Willys-Overland MB Jeep at the Josefuv Dul Car Show, Liberecky kraj, Bohemia(CZ), 2015

It is a common misconception that the first-ever Jeep was this one, the Willys MB, but actually Willys-Overland had introduced the earlier MA model in 1940 for the United States Marine Corps. By the time U.S. ground forces were engaged in World War II, the MB was more or less the definitive model, meaning it is far better remembered today. Jeeps were actually produced by all the multiple U.S. auto manufacturers due to their military application and association with World War II (including well after the war, into the 1980's, when some "Jeep" branded vehicles had parts from Ford, GM, and Mopar). In World War II the other major Jeep manufacturers besides Willys-Overland were American Bantam and Ford. The Fords were classified as Ford GPW's, There were also subtle differences in the design, not only between Bantams, Fords, and Willys, but also between U.S. models, as opposed to lend-lease models sent to Britain and the Soviet Union.

All subsequent Jeeps of the more authentic variety (the CJ-2A, the M38, the CJ-3, the DJ-3, the M38A1, the CJ-5, the DJ-5, the M151, and the CJ-7, among many variants) are descended from the MB, even if the original MB's are rarely seen anymore outside of museums. However, in the Czech Republic, original MB's are relatively common in preservation. This is in spite of their playing little role in the Czech military. Their popularity with Czech collectors is probably more due to their association with Patton's Third Army, which ended up being the U.S. Army which liberated Czechoslovakia at the end of the World War II, at least in the West. Anyone who knows the history is aware that Czechoslovakia ended up under Communist control from February 1948 onward, so the Czech army ended up using either Soviet, or domestically-produced, vehicles until 1989.