Let’s take a break from the dreary world of politics for a moment and turn our atten-tion to a brighter and more hopeful topic--Jeeps. Not Cherokees or Liberties, but real Jeeps--the ones you can remove the top from and lay the windshield down; the ones that put bugs in your teeth and mud in your eyes.
For many months now I have been scrupulously monitoring such network news luminaries as Brian Williams, Diane Sawyer and Katie Couric, and nary a word, pro or con, has crossed their lips concerning Jeeps. I don’t know about you, but this glaring omission makes me more than just a little suspicious. Why, I keep asking myself, are they withholding information about Jeeps? What do they expect to gain by pretending these beloved and sporty little vehicles don’t exist?
But let us not waste our time today becoming hopelessly mired in bottomless questions and fathomless mysteries. Let us, instead, be practical. Let us do what we, as honest Americans, can do. Let us begin filling that conspicuous and gaping void created by our illustrious colleagues in New York who labor mightily each day to bemuse and befuddle us.
The brawny and sprightly Jeep traces its noble origins to a portentous time when the industrialized nations of the world were arming madly for war--a conflagration that ultimately came to be called World War II. The U.S. Army, acutely aware of the mounting danger, put out a request for a light reconnaissance vehicle. Three automakers--Ford, Willys and Bantam--submitted prototypes for evaluation. Following a period of intense scrutiny and rigorous testing, the Willys design was adopted, and thus the diminutive but mighty Jeep was born. It’s arrival came not a moment too soon, for on December 7, 1941, the United States was suddenly and unequivocally swept into the unfolding global conflict.
In its first incarnation, the Jeep came in but one color--olive drab; nevertheless G.I.’s around the world fell instantly in love with it. It possessed a striking and rugged beauty few men could resist. It soon was the American fighting man’s most cherished and faithful companion.
The Jeep served gallantly on every front of the war and was an invaluable component of the Allies’ vast war effort. The need for them eventually grew so great, in fact, that Ford was called upon to assist Willys in their production. Following the war, General Eisenhower praised the Jeep as one of three implements without which the war could not have been won. This salute from a widely respected general secured forever the Jeep’s reputation as a war-winning machine.
Fortunately for the Jeep and all the rest of us, its career did not end when victory came. Indeed, it made a speedy and effortless transition to civilian life. It went directly to work assisting farmers and ranchers, geologists and miners, surveyors and road builders, campers and hunters. It could be found anyplace ruggedness, fidelity and pluck were required in a vehicle.
The first nonmilitary version of the Jeep, which appeared immediately following the war, was designated the CJ-2A. Since its debut, the civilian Jeep has undergone a number of alterations, upgrades and refinements, many decried by today’s purists. Nevertheless, the fundamental elements that comprised the heart and soul of those original olive drab beauties still reside in the Jeep’s latest variant--the Wrangler.
Of the nearly 650,000 Jeeps produced by Willys and Ford during World War II, only a handful remain today, each one a tangible link to a tumultuous period in our nation’s history, a time of feverish activity and great danger, a time when all Americans stood tall and united against the barbarous forces of tyranny.
So remember. Even though they don’t always get the attention they deserve, Jeeps do exist. And they continue to elicit respect, joy and wonderment in all of us who still can appreciate indomitable strength, unwavering steadiness and simple beauty.
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