- We make fun of Jeep and Jeep owners
a lot on our Instagram.
We can't help it, it's too fun.
(soft ambient music)
Why is it fun?
Jeep is one of the most popular American brands
to ever exist.
People love how they look, how capable they are,
and the attention they get when they're in one.
(camera clicking)
Driving a Jeep is a statement
that you love to go off the beaten path.
But with the good attention,
Jeep also gets a fair amount of hate,
so what makes Jeep so divisive?
Are they too good?
What's going on?
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My Uncle Jerry was two of a kind, and by that I mean
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by the time he was 35.
He loved legs, his ex-girlfriend Gerry with a G,
but most of all, he loved his best bird Dave.
Dave, please say a few words.
(soft somber music) (Dave clears throat)
- Hi everyone.
- [Spectator] Did you know Dave was a girl?
- Uncle Jerry was my best friend.
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even drove across the country to Cabo,
but instead of crying over his loss,
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He may have been called Uncle Jerry,
but he was a friend Jerry to us all.
(soft upbeat music)
- [Nolan] In order to understand
the love/hate relationship with Jeeps,
it's important to know how and why they were created
in the first place.
Jeep hater history stretches all the way back
to World War II,
which changed history in immeasurable ways,
one of those being technology.
- [Narrator] Not so many years ago,
the automobile was considered a luxury.
- When America entered the war in December of 1941,
we brought support in the form of
troops, firepower, and technology.
One of the biggest factors for victory at the time
was the ability to move information and ground forces,
and that meant transportation was key.
While the military did have access
to some pretty fast and agile motorcycles,
only the best riders were capable
of conquering the rough terrain that forces were facing
in war torn Europe.
Makeshift roads were treacherous
often with no marked path at all.
During World War I,
the vehicles available to the military
ranged from horses and wagons
to commandeered civilian vehicles,
so this time around the military
was looking for a true general purpose vehicle.
They had a very specific idea in mind
for their ideal mass-produced off-road war machine
and their requirements for the project left
a lot of manufacturers scratching their head.
See what I did there?
Anyone who wanted to secure the contract would have to build
a working prototype with four wheel drive,
room for three or more plus a 30 caliber machine gun,
a payload of 600 pounds,
all within a weight limit of 1300 pounds total.
That seems insane nowadays, but it's more insane to think
that they expected this 80 years ago.
The only three car companies that responded to the call
were Willis Overland, Ford, and Bantam.
And the kicker?
They had just 49 days to make it happen.
Bantam was the only manufacturers that met the deadline
with the Bantam pilot,
a light four by four recon and scout vehicle
powered by a 45 horsepower continental four cylinder engine.
Unfortunately it did not meet the weight limit
at 2030 pounds, a good 700 pounds over army specifications.
(dramatic music sting)
But the committee was willing to overlook the extra weight
due to the incredible amount of interest
the hand-built Pilot car, nicknamed the Blitz Buggy,
had generated on its way to the testing facility.
Upon arriving to the test,
right under the half an hour mark before the deadline,
one of the first things the army did was hand over
all of Bantam's technical drawings
to Willis Overland and Ford,
who had yet to roll in their own prototypes.
This did Bantam absolutely no favors
and stirred up even more competition in the race
to get the contract.
Prototypes began rolling in from all three companies,
including multiple revisionary models from Bantam,
Willie's Quad, and Ford's Pygmy.
So despite a lot of the initial design
having originated from Bantam's prototypes,
and an almost indiscernible mix of contributions
from all three companies,
ultimately the majority of the contract
went to Willis Overland for their Go Devil Quad.
Not wanting to be left out,
the Ford company also manufactured
a portion of the military vehicles within the limits
of a smaller contract.
The winning Go Devil design had an engine with 60 horsepower
and 105 foot pounds of torque,
making it the most powerful of the prototypes
in the running.
Willis's go anywhere, do anything vehicle,
the predecessor of the MBCJ series and Wrangler had quickly
become the go-to general purpose vehicle of the army.
Some sources say that it took on the name Jeep
after shortening general purpose, GP.
Some say it was derived from a comic strip character,
but regardless of where it actually came from,
the name Jeep stuck and started becoming synonymous
with rugged, versatile, nearly indestructible
military vehicles.
- Ow!
- After the war, there were plenty of military personnel
who wanted to take one home,
having seen their performance on the battlefield.
The now iconic grill fronted devil had driven it's way
off the road and into the hearts of those who served
after being credited with helping allied forces win the war.
Willis Overland was not going to lose the opportunity
to capitalize on this demand.
Ford's contract had ended with the military
and Willis Overland had sole rights to the Jeep designs.
Willis Overland jumped on the chance to sell more vehicles,
not just to vets who had used them,
but to civilians as well.
They started marketing these cars to farmers,
promoting the many accessories such as plows
that can be bought and attached
to the civilian Jeep or CJ2A.
The CJ2A, marketed as the Jeep Universal,
differed from the military Jeep in a number of ways.
