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Jeep turns 80: Here's why July 15 is its anniversary
Fox News
Jeep is celebrating the 80th anniversary of the first contract it signed to manufacture its iconic trucks for the U.S. Military on July 15, 1941.
Ford also built a version of the truck, which it helped engineer, and was awarded a patent for it in 1942, but Willys-Overland and its successor companies have kept the style of vehicle in continuous production through today's Jeep Wrangler. Willys-Overland filed a trademark application for the name Jeep in 1943 and started selling "Civilian Jeep" CJ-2A, models in 1945, but it would be 1950 before the trademark was finally approved. The automaker has fiercely protected it through legal channels to keep it from becoming a generic term for an open-top SUV ever since.More Related News