Willys MB - Postwar

Postwar

After the war Ford unsuccessfully sued Willys for the rights to the term "Jeep", leaving Willys with full rights to the name. From 1945 onwards, Willys took its four-wheel drive vehicle to the public with its CJ (Civilian Jeep) versions, making these the first mass-produced 4x4 civilian vehicles. In 1948, US Federal Trade Commission agreed with American Bantam, that the idea of creating the Jeep was originated and developed by the American Bantam in collaboration with some US Army officers. The commission forbade Willys from claiming directly or by implication, that it created or designed the Jeep, and allowed it only to claim, that it contributed to the development of the vehicle. However, American Bantam went bankrupt by 1950, and Willys was granted the "Jeep" trademark in 1950.

The first CJs were essentially the same as the MB, except for such alterations as vacuum-powered windshield wipers, a tailgate (and therefore a side-mounted spare tire), and civilian lighting. Also, the civilian jeeps had amenities like naugahyde seats, chrome trim, and were available 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.

Willys-Overland and its successors, Willys Motors and Kaiser Jeep supplied the U.S. military as well as many allied nations with military jeeps through the late 1960s.

In 1950, the first postwar military jeep, the M38 (or MC), was launched, based on the 1949 CJ-3A. In 1953, it was quickly followed by the M38A1 (or MD), featuring an all-new "round-fendered" body in order to clear the also new, taller, Willys Hurricane engine. This jeep was later developed into the CJ-5 launched in 1955. Similarly, its ambulance version, the M170 (or MDA), featuring a 20-inch wheelbase stretch, was later turned into the civilian CJ-6.

Before the CJ-5, Willys offered the public a cheaper alternative with the taller F-head engine in the form of the CJ-3B, a CJ-3A body with a taller hood. This was quickly turned into the M606 jeep (mostly used for export, through 1968) by equipping it with the available heavy-duty options such as larger tires and springs, and by adding black-out lighting, olive drab paint, and a trailer hitch. After 1968, M606A2 and -A3 versions of the CJ-5 were created in a similar way for friendly foreign governments.

Licenses to produce CJ-3Bs were issued to manufacturers in many different countries, and some, such as the Mahindra corporation in India, continue to produce them in some form or another to this day. The French army, for instance, produced its Willys MB by buying the Willys license to enable the manufacture of their Hotchkiss M201.

The World War II Jeep inspired many imitations. Creations from competing manufacturers such as Land Rover, Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, and a few others all owe their beginnings in the 4x4 world to the inspiration of the Willys Jeep.

The compact military jeep continued to be used in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. In Korea, it was mostly deployed in the form of the MB, as well as the M38 and M38A1 (introduced in 1952 and 1953), its direct descendants. In Vietnam, the most used jeep was the then newly designed Ford M151 MUTT, which featured such state-of-the-art technologies as a unibody construction and all around independent suspension with coil-springs. Apart from the mainstream of - by today's standards - relatively small jeeps, an even smaller vehicle was developed for the US Marines, suitable for airlifting and manhandling, the M422 'Mighty Mite'.

Eventually, the U.S. military decided on a fundamentally different concept, choosing a much larger vehicle that not only took over the role of the jeep, but also replaced all other light military wheeled vehicles: the HMMWV ("Humvee").

In 1991, the Willys-Overland Jeep MB was designated an International Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.