Jeep Utility Parts

Need Jeep Parts?

At 1A Auto, we understand the die-hard following that Jeep has built up over the years and it is our mission to supply you with the right parts you need to keep your Jeep working in tip top shape, at a great discount. Simply put, if you are in need of a replacement part for your Jeep 4X4 off-road SUV, crossover, or pickup truck, you've come to the right place. You'll find a large selection of new, high quality aftermarket Jeep auto parts, including headlights, taillights, weatherstripping, mirrors, door handles, exhaust manifolds, radiators, and more, as well as genuine OEM Mopar replacement parts - the very same parts you would receive if purchased from your local dealer, but without the inflated cost. However, we don't only just sell aftermarket Jeep parts online here at 1A Auto; we also carry a selection of new and performance parts such as high flow air filters for your Jeep 4WD off-road SUV, crossover, or pickup truck as well.

Our product development team spends over 8,000 hours a year researching the best auto parts, and they are carefully selected by our trained engineers so you can rest assured that you are getting the correct, high quality part you need for your car, at a discount price. If we wouldn't put the part in our own cars, we won't sell them to anyone else. A new aftermarket replacement Jeep part from 1A Auto will save you 30-50% on average over a comparable new OEM replacement Jeep part that you would get at a dealership, and our new aftermarket Jeep parts are also extremely durable and reliable, lasting at least 2-3 times longer on average than used OEM Jeep parts. Don't overpay for 4x4 off-road Jeep parts and save yourself from a lot of potential headaches by shopping at 1A Auto.

You can shop for all of your 4x4 off-road Jeep parts online and buy safely and securely right here on our website, or you can call our customer service toll free at 888-844-3393 if you have any questions about any of our parts, or to buy over the phone. With over 150 years combined experience, 1A Auto's customer service representatives are the most qualified to answer your questions about all of our new, aftermarket, genuine OEM Mopar, and performance Jeep car parts. Our representatives answer 99.9% of phone calls in less than one minute and emails are responded to within the hour because we know you need answers quickly to get your beloved Jeep back in working order again. We also know you want your part fast for the same reason; 98% of in stock Jeep auto parts ship from our warehouse within one business day so that you can get back on the road in no time, and all ground shipping in the continental US is completely free. And, in the unlikely case that you are unhappy with your Jeep auto part for any reason, 1A Auto also offers the only No Hassle return policy for unused items in the industry. Simply put, our competitors can't beat the 1A Advantage. Don't just take it from us - take it from over 50,000 satisfied customers!

Look no further than 1A Auto for your aftermarket, original equipment (OE) Mopar replacement, new and performance Jeep auto parts and get your 4x4 off-road SUV, crossover, or pickup truck the new parts it needs today from intense Jeep enthusiasts just like you! If you happen to be an enthusiastic Jeep owner, have a deep passion for Jeep vehicles, or just want to learn more about the automotive manufacturer, continue reading below for a detailed look at the brand's history and some of its past and present models.

Overview

When someone mentions the word Jeep, people think of versatile, powerful vehicles capable of moving through any terrain. Jeep is the manufacturer and namesake of one of the most recognized vehicles in the world. Currently, Jeep produces sport utility vehicles and 4x4 off-road vehicles, but it has also produced pickup trucks in the past as well.

Contents

1. Origin
2. Ownership Changes
3. Jeep Today

Origin

The history of the Jeep brand began just prior to World War II, when the U.S. Army, having realized it could no longer stay out of the conflict, called for a new four wheel drive vehicle which had to have a large payload capacity, small wheelbase, and be lightweight. An extremely aggressive production timeline was set by the Army as selected manufacturers would only have 49 days to supply a working protoype of the reconnaissance vehicle. Of the 135 companies that were invited to bid on the contract, only two answered the call: The American Bantam Car Company, and Willys-Overland. Willys, realizing that this was an almost impossible deadline to meet, asked the Army for more time but was refused. Bantam, who at the time was dealing with serious financial problems, had no in-house engineering resources of their own and manufacturing operations were in the process of shutting down. Their response to the contract was essentially a last ditch effort to try and save the company. With no ability to design the prototype themselves, Bantam reached out to a freelance designer by the name of Karl Probst. After initially refusing Bantam’s request, Probst agreed to design the prototype after the U.S. Army reached out to him as well. He got to work on his plan on July 17th, 1940.

With the odds stacked against him, and the bid deadline rapidly approaching, Probst was able to come up with the framework for what would eventually become the basis for America’s first Jeep - the Bantam Reconnaissance Car, or BRC. Amazingly, Probst did this in just two days, with a cost estimate coming a day after that. Bantam won the contract to produce the initial prototype, and while it met most of the Army’s requirements with the exception of weight and performed relatively well during testing, the Army still had its concerns. It felt that Bantam was too small of a company to handle the high production demand and, due to its financial troubles, that the company would have difficulty fulfilling the contract. Therefore, the Army supplied the Bantam design to Willys as well as to Ford at the outrage of Bantam, and asked them to submit prototypes of their own based on the Bantam design. They were encouraged to make their own changes and modifications as well. The results were the Willys “Quad” and Ford “Pygmy” prototypes. Neither of these prototypes were able to meet the weight requirement either, forcing the Army to revise it. Fifteen hundred of each prototype were produced and rigorously tested by the Army, with the advantage going to Willys due to changes in the design they had made to meet the revised weight requirement. While Willys prototype was still heavy, it was much more powerful than the prototypes of both Ford and Bantam. Therefore, Willy's won the contract to manufacture the new scout vehicle for the Army.

