GPW "Nicknames"

1941 - 1945, MB, GPW modifications, sugestions, and ideas, official MWO's and unofficial WWII field mods NO EBAY or COMMERCIAL SALES.
70th Division
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Re: GPW "Nicknames"

Post by 70th Division » Sun Sep 03, 2017 9:59 am

Nick wrote.... in 2015...quite a while back...

"Hey guys, I was hoping you could help me figure out a nickname. I don't own an authentic GPW or MB, but a 3A I'm doing a light conversation on as I didn't want to beat up a real veteran on the trail. I've accidently "sunk" it to the point where the water has come over the cowl about twice, and I feel it needs a nickname significant to these mishaps. So far I've been toying around with "USS...." but I'm not quite sure. Any suggestions for this little Jeep that still goes? I have a couple cool stories, just need a nickname for the conversation starter."


How about "USS Fubar Maru 2 "

The original " USS Fubar Maru" was an unofficial name written on a Radar Tower equipped LST landing ship in the Pacific Theater during WW2 ..... Maru means in Japanese, a safe journey and return, to summarize a little , Like a circle, returning to home port. :D

Now Fubar, well you could say that is like a jeep that gets itself sunk on several occasions, but always makes it home :D

Ray


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Re: GPW "Nicknames"

Post by Daren » Sat Sep 23, 2017 11:43 am

Well I'm looking at the nick name route at the moment. I have decided on a very 40s theme name Maggie May. It has a war time feeling to it but fitting for my family connection as my mother's name is Margaret (Maggie) and my grand mothers name was May.
I'm looking to have this painted in script on the panel beneath the windshield, passenger side.
I also looking at other "nose art" for her just so she is personal as I am sure that GIs would be just as inventive and artistic as the airforce pilots. Thinking of "Tweetie Bird" in a Tommy helmet as the jeep is a 1942 and that is the year Tweetie first appeared. I'm also looking at some play on words with the Abbott and Castello sketch "Who's on first" as it is one of my favorite comedies and also again was famous in 41/42.
Trying to tie it in with a regiment or army group, probably 1st Army, Big Red One.
Regards
Daren
Daren
1942 Ford GPW
Scun Thorpe UK

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Re: GPW "Nicknames"

Post by marionette » Mon Dec 17, 2018 3:30 pm

Put a tribute to his second love, put your Grandma's name on it. šŸ˜Ž

70th Division
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Re: GPW "Nicknames"

Post by 70th Division » Mon Dec 17, 2018 4:09 pm

Hello,

Here is the original nick name on my unrestored 1942 GPW.
If anyone finds an original picture, please let me know!
The engine has a rebuild tag from Base Shop at Fort Devens, Massachusetts from 1945.
I plan to touch up the markings when I do a "clean up" on the jeep. They have been scuffed up since WW2 :D

RED - ROSE


photo(174).JPG
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photo(172).JPG
photo(172).JPG (90.75 KiB) Viewed 4526 times

Ray

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Boyso
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Re: GPW "Nicknames"

Post by Boyso » Tue Dec 18, 2018 5:16 am

Wow what a find Ray, and what a beauty too! Hope we'll see more photos of it soon!
44 GPW 231738 10/23/1944
MVPA #36162

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kmccarthy16
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Re: GPW "Nicknames"

Post by kmccarthy16 » Mon Apr 27, 2020 9:05 am

My father drove Jeeps and 3/4 ton trucks in the war. I have a couple pictures of him sitting on his vehicles it seems only the Jeeps had names under the windshield. The few times he spoked about the war he talked about going out scavenging for parts. If you look closely at the picture of him sitting in the Jeep the front tire looks like a civilian tire.

I purchased a 42 jeep from an Air Force doctor and he had his radio call sign painted above the rear tires.
Attachments
Fango.jpg
Dad in Jeep Large Pic.jpeg
Dad on Jeep Large Pic (2).jpeg
1942 Ford GPW
DOD 3-19-42
SN 8053

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John Neuenburg
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Re: GPW "Nicknames"

Post by John Neuenburg » Sun Aug 02, 2020 3:39 pm

I stumbled across this old thread. It's a good one worth continuing so new people see it.

My GPW was nicknamed Francine by ex-owner my old friend Pat when he restored it in the early '80s. But it wasn't marked that. It wasn't uncommon to name cars decades ago but probably very few had names painted on. Government equipment - now that's a different story. My guess is a lot of jeeps were named because there were so many of them, and easy to steal intentionally or by accident. So personalization made sense so the driver knew which one was his.

Someone mentioned names that relate to the units. I don't know about U.S. units but WWII British and maybe Commonwealth armored units sometimes had a system of naming. If a tank squadron had a HQ troop, support troop, and five tank troops A, B, C, D, E, the three or four tanks in each troop had a name starting with the letter of their troop. I think there was sometimes a theme too. So if a squadron commander assigned A troop to use Greek god or titan names, they could have been for example Apollo, Atlas, Ares, Adonis. C troop might be assigned historic Royal Navy ship names like Conqueror, Colossus, Centurion, Caesar. An observer could look at the names on the hull sides and know what troop it belonged to. A unit member or anyone else who knew the themes used in that squadron would know what squadron it belonged to. So Apollo was in their squadron and not in the adjacent squadron that named their A troop vehicles using names of animals, or mountains, or famous English authors. This explains some odd British vehicle names, at least to an American.

I'm no expert on all this but I think this is right. It doesn't help most people reading this thread though. For a U.S. vehicle, name it what you want. Names were unauthorized, officially. What jumped out at me on the first page was BB16 saying his grandpa was nicknamed Bull and grandmother Betsy so an easy way to honor both is name the jeep "Betsy Bull."
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