© Jeep

1941 Willys MA

The Willys Quad became the MA.

About this time the word "Jeep" began to be used to describe Willys vehicles, and Jeep says there are a few ideas floating around about the origination of the term. One potential source was a character named "Eugene the Jeep" in the Popeye cartoon strip. A slurring of the letters "GP," the military abbreviation for "General Purpose," is another possibility.

The Willys MA had a gearshift on the steering column, low side body cutouts, two circular instrument clusters on the dash, and a hand brake on the left side.