GP NOIR
Hooked
I wore my shirt "JEEP. GO ANYWHERE. DO ANYTHING" while having lunch with my co-workers. I'm an aviation technician. My co-workers are degreed engineers in a variety of fields including mechanical, computer software, computer graphics and the head of our small company has a PhD in Aerospace engineering. As you can imagine, there's plenty of friendly ribbing.
So, out of the blue, one leaned across the table and asked "What about space?"
Without missing a beat, I said "Yes."
"What about the moon?"
"Of course. There's a jeep on the Moon."
He looked surprised.
As most Jeep enthusiasts are aware, the term "jeep" was around long before the Bantam car company built their first prototype for the military. Soldiers fresh out of bootcamp were referred to by the grizzled vets as "jeeps". Legend has it this was short for "G.P." or General Purpose to denote the new boots tasked with mopping, mowing grass, cleaning latrines and other mundane chores.
In the motorpool, new vehicles with no clearcut mission or the sergeant had no idea what they were for, were also called "Vehicle, General Purpose". When the new Willys MBs and Ford GPWs first entered the inventory, they became the next military vehicle to be labeled jeep, or "Vehicle, General Purpose". So, according to some historians, jeep soon came to be in wide usage when referring the light and nimble vehicle. Although it's fallen out of common usage, nearly all small 4x4 vehicles were once called "jeeps" (jeep little j) regardless of make and model- and to confuse things further the original Toyota 4x4 and original British Land Rovers started as modified jeeps further cementing the usage in our lexicon. (Technically, it is correct usage to refer to SWB 4x4 vehicles as jeeps, but let's keep that between us Jeep Guys.)
Boeing built four Lunar Rovers for a fleet cost of $38 million. The Lunar Rovers were all electric with 1/4 horsepower electric motors mounted at each wheel and were equipped with rear steer. They played a large role during the three day lunar missions of Apollo 15, 16 and 17.
Were the Lunar Rovers jeeps? In the common usage of the word jeep (little j), yes. Although the official name was Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), it was often called a jeep in the news and publicity releases. So yes- NASA did indeed land on the Moon three of the coolest jeeps ever built so astronauts could go wheeling.
So, out of the blue, one leaned across the table and asked "What about space?"
Without missing a beat, I said "Yes."
"What about the moon?"
"Of course. There's a jeep on the Moon."
He looked surprised.
As most Jeep enthusiasts are aware, the term "jeep" was around long before the Bantam car company built their first prototype for the military. Soldiers fresh out of bootcamp were referred to by the grizzled vets as "jeeps". Legend has it this was short for "G.P." or General Purpose to denote the new boots tasked with mopping, mowing grass, cleaning latrines and other mundane chores.
In the motorpool, new vehicles with no clearcut mission or the sergeant had no idea what they were for, were also called "Vehicle, General Purpose". When the new Willys MBs and Ford GPWs first entered the inventory, they became the next military vehicle to be labeled jeep, or "Vehicle, General Purpose". So, according to some historians, jeep soon came to be in wide usage when referring the light and nimble vehicle. Although it's fallen out of common usage, nearly all small 4x4 vehicles were once called "jeeps" (jeep little j) regardless of make and model- and to confuse things further the original Toyota 4x4 and original British Land Rovers started as modified jeeps further cementing the usage in our lexicon. (Technically, it is correct usage to refer to SWB 4x4 vehicles as jeeps, but let's keep that between us Jeep Guys.)
Boeing built four Lunar Rovers for a fleet cost of $38 million. The Lunar Rovers were all electric with 1/4 horsepower electric motors mounted at each wheel and were equipped with rear steer. They played a large role during the three day lunar missions of Apollo 15, 16 and 17.
Were the Lunar Rovers jeeps? In the common usage of the word jeep (little j), yes. Although the official name was Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), it was often called a jeep in the news and publicity releases. So yes- NASA did indeed land on the Moon three of the coolest jeeps ever built so astronauts could go wheeling.
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