Because they were a small company and the Army needed a lot of these vehicles in a short amount of time, the U.S. Government was granted a non-exclusive license by Willys-Overland to allow another company to manufacture the vehicle using its design to help boost production of the new vehicle. The Army chose Ford and Willys supplied them with their specs so that they could share the burden of manufacturing the vehicle. Both Willys-Overland and Ford produced two slightly different versions of the Jeep during this time, the model MB by Willys and the model GPW by Ford. However, it was Willys-Overland’s standardized version that saw the battlefield and was the workhorse vehicle of the American armies during WWII. After the war, having won the adoration of the military and earning fame as a war hero, Willys decided to repurpose the Jeep for civilian use in order to capitalize on its popularity. The first civilian model of the Jeep, dubbed the Willys CJ (later known as the Jeep CJ), was released to the public in 1945 by Willys-Overland and generations of off-roading enthusiasts were born. This began the oldest 4x4 off-road and SUV brand in the world, which still continues to this day.

Ownership Changes

The Jeep marque went through several owners after its inception. Having been granted the trademark for the Jeep name in 1950, Willys-Overland eventually was sold to Kaiser Motors (formerly Kaiser-Frazier), another independent automaker, in 1953. The name of the company was changed to Willys Motors, and was controlled by Kaiser Industries (formerly Kaiser Motors), which was now a holding company for various Kaiser business holdings. Production of Kaiser and Willys’ passenger cars ceased in 1955, with the Jeep brand being the only vehicle produced. The name was changed once again in 1963 from Willys Motors to Kaiser-Jeep. It was during this time that the first model of the Jeep Wagoneer was introduced, which is credited as being the first real American SUV. In 1970, Kaiser sold the Jeep division to American Motors Corporation (AMC), due to the fact that it was losing the company money and that Kaiser wanted to leave the automotive industry and focus on its other industrial activities. The Jeep Cherokee, who some feel is one of the greatest cars of all time, was introduced to the world during this period. AMC, which at that point was majority owned by the French automaker Renault, was then bought out by the Chrysler Corporation in 1987. What remained of AMC after the buyout formed the Jeep/Eagle division of Chrysler, and both Jeep and Eagle branded vehicles were produced.

The Chrysler Corporation would go through its own ownership changes in the years that followed its purchase of Jeep. First, it merged with and was then subsequently acquired by Daimler-Benz AG in 1998 to form DaimlerChrysler, with U.S. operations generally referred to as the “Chrysler Group.” Not long after the merger was finalized, Jeep became a standalone division and the Eagle brand was retired. DaimlerChrysler then sold a majority of its interest in the Chrysler Group of its business to a private equity firm, Cerberus Capital Management, in 2007 and thereafter it became a new company, Chrysler LLC. DaimlerChrysler changed its name to Daimler AG shortly afterwards, but maintained a 19.9% interest in the now separated Chrysler LLC. Daimler AG came to an agreement with Cerberus Capital Management to give up its remaining stake in Chrysler LLC in April of 2009, days before Chrysler LLC filed for bankruptcy. On June 10, 2009, Chrysler LLC emerged from a Chapter 11 restructuring overseen by the U.S. government, with the majority of all of Chrysler's assets being sold to what was called "New Chrysler", which became Chrysler Group LLC in alliance with and owned by Fiat, an Italian automaker. The U.S. government lent support to the deal in the form of 6.6 billion US dollars in financing, which was paid out to the "Old Chrysler,” formerly Chrysler LLC and now a company called Old Carco LLC. While Fiat initially only owned 20% of the new Chrysler Group LLC company after the bankruptcy proceedings were complete, that was increased to over half in 2011 when it bought the shares of Chrysler that were being held by the U.S. Treasury. This purchase once again returned control of Chrysler into the hands of a foreign owned company, and the stake has since increased to almost two-thirds of majority ownership as of 2012.

Jeep Today

The Chrysler and Jeep division now operate under the name Chrysler Group LLC, which now owns the trademark for the Jeep name and its famous front slot grille design, which was initially a Ford design feature for their GPW model and incorporated into the standardized design of the vehicle, the Willys MB model. Insanely popular, Jeep has a loyal following of enthusiastic drivers all over the world who swear “you wouldn't understand, it's a Jeep thing.” Reliable, powerful, and affordable, Jeep vehicles such as the Jeep CJ series, Jeep Wrangler, Jeep Comanche, Jeep Cherokee and Grand Cherokee, Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer, Jeep Liberty, and more, have been tearing up the roads – on and off - with style for over six decades, transporting everything from soldiers to groceries.

Jeep and the Jeep logo are registered trademarks of Chrysler Group LLC. All rights reserved.

• 
  
  The 1A Auto Team
  

For more than 50 years, the Green family has been installing and using the same high quality auto parts that you'll find on our website. We actually use the parts we sell, and we've been selling online since 1999. Our company's mission is to make your car projects go smoothly, and to become your trusted source for auto parts. To this end, we treat our customers like family.

We employ USA based, knowledgeable support technicians. They'll help you through your project. We always make sure you get the right part. And we boast the industry's most generous returns policy. You won't find a company more passionate about auto parts than 1A Auto.