In addition to the seven slot grills
as opposed to the nine slot in the military design,
the CJ had bigger headlights, a tailgate,
a spare tire was put on the right side
and the passenger side got an upgrade
to an automatic windshield wiper.
The top speed was boosted by five miles an hour to 60,
and with better shocks, improved cooling,
and softened springs,
it was an overall improvement in comfort
for the civilian market.
There were a ton of configurations and options
to make it desirable for everyone,
from farmers to fire departments to landscapers,
alongside the general population that just wanted something
more durable to drive.
With a little more leisure time available to more Americans,
the concept of taking the Jeep off-road was becoming
a very popular one for fishermen and outdoorsmen overall.
The marketing was successful
and over 214,000 were built through 1949.
Then Willis Overland finally
trademarked the Jeep name in 1950.
(upbeat music)
Willis Overland would continue to make improvements
and crank out CJ models.
The CJ5 arrived in 1955
and much more closely resembles the Wrangler we know today.
With an 81 inch wheelbase, more passenger room,
and a rear bench seat,
the ride was more approachable for a daily driver.
You could justify having this thing in your garage.
After adding some chrome surrounds for the headlights,
a rounded front fender, a better fitted top,
the CJ5 remain in production until 1983
after a total of 603,000 were built.
Following some additional CJ's,
Kaiser Industry Corporation sold Jeep to AMC in 1969.
After years of development by AMC,
it was almost time for the next leap for Jeep.
The Jeep Wrangler roared onto the scene in 1987,
showing people that you're going to have a real off roader
that could also be a real family vehicle.
It wasn't all smiles though.
The Jeep brand had taken some heat
from national news organization 60 Minutes
for being too easy to roll over
and investors were starting to grow wary
of the changes of ownership
so they needed this model to work.
With adjustments to the body for improved safety
including a perimeter frame, semi-elliptical leaf springs,
and a front stabilizer bar,
the Wrangler was offered with multiple options
up to 112 horsepower.
Over 632,000 of these were built through 1985,
leading to many more iterations of the Wrangler models,
which would begin to appear everywhere you looked,
but was this actually a bad thing?
It doesn't sound like it.
Popular culture has always taken notice of the Jeep,
but as the decades and models evolved,
the demographics for the audience were no longer limited
to veterans, farmers, or the off-roading enthusiast.
Everybody wanted a Jeep.
In 1979, Jeep CJ7 nicknamed Dixie was driven by Daisy Duke
in the show Dukes of Hazard.
Another white Wrangler showed up in Clueless,
introducing the idea of a younger female Jeep driver.
Women had been featured prominently in Jeep ads
in previous decades, but only as passengers.
Of course, we can't forget Martin McFly
hanging onto the CJ7 while riding a skateboard
in Back to the Future,
or the Wrangler YJ that flew and or hovered
in Back to the Future 2.
The classic non-flying Wrangler YJ
was also the model featured in Jurassic Park,
shout out John Cerone,
because what other than an orange striped Wrangler
could be capable of slogging through mud, rocks, and jungles
while outrunning dinosaurs?
But it wasn't just showing up in movies.
The music industry was betting on the growing market
for music videos and Jeep was too.
Featured in everything from Britney Spears'
"Hit Me Baby One More Time" to LL Cool J's "Backseat,"
the Jeep was becoming synonymous with younger,
more modern culture and interest
than its original military roots.
Listen carefully to Biggie's 'Everyday Struggle,"
and you'll hear him refer to both Land Cruisers and Jeeps
with the line "Toyota Dealathon had it cheap on the jeeps,"
which doesn't really make sense,
and I'm sure I butchered the flow, I'm sorry.
Taking advantage of the momentum
the inclusion in pop culture had built for the brand,
Jeep continued to reinvent the Wrangler
with more upgrades, features, and power,
but Jeep wasn't the only one watching the market trends
and the brand's notoriety was in some ways
becoming its downfall as other car manufacturers
began sneaking very Jeep like designs into their own models.
One company you might recognize
was not only inspired by Jeeps,
but also literally built their prototypes
on a Jeep axle and chassis.
The 1948 Land Rover was designed by an engineer
who had used Jeeps on his farm
and even the much more modern Land Rovers
carry on some Jeeps characteristics.
One of them being unreliability, zing!
But wait, wasn't Jeep supposed to be super reliable?
Wasn't that a point in the first place?
What the heck happened?
The brand is constantly boasting
its adventurous, off-road nature and capabilities,
still marketing itself like the indestructible
military grade vehicle it once was.
Problem is
that's not really the case.
Ask a Jeep owner, they'll know.
It's not hard to see the irony in the fact
that the element that brought the Jeep into fruition,
technology, is also what has allowed other companies
to catch up and outdo Jeep at its own game.
Jeep's original models were designed to do hard work
in a time when automobiles in general
were still a fairly new concept,
so doing anything outside of going from point A to point B
was an innovation, and jeep really did that differently.
Jeep started trends that are still evident and alive today.
Take a look at the Toyota Land Cruiser.
