WEBVTT - The Jeep Wrangler: Saving Democracy, Making Bank 0:00:15.316 --> 0:00:22.956 Pushkin. Hey Eddie here, before we get started, I wanted 0:00:22.996 --> 0:00:24.916 you to know that you can listen to Car Show 0:00:24.956 --> 0:00:29.276 ad free by becoming a Pushkin Plus subscriber. You'll also 0:00:29.316 --> 0:00:32.796 get access to detours, bonus episodes of Car Show where 0:00:32.836 --> 0:00:37.676 we go for extended drives, play outtakes, and more fine 0:00:37.716 --> 0:00:40.636 Pushkin Plus on the Car Show page, in Apple Podcasts, 0:00:41.156 --> 0:00:57.676 or at pushkin dot Fm. Listen to that. Okay, that's 0:00:57.796 --> 0:01:04.996 ninety let's not do that. I'm sorry, but I didn't 0:01:05.036 --> 0:01:08.036 even feel us make the acceleration almost It just like 0:01:08.236 --> 0:01:11.876 jumped things so softly sprung that it just kind of 0:01:11.876 --> 0:01:15.276 rears back up when you accelerate, and all the mass 0:01:15.876 --> 0:01:20.396 loads they all shift to the back. They're like, whoa, 0:01:20.756 --> 0:01:24.436 my sunglasses just flues to the back of my head. 0:01:24.556 --> 0:01:29.996 No joke, that's so good. That just n That was me, 0:01:30.276 --> 0:01:33.836 our editor Jan Guera and our producer Sam Dingman going 0:01:33.956 --> 0:01:36.996 ninety miles an hour in a fifty five zone, floating 0:01:37.076 --> 0:01:41.276 the speed limit and common sense even dumber. We're at 0:01:41.316 --> 0:01:44.436 the wheel of a hot rod jeep, the Wrangler Rubicon 0:01:44.796 --> 0:01:48.156 three ninety two. It is so named because it comes 0:01:48.196 --> 0:01:51.716 stuffed with a huge three ninety two cubic inch hemy 0:01:51.796 --> 0:01:55.516 V eight engine making four hundred and seventy horsepower and 0:01:55.596 --> 0:01:58.196 a chassis ill equipped to deal with that kind of 0:01:58.236 --> 0:02:02.756 brute force. The regular jeep is handful enough on the highway. 0:02:02.996 --> 0:02:05.956 This roided up three ninety two. It's enough to pull 0:02:05.956 --> 0:02:09.956 the sunglasses right off your head. This is a muscle 0:02:09.996 --> 0:02:19.636 car engine in a jeep. Did you see how the 0:02:19.636 --> 0:02:24.836 whole thing was rocking up and down. I'm Eddie Alterman, 0:02:25.356 --> 0:02:30.796 and this is car show. I've been an automotive journalist 0:02:30.956 --> 0:02:33.756 since i was nineteen years old, and I've driven nearly 0:02:33.796 --> 0:02:38.676 every car that's been made since then, three decades, driving 0:02:38.756 --> 0:02:42.796 some two hundred and fifty new cars a year. The 0:02:42.876 --> 0:02:46.716 math is shocking even to me. For this last decade, 0:02:47.156 --> 0:02:49.156 I was the editor in chief of Car and Driver, 0:02:49.596 --> 0:02:53.596 the world's largest car magazine. I spent my entire life 0:02:53.596 --> 0:02:57.356 around cars and the people who make them. I think 0:02:57.396 --> 0:03:00.716 all cars are great, even the awful ones. I'm a 0:03:00.716 --> 0:03:04.996 fan of the genre, but some cars transcend there for 0:03:05.116 --> 0:03:08.916 lack of a better term, carness. Some cars have a 0:03:09.116 --> 0:03:14.716 story to tell, which got us thinking, what if we 0:03:14.756 --> 0:03:17.156 did a show that focused on what certain cars mean 0:03:17.836 --> 0:03:20.636 rather than how quick they are? What if we thought 0:03:20.636 --> 0:03:24.036 about what makes certain cars important rather than what makes 0:03:24.036 --> 0:03:30.316 them go on Car Show, We're going to look at 0:03:30.316 --> 0:03:33.356 the vital cars, the ones that have changed how we 0:03:33.476 --> 0:03:37.676 drive and live, whose significance lies outside the scope of 0:03:37.716 --> 0:03:42.796 horsepower or mile square gallon. Because some cars are more 0:03:42.836 --> 0:03:46.876 than just a pile of metal, glass and rubber. Some 0:03:46.956 --> 0:03:53.956 cars are rolling anthropology. This week we're talking about the 0:03:54.036 --> 0:03:58.076 Jeep Wrangler. The Wrangler is the direct descendant of the 0:03:58.116 --> 0:04:01.996 original jeep, created in the forties to serve the battlefields 0:04:01.996 --> 0:04:06.076 of World War Two. It was a tool, a Swiss 0:04:06.156 --> 0:04:09.796 army knife of a vehicle that's grown new blades generation. 