[MV] meaning of GPW and MB etc.

Lars-Uwe Rudek (Rudek@shh-hamburg.de)
Fri, 24 Sep 1999 10:31:40 +0200

It can not be said often enough...

G overnment
P 80' wheelbase
W Willys (Motor) - Jim, wha only "Motor" ?

In all dictionairies you will find under Jeep:

Jeep - small 4x4 all terrain vehicle, name
phonetically derived from "GP" = G eneral P urpose

rubbish !

I hope I am correct in stating that GP NEVER stood for
General Purpose ! ( Please correct me if I am wrong)

If Dictionairies make this mistake, it is anoying, but
they should be corrected !

What, however, is really stupid, is the fact that many
publications on the subject keep on copying this
mistake. Anyone involved in MVs and Jeeps should
know better by now...

The two new, recently ( 1999 ) in Poland and the Czech
Republic published books on the Jeep did it AGAIN.

On the MB:

am I correct in assuming that:

M stands for "MIlitary" ?

MA - model A - Military designation ?
MB - Model B - Military designation M 20
MC - Model C - Military designation M 38
MD - Model D - Military designation M 38 A 1

Could someone confirm that the MB / GPW was
designated M 20 ? I have been told by someone
years ago, that the French bult Hotchkiss (MB licence)
was designated M 201 (that part is true) because
(and this I am not sure about) the WWII MB was
designated M 20 and the 1 stood for 1st licence...
Can someone support / confirm this claim ?

Lars-Uwe Rudek
MVPA # 14836
MVT # 8119
T.E.A.M. # 2
- 42 MB
- 42 BANTAM T 3
- 44 MB
- 44 GPW
- 45 GPW
<RUDEK@SHH-HAMBURG.DE>

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