. A box -cross -sectional frame with the crossbars on which the body made of low -carbon steel was taken as the chassis. The structure was intentionally chosen very simple to speed up the assembly time. The windshield was made removable so that it was more convenient to transport cars, putting one on the other.
The pendants were made with spring (shock absorbers were installed only from behind), equipped with the engine of “Willis” “Go-Devil”. Engine power was small, only 49 liters. s, but he had a tremendous torque of 142 nm at only 2000 rpm. The gearbox was three -speed, there was also a two -speed hand gearbox. The front wheels could be disconnected from the drive.
The design of the car was characterized by extreme simplicity, but, oddly enough, it was precisely this at that time that was required. Over 60 0000 jeeps were released during the war, and in 1945 their production ended.
Generally accessible jeep
After the war, Willis took up the production of the Jeep model for civilian use. The model was called “Jeep CJ-2A”. In advertising, say the moose that “the sun” never enters over the jeep of “Willis”. The farmers liked the car most of all with their endurance and price.
The Model of the 1946 Jeeshn Wagon was the first American station wagon, the body of which was made of steel. In the shape of the body, the car undoubtedly belonged to the category of jeeps, but had a longer wheelbase, some options were also produced with a six -cylinder engine and only two wheels. The Jeepster model (Jeepster), which was made by Brooks Stevens, had an even more civilian form – it was a bright car with white tires, with spectacular and even luxurious decoration elements, with a detachable roof.
The “CJ” model developed extremely slowly, the options “CJ5” and “CJ6” with a long wheelbase were produced from 1952 to the 1970s, but by that time control over the company acquired AMS.
Gradually, the range of cars expanded, a pickup “jeep commando” appeared, then a four -door “Jeep Wagoneer”, and in 1974 the release of a jeep of the “Jeep Cheroke” model began, already a sports type. The CJ model has won the whole world, in the very most popular, Cherokee jeeps and a more spacious Grand Cherokee, as well as their analogues produced in the “Retro” style called “Jeep Wrangler”, were much popular.
Photo jeep
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Video jeep