The Jeep's move from military vehicle to citizen transport started just before the end of World War II.

Willys-Overland began selling Jeeps in the United States in the summer of 1945, according to Brandt Rosenbusch, director of Chrysler Historical Services.

“By that time, everyone knew the war was ending and the military gave Willys-Overland permission to begin sales,” Rosenbusch said.

That Jeep model was the CJ-2A, which was almost exactly like the Jeep used in the war, but with a side mounted spare wheel instead of on the back of the vehicle so civilian owners could have a tailgate.

“They also had a power-takeoff unit that drivers could buy separately,” Rosenbusch said. “The PTO worked off of the Jeep's transmission to run equipment like a posthole digger.

“The original civilian Jeeps were meant for use as delivery vehicles or on farms. They weren't thought of as recreational vehicles until later,” he added.

The original price for the CJ-2A was $1,241. There were 1,823 built in 1945 and a total of 214,202 in its five years of production, Rosenbusch said.

In 1947, Willys-Overland began production of Jeep pickup trucks and later built the first all-steel body station wagon.

“Until that time, station wagons all had some parts of the bodies made out of wood,” Rosenbusch said.

Four-wheel drive was introduced for some Jeeps in 1949, and “for all purposes the SUV was born,” he said.

Another type of Jeep, which had an engine and transmission but not much body, was meant for use on the farm where farmers could use the vehicle to pull plows and do other chores.

One Jeep model that did not last into the 1970s was the Jeepster, the last two-seat, open roadster introduced by a U.S. car manufacturer.

“It was meant to appeal to single, affluent people,” Rosenbusch said.

As for the Jeep's long reputation as the vehicle for camping, hunting and exploring, Rosenbusch said Jeep-as-lifestyle was developed by Jeep owners.

“It was an early form of social media, where Jeep owners got together to talk and then to go camping and do outdoorsy things in their Jeeps,” he said.

“Certainly, Willys-Overland had a loyal customer base, namely the men and women who had used the vehicles during the war, and while the majority of Americans lived in cities at the end of the war, the Jeep gave owners the opportunity to escape the city.”