Holy Jumpin’ Jeeps, Batman

There’s no doubt, jeeps were designed for rough treatment. The first jeep, the Bantam Pilot Car, was abused and pushed to its limits at Camp Holabird. It was the ability of the original Bantam to take a licking that began the jeep legend. Here’s a sometimes humorous, oftentimes painful photo collection of WW2 jeeps being abused. It seems that such photos were very popular in the press coverage of 1941 and ’42. That’s little consolation, though, to the occupants with their compressed vertebrae, whiplash, and busted skulls.

Let’s start off this little collection with postcards. Here’s what looks to be the original Pilot Car:

Crude but fun. 

Of course the WACS love jeeps. 

Certainly was humorous at the time. Those boys and their toys.

Even Santa loves his flying jeeps.

Cutaways were always popular, so why not combine both themes:

Even Batman and his Bantam got into the act. Holy anagram, Robin!

Jeeps were also great for selling products. Here’s a PSA or advertisement. Save rubber by getting airborne.

Now, on to actual jumpin’ jeeps. The early Bantam BRC60’s got a lot of coverage:

But the most popular early jeep for jumping was the Ford GP:

 

Here’s one that looks doctored, with big smiles and thumbs up! Yeah, just wait another second and see what happens to their smiles. Look at that steering wheel tucked right up against the driver’s ribs. This is not going to end well.

Interestingly, I can’t find a single picture of a Willys MA getting airborne. Here are a few of the more standardized jeep.

Finally, here’s an article on actual Jeep Jumping. (Thanks to Dave at ewillys.com for posting.)