0:04:10.636 --> 0:04:13.956 But this gym r of an SUV, the three ninety two, 0:04:14.556 --> 0:04:18.316 that's less of a basic military vehicle than a kaleidoscopic 0:04:18.396 --> 0:04:22.036 journey through the asteroid belt of niche marketing. It's an 0:04:22.076 --> 0:04:26.196 absurd outgrowth of an insanely popular vehicle line. There are 0:04:26.236 --> 0:04:30.116 hard top Wranglers and soft top Wranglers, sport versions and 0:04:30.236 --> 0:04:33.876 rubicon trail ready versions. There are two doors and four 0:04:33.916 --> 0:04:37.756 door jeeps, even pickups. There are four cylinders, six cylindar, 0:04:37.836 --> 0:04:41.796 eight cylinder, and even hybrid powered models. There is it 0:04:41.916 --> 0:04:46.036 seems a Jeep for everyone. You know, the jeep contains multitudes. 0:04:46.316 --> 0:04:49.556 There's all kinds of ways to play it. There's all 0:04:49.636 --> 0:04:53.956 kinds of facets on the original idea. But it's still 0:04:53.956 --> 0:04:59.236 a jeep. Yeah, you know, in one sense, it's like 0:04:59.436 --> 0:05:03.316 a beach toy beachcomber, and another sense it's the most 0:05:03.316 --> 0:05:06.516 serious off rodor of all time. In another sense, it's 0:05:06.556 --> 0:05:12.316 a muscle car in another, and it's you know, first 0:05:12.356 --> 0:05:17.156 car for a private school kid. Where do you think that? 0:05:19.636 --> 0:05:24.436 Because I do associate it with the beach, but a 0:05:24.596 --> 0:05:27.236 car for beach driving or like cruising up and down 0:05:27.236 --> 0:05:30.676 the boardwalk feels so out of step with the idea 0:05:30.876 --> 0:05:35.876 of a military hauler one hundred and eighty degrees away 0:05:35.956 --> 0:05:40.716 from it. Where did that come from? Good question, because 0:05:40.716 --> 0:05:44.196 Sam isn't talking about the beaches of Normandy. So how 0:05:44.196 --> 0:05:46.836 do we get to this point? How did the jeep 0:05:46.956 --> 0:05:51.236 go from the Arden forest to planet fitness? What energy 0:05:51.356 --> 0:05:53.996 was latent in that first Jeep that allowed it to 0:05:54.036 --> 0:05:57.996 thrive over eight decades even as the world seems increasingly 0:05:58.076 --> 0:06:03.756 dead set against it. On this episode, we'll talk about 0:06:03.756 --> 0:06:06.796 why the Jeep Wrangler is the most American vehicle of 0:06:06.836 --> 0:06:10.396 all time and along the way, we'll hear from folks 0:06:10.396 --> 0:06:13.516 will tell us what the Jeep means to them. People 0:06:13.556 --> 0:06:17.836 love talking about their jeeps. I feel very connected to 0:06:17.836 --> 0:06:22.356 the Americana element of jeeps. I've always been a huge 0:06:22.396 --> 0:06:24.156 fan of the Jeeps. I just love the way they look, 0:06:24.716 --> 0:06:27.196 and I kind of thought that I should have one 0:06:27.236 --> 0:06:32.036 before I die. The seatbelt situation was insane. I guess 0:06:32.036 --> 0:06:35.156 it was safe in there, like it had a roll bar, 0:06:35.516 --> 0:06:39.316 but I did drove that thing like crazy. It's a 0:06:39.356 --> 0:06:42.396 really joyful car and there's never a top on it, 0:06:42.436 --> 0:06:46.476 and it's sort of cool, but it's not pretentious and 0:06:46.556 --> 0:06:52.876 just invokes a sense of fun to me. After the 0:06:52.916 --> 0:06:56.436 break the Rise of the Jeep, I'm Eddie Alterman, and 0:06:56.476 --> 0:07:18.756 this is Car Show. We'll be right back. The base 0:07:18.916 --> 0:07:23.996 version