The Willys MB US Army Jeep, along with the nearly identical Ford GPW were manufactured from 1941 to 1945. They are the iconic World War II Jeep. ********************One account of the origin of the term "jeep" begins when the prototypes were being proven at military bases. The term "jeep" was used by soldiers for any untried or untested piece of personnel or equipment. In early 1941, Willys-Overland staged a press publicity event in Washington, D.C., having the car demonstrate its prowess by driving up the Capitol steps. Irving "Red" Hausmann, a test driver on the Willys development team, who had accompanied the car for its testing at Camp Holabird, had heard the soldiers there referring to it as a jeep. He was enlisted to go to the event and give a demonstration ride to a group of dignitaries, including Katherine Hillyer, a reporter for the Washington Daily News. When asked by the reporter, Hausmann too called it a Jeep. Hillyer's article appeared in the newspaper on February 20, 1941, with a photo showing a jeep going up the Capitol steps and a caption including the term 'jeep'. This is believed to be the most likely cause of the term being fixed in public awareness. Even though Red did not create or invent the word Jeep, he very well could be the one most responsible for its first news media usage.*************Willys made its first 25,000 MB Jeeps with a welded flat iron "slat" radiator grille. But it was Ford Motor Company that first designed and implemented the now familiar and distinctive stamped, slotted steel grille into its cars, which was lighter, used fewer resources and was less costly to produce. Along with many other design features innovated by Ford, this was adopted by Willys and implemented into the standard WW II Jeep by April 1942. Even today, some 65 years later, the Jeep automakers proudly retain the historical connection to the visage of their ancestors by using a trademarked grille featuring a standard number of vertical openings or 'slots'. However, in order to be able to get theirs trademarked, Willys gave their post-war jeeps seven slots instead of Fords grille-design that had nine. Through a long path of corporate take-overs and the like, AM General Corporation ended up with the rights to use the seven-slot grille as well, which they in turn extended to General Motors when they sold GM the rights to the Hummer name in 1999.***************After the war, Ford had no further interest in producing jeeps, but Willys took its four-wheel drive marvel to the public with its CJ (for Civilian Jeep) versions, making these some of the first mass-produced 4x4 civilian vehicles ever. The first CJ-models were essentially the same as the MB, but for such alterations as: powered windshield wipers, a tailgate, and therefore a side-mounted spare tire, a rear view mirror and civilian lighting. Also the civilian jeeps had amenities like naugahyde seats, chrome trim and came in a variety of colors. Mechanically, a heftier T-90 transmission replaced the Willys' MB's T84 in order to appeal to the originally considered rural buyers demographic. Before the Willys-Overland company was absorbed into other companies over the years (currently called Jeep and part of Daimler-Chrysler), its entity continued to supply the War Department as well as befriended nations with military jeeps for several more decades.