It too has military roots in the Korean War.
When the US still occupied Japan and urged the island nation
to produce a military vehicle domestically.
By 1951, they had the Toyota Jeep BJ,
obviously inspired by the military spec Jeeps
driven by US forces stationed in Japan.
Toyota renamed the vehicle to the Land Cruiser
and began selling it under that name in the US in 1958.
The 2016 Wrangler unlimited hard rock,
mostly lives up to its Jeep reputation.
It's pretty damn good.
It's got Dana axles,
it's powered by 3.6 liter Pentastar V6
putting out 285 horsepower tour
and 264 pounds of torque,
and an optional five speed automatic transmission.
It's outfitted pretty damn well for off-roading,
but Land Cruiser beats out the Wrangler
by giving the 200 series model a 5.7 liter V8
to gain 381 horsepower and 401 foot pounds of torque
and an eight speed automatic.
They overshadowed the Jeep's power
by almost a hundred horsepower,
and they added features that really upped
the off-road capabilities.
The full-time four wheel drive system defaults
to a 40-60 front rear split,
paired with a torsion limited
slip locker center differential,
sending the torque to the axles for more grip
on rough terrain, but on top of the capability,
it's also got luxury features
like really nice seats and a refrigerator.
It truly lives up to an outdoorsman's expectations
and then some.
Wherever these vehicles come from,
they all share the off-roading origin
with the All-American go anywhere Jeep.
So with that many copycats, we must all love Jeeps, right?
Well, sort of.
Successful sales or anything that resembles a Jeep
tells us the iconic look is something we love.
It says something about who you are
an identity with off-roading culture,
but even that has its splits, subcultures, and infighting.
There are countless Jeep jamborees
that happen anytime of year all over the country
for Jeep owners to meet up and check out each other's rides
and swap stories and tips and whatever.
But according to one Jeep owner
and former Jamboree attendee,
even those can be pretty competitive,
and there's some hostility between stock Jeep enthusiast,
vintage Jeep owners, and those who go all out
modifying their ride.
(engine roars)
There are some elements of the jamboree culture
that have since deterred her from joining up,
including the feeling that the competition
was more money driven than fun driven,
and whoever spent the most on their Jeep
had somehow stolen the show.
But just take a look back at the pop culture appearances
to see how different the demographics really are
for Jeep drivers.
The same people running out to look at white Jeeps
that match Cher's in Clueless
probably aren't the same people
who are planning week-long camping trips
that require off-road uphill climbs.
I mean, maybe they are,
but I've seen Jeeps that are so beat up
they can't leave the driveway
until someone scrapes away the mud to fix
whatever axle broke going over the Boulder last week.
But on the other hand, we've all seen them.
There are a whole lot of very shiny squeaky, clean Jeeps
out on the roads that don't look like they do
any more climbing than into and out of the driveway.
There's a term for it, a pavement princess, a trailer queen,
a mall crawler.
Does that play into why Jeeps get hate?
That poser factor?
Well, maybe, but there's also the fact that
Jeeps are just super popular.
They're everywhere and it's fun to make fun
of popular things like Coldplay or Tom Brady.
You can't get away from Tom Brady's face, he's everywhere,
but you also can't argue the results.
Back when we were shooting the finale of high-low,
we took our built Tacomas
through the Poughkeepsie Gold's trail,
a pretty serious route that demanded careful driving
and off-road tires at the very least.
Our trucks were able to do it mostly,
but what you didn't see in that episode
was our production vehicle
that held of our cameras and gear.
A bone stock Jeep Wrangler limited
rolling on some BF Goodrich KO2 tires.
The Jeep was able to do everything the Tacomas did
except for the final obstacle,
without a locking rear differential,
and that blew my mind.
This was the same car you see everyday on the streets of LA
making us look stupid for spending so much money
on our trucks, and that's when I understood.
Sure, some Jeeps may never see a trail,
but that doesn't mean it can't perform when the time comes.
Those mall crawlers with like two inch profile tires,
they'll probably still do pretty damn well.
So regardless of why we love to hate Jeeps,
they've certainly made their way into the cultural zeitgeist
and have left their seven slot grill mark.
They're a true American marvel that was built to be tough,
built to overtake impossible challenges,
and overcome any obstacle put in front
of it's four wheel drive way.
Whether you're waxing on weekends or driving it through mud,
you're still driving a Jeep and that's part of our history.
So Jeep enthusiast, Jeep hater, whoever you are,
we can all appreciate it for what it is,
a phenomenal meme generator.
(computer mouse clicking)
Follow us on Instagram @donutmedia
if you want to see some Jeep memes.
Truth be told man, like they're super capable, dude.
You can't argue with results, great cars.
They're not the best on the road I will say.
I would not buy one for a daily driver,
but off-road amazing.
Let me know what you think of Jeeps down in comments.
Did this video help sway your opinion a little bit?
Let me know.
I want to know.
Truly.
Follow me on social media @nolanjsykes if you'd like,
Be kind.
Don't litter on the trail, I'll see you next time.