Jeep models
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Origin of the term "jeep"
There are many explanations of the origin of the word "jeep,"
which have proven difficult to verify. Probably the most popular
notion holds that the vehicle bore the designation "GP" (for
"Gov. Purposes" or "General Purpose"), which was phonetically
slurred into the word jeep. However, R. Lee Ermey, on his
television series Mail Call, disputes this, saying that the
vehicle was designed for specific duties, was never referred to
as "General Purpose", and that the name may have been derived
from Ford's nomenclature referring to the vehicle as GP (G for
government-use, and P to designate its 80-inch (2,000 mm)
wheelbase). "GP" does appear in connection with the vehicle in
the mode TM 9-803 manual, which describes the vehicle as a
machine and the vehicle is designated a "GP" in TM 9-2800,
Standard Motor Vehicles, September 1, 1949, but whether the
average jeep-driving GI would have been familiar with either of
these manuals is open to debate.