YouTube: Willys, the “World’s Largest Manufacturer of Utility Vehicles,” presents the “Jeep Family of 4-Wheel Drive Vehicles and Special Equipment,” a circa 1954 black-and-white film promoting Jeeps produced for civilian use. (“One man with a Jeep can do the work of 100 men with shovels”)

Because this video runs a tad over 20 minutes, I’m guessing it ran in theaters before feature films. I recall seeing newsreels like this as a child in the 1950s. Jeeps like mine (CJ2A) were aimed at the agriculture market and this video show one handy attachment after another.

The narrator pronounces Willys: WILL us … rather than WILL eez so I’m confident that is the correct way to say it.

YouTube titles the video below: Autobiography of a Jeep and the narrator is the “voice” of a Jeep during its development and the early years of WWII. The delivery is that Pete Smith Specialty style from the 40s and early 50s (you had to be there). A little corny but some excellent Jeep footage.

YouTube description: “A small company in Pennsylvania, Bantam, invented the Jeep, but the military needed more than Bantam could produce. So they turned to Willys and Ford and had these auto titans build Jeeps. Edsel Ford joins other Ford Motor Company officials as they demonstrate their vehicles for the military.” (this video has no sound)

Okay, one more. 1940 Ford Pilot Model GP-No. 1 Pygmy