For his 1923 trip to Alaska, U.S. president Warren G. Harding travels on an unusual mode of transportation: a Dodge Roadster specially converted to run on train tracks.
Roadster? That ain’t no roadster- it’s a sedan! A roadster is a totally open 2 door car that has no side windows, but would have removable side curtains or it may not have even that. The first car is a Willys-Knight- it has a sleeve-valve engine.
And another thing! That car is a Dodge Brothers, not a Dodge. John and Horace Dodge started the company and they both died in 1920, the D-B name carried on until Walter Chrysler bought the company from the banks who were running the company.
https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2017/05/26/dodge-brothers
You are quite right about the sedan. The narrator needs to take a course in twenties’ car terminology.
As to Willys. there was (it may still be there) a Willys “jeep” in a military surplus store near here with a placard declaring it to be "Willy’s jeep.:
Oh, the non-education of recent generations!
Maybe it was Willie’s!
It’s likely that Willy’s Jeep was built by Ford. Most of them were as Willys-Overland didn’t have the production capacity that was required for the big show. By the way, it’s pronounced Willis, not Willees but as John Willys said, “I don’t care how you pronounce it as long as you buy one of my cars.”
Actually the term jeep came from the Ford model GP entered into the War Dept. competition. When they entered mass production, the Willys model was the MB (363,000) and the Ford was the GPW (280,000), virtually identical vehicles.
Jeep also comes from a character in the Thimble Theatre comic strip by E.C. Segar that introduced Popeye the Sailor to the world. Eugene the Jeep was a magical “dorg*” who had many talents. The GP designation covered all the vehicles in the War Departments competition for a small four wheel drive utility vehicle. Willys design was the one chosen, but American Austin had one too. The Austin GP is depicted accurately in some of Billl Mauldin’s earlier cartoons.
- Dorg is Popeye’s pronunciation of dog.
Interstingly, the tankers during WW2 called jeeps “Peeps.”
I have no idea why. General Patton in “War As I Knew It” mentions peeps, and the tankers in a 50’s war movie I watched years ago called jeeps peeps.
If anyone has any idea I’d sure love to know!
They don’t say “why”, but this article backs up Flintlock76 on the whole “Peep” nickname.
https://citizen-soldiermagazine.com/forged-in-war-the-birth-of-the-jeep-in-world-war-ii/
This might shed a little light on the “peep”:
http://www.ewillys.com/2015/01/28/the-official-name-for-the-jeep-the-peep/
Thanks, kgbw49 for the information. I was around back when these vehicles came into great use–but I heard very little reference to “peeps.” The general public came to accept “jeep” as the designation for the smaller vehicle, and I never knew that the the larger vehicle was called a “jeep;” I did know of “armored cars.”
I do not recall ever riding in one, but a local man did own a jeep.
General Patton also said…
“The two deadliest weapons in the German arsenal are our own half-track and peep! The half-track because the guys in 'em get too heroic and think they’re in a tank, and the peep because we’ve got so many God-awful drivers!”
I believe this will settle the matter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wr3lKNkhjU
Isn’t that Bill Mauldin in the Jeep called Jeanie? Sure looks like him.
54light15, I did not remember that song; I do remember Spike Jones’ account of a horse race (…and, it’s Handkerchief by a nose!) and his response to Adolf Hitler’s “We ist der Masterrace”.
No. The probability is that it was a Willys product, as I indicated with production data.
Thanks 54’, that may just be the answer!
Yep, that’s Bill Maudin in “Jeanie” all right!
And by the way, nobody used jeeps as effectively as these guys…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZcbifYqpGc
I’m sure some of you could guess that was coming!
Thanks for that, Flintlock- I loved that show and I loved the Mad Magazine satire of it that depicted Montgomery as Terry-Thomas. In the Imperial War Museum in London, there is a Chevrolet truck used by the desert patrol units- it was found in the Sahara in the 21st century, totally abandoned and it was brought back and displayed in unrestored condition.
Total aside - a viewer on one the the many webcams got most upset because several people corrected their use of “Jeep” when they meant “Geep.”
Yes, Virginia, there is a difference…
I remember that Mad Magazine “Rat Patrol” satire too! The part I remember is Captain Dietrich’s Germans foul up and shoot up one of their own columns. Captain Dietrich asks…
“Dit any off dose men look like James Mason?”
“Nein, Herr Captain!”
“Goot, den at least ve didn’t kill General Rommel!”
Hilarious stuff!
Great show, “The Rat Patrol!” All us kids loved it!
Has that film been colorized?