US President Dwight D Eisenhower used to say that the two key ‘victory assets’ of World war II were the C-47 (‘Dakota’) and the Jeep.  It’s 70 years since the 1941 Jeep – compact, lightweight with high and low ratio four wheel drive – changed the whole way an army operated.

Another military star who saw the Jeep’s potential was Master Sergeant Ernest G Bilko (aka Phil Silvers).  From a rented shop-front in Roseville, Kansas, Jeeps “diverted” from Fort Baxter’s Motor Pool were painted, smartened up and offered for sale as a new imported small car under the name “Arrivederchi”.