COBI Willys MB Set 2805

COBI's Willys MB is a 1:12 model built from 1,207 blocks under original Jeep licence, 27 cm long. The steering wheel turns the front wheels, the wheels run on rubber tires, the engine and interior are reproduced, and a heavy machine gun and brick jerrycans are included. The markings are those of a vehicle of the 101st Airborne Division — COBI owns a 1944 Willys in exactly this scheme and used it as the reference.

Where the name came from

Nobody is certain, and there are two serious explanations.

The first is that Ford designated its version the GP — G for a government contract, P for the 80-inch wheelbase — and that soldiers ran the letters together into a word. The second is that Eugene the Jeep, a small animal in the Popeye comic strip that could go anywhere and do almost anything, was popular enough in 1940 that the name attached itself to a vehicle with the same reputation. Soldiers had been calling various new machines jeeps before this one existed.

What is documented is that a Willys test driver named Irving Hausmann drove one up the steps of the United States Capitol for the press in February 1941, and a reporter asked him what it was called. He said Jeep. It was in the newspapers the next day, and Willys registered the trademark after the war.

In the COBI range

Set 2804 is the same vehicle with a trailer and Executive Edition extras, and 2806 the medical version. Other 1:12 vehicles are the Kübelwagen (2802, 2803) and the Tiger 114 (2807).

Specifications

Pieces: 1,207 · Scale: 1:12 · Official Jeep licence · Machine gun and jerrycans included
Model dimensions: 27 × 15.5 cm (10.6 × 6.1 in)