the Jeep
once upon a time, this country engaged in a war that required it to fight in Europe and in the Pacific at the same time. before we could fight in Europe, we had to fight across north Africa and cross the Mediterranean to invade Italy. the war was called World War II because it was fought all around the world at the same time. as usual with wars, almost nothing good came out of it. one possible exception was the Jeep. officially it was a light-utility reconnaissance vehicle, 1/4 ton, 4x4 and it was a truck. there were only about 600,000 built during the war, but GIs used them for everything! well, no, of course not. they were too light for tamping down runways, for instance, and too big for digging a foxhole with, but they were just right as a light, fast car that could run over rough terrain, could damn near pull a tree stump out of the ground, could serve as a gunbase. GIs loved it, I am told. they loved it so much that when the Army released a quarter-skazillion of them for sale after the war, they sold out in days. (that's a story I have no documentation for.) they were so popular that the manufacturer began selling commercial versions of it after the war and the brand name is still in existence today.
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