Jeep and Hummer sound like the cartoon characters of the automobile world, but, in fact, they may be among the most versatile, rugged, and loved vehicles ever made. The Jeep was created as a vehicle for wartime. Before the automobile, armies used horses and mules to move men and supplies. The French Army was the first to experiment with motorized vehicles by adding engines to tri- and quadricycles, but these were too fragile and awkward. Airplanes, tanks, trucks, and other motorized vehicles had significant roles in World War I, but there was no all-purpose automobile. The U.S. Army experimented with a stripped down Model T Ford equipped with balloon tires and with motorcycles with sidecars attached, but a vehicle that was strong but small and had the traction to cover difficult terrain was still lacking by the start of World War II.

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