# Did WWII Jeeps have roofs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 30, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wwii-jeeps-have-roofs/483781 "2009-01-30T20:30:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wwii-jeeps-have-roofs/483781/1 "2009-01-30T20:30:15Z")
Every WWII picture and film I’ve seen shows Jeeps as open-air vehicles. But honestly, that doesn’t make a great deal of sense, given the relative ease of manufacturing a removable canvas cover, and given the fact that they had rear seats, and the rear seats of convertibles get really, really, really cold. So did they have them? Sua ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wwii-jeeps-have-roofs/483781/2 "2009-01-30T20:38:40Z")
The _did_ come with canvas covers: [File:Wiki Jeep 5.jpg - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_Jeep_5.jpg) Or am I misunderstanding the question? ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wwii-jeeps-have-roofs/483781/3 "2009-01-30T20:40:28Z")
Nope, you understood the question perfectly, and you answered it. Thanks. I never saw a picture of a Jeep with the cover on before. Sua ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wwii-jeeps-have-roofs/483781/4 "2009-01-30T21:07:34Z")
[Here’s one with the side curtains rolled up](http://www.willys-mb.co.uk/images/world-war-2-jeep-s.jpg). [Here’s one with the side curtains down and doors installed](http://www.ohtm.org/albums/album400/54Jeep_1.sized.jpg). [1942 Navy jeep with hardtop (doors removed)](http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Jeep_man/hardtop.jpg). [1945 Army jeep with hardtop and doors](http://davidwtaylor.org/jeeps/1945mb.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wwii-jeeps-have-roofs/483781/5 "2009-01-30T22:02:11Z")
Incidentally, capital-J Jeep is a trademark that was granted to Willys in 1950 and which now belongs to the Chrysler Corporation (or is it still DaimlerChrysler?). Small-j jeep is an unofficial term for any number of similar vehicles. (The Army called jeeps 1/4-ton trucks.) The ‘WWII jeep’ is generally the Willys MB or the Ford GPW (the ‘W’ signifying ‘Willys pattern’). After the war there was a similar vehicle called the CJ2, which can be identified by its larger headlamps and its tailgate. The rest was the same as the MB. Next came the actual production version (the CJ2 only being sold in small numbers) called the CJ-2A. The ‘CJ’ in CJ-2A stands for ‘Civilian Jeep’. Other civilian models were the CJ-3A (different windshield with pop-out vents in the frame instead of the earlier swing-out glass) and the CJ-5 (round fenders). Military versions were the M38 (MC) and M38A1 (MD). The CJ-3B was called the M606 and was used mostly for export. From 1959 to 1982 Ford produced a replacement for the M38-series called the M151 (series) MUTT (1/4 ton 4x4 Military Utility Tactical Truck). The M151 was replaced my the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV, or ‘Humvee’). For more on ‘flatfender’ Jeeps, see [The CJ2A Page](http://www.thecj2apage.com/) (which is my own creation, but has had a better message board installed since I gave it to a reader four or five years ago) and [The CJ3B Page](http://www.film.queensu.ca/cj3b/) (which served as the inspiration for the former). ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-wwii-jeeps-have-roofs/483781/6 "2009-01-30T22:21:53Z")
According to my dad, a WWII Jeep driver, the canvas tops tore easy and degraded fast in the sun or the jungle with molds and such. However, if you watch movies, you’ll see a LOT of people driving convertables with the top down, way more than are common.