of the Jeep Wrangler is agricultural. It's unrefined. It 0:07:24.116 --> 0:07:27.036 likes to veer all over the place on the highway, 0:07:27.396 --> 0:07:29.836 putting a hemmy in it, as Jeep did for this 0:07:29.916 --> 0:07:34.316 Wrangler three ninety two would appear to tempt fate, and 0:07:34.476 --> 0:07:38.396 yet the three ninety two and eighty thousand dollars elephant 0:07:38.436 --> 0:07:45.996 on roller skates makes a perverse kind of sense. The 0:07:46.116 --> 0:07:50.076 jeep is everything to all people. It's a war hero, 0:07:50.756 --> 0:07:55.276 a beach bugget, an army mule, a cultural movement, a 0:07:55.316 --> 0:08:01.236 Barbie accessory, a fraternity, a sorority, and now a muscle cover. 0:08:01.876 --> 0:08:05.156 You know, the cool thing about this vehicle is that 0:08:05.476 --> 0:08:07.876 it's like sort of like nothing else on the road. 0:08:07.956 --> 0:08:11.596 You have this really short windshield, it's almost in your 0:08:11.596 --> 0:08:17.956 face and totally upright. You have these really square peel 0:08:17.956 --> 0:08:22.356 off doors, you have a peel off top. You're sitting 0:08:22.476 --> 0:08:25.396 really high off the ground. You can see all four 0:08:25.476 --> 0:08:29.596 corners of the vehicle. There's a high hit point. You're 0:08:29.596 --> 0:08:32.476 sort of up in the air on this thing. And 0:08:32.756 --> 0:08:34.796 in this day and age, very few vehicles have that 0:08:34.876 --> 0:08:38.196 sense of uniqueness that there's really nothing else like it 0:08:38.356 --> 0:08:40.476 on the road. And I think that's a great part 0:08:40.476 --> 0:08:46.276 of its appeal. So how can something so out of 0:08:46.396 --> 0:08:51.436 step with a modern automotive environment be so popular, so varied, 0:08:51.876 --> 0:08:55.036 and so right for so many people. There really is 0:08:55.076 --> 0:09:00.036 a jeep culture. Get a lot of conversations with strangers, 0:09:00.476 --> 0:09:02.956 a lot of recognition, and a lot of love. People 0:09:04.356 --> 0:09:08.716 people love talking about their jeeps. You know, I guess 0:09:08.756 --> 0:09:13.436 you just fall for these machines and you appreciate people 0:09:13.436 --> 0:09:17.316 who have also Jeep cells roughly as many Wranglers as 0:09:17.356 --> 0:09:21.676 Honda sells accords. Unlike the Honda, though, the Jeep Wrangler 0:09:21.796 --> 0:09:25.636 is an anachronism, a bulwark against the endless refinements of 0:09:25.676 --> 0:09:30.996 the car industry with its fixations on noise, emissions, fuel economy, 0:09:31.316 --> 0:09:34.956 and passenger comfort and safety. In a world where carmakers 0:09:34.956 --> 0:09:38.996 are swearing off internal combustion engines for battery powered electric vehicles, 0:09:39.236 --> 0:09:43.636 the Jeep says, screw that free trade, farmers market, NPR, tote, bag, 0:09:43.756 --> 0:09:46.236 tote and crap. I've got a huge V eight under 0:09:46.276 --> 0:09:49.596 the hood. I'm the proud owner of a Jeep CJ seven, 0:09:49.676 --> 0:09:52.756 which I think is a car that isn't particularly snobby 0:09:52.876 --> 0:09:59.036 or inaccessible. It was something that I felt was part 0:09:59.076 --> 0:10:01.796 of a community in a way that you didn't even 0:10:01.836 --> 0:10:08.676 really have to intentionally tap into. It just existed. This 0:10:08.756 --> 0:10:12.796 sla sided mule designed for the Second World War, thumbs 0:10:12.796 --> 0:10:16.956 its nose that sophisticated luxury electric SUVs with their limited 0:10:17.036 --> 0:10:21.476 range and utility, and it out sells them by huge margins. 0:10:22.196 --> 0:10:25.916 The Wrangler, that rectilinear shape your mind conjures when you 0:10:25.996 --> 0:10:30.356 hear the word Jeep is a remarkably durable idea, even 0:10:30.396 --> 0:10:33.676 in those eras when the vehicle itself wasn't all that durable. 0:10:34.396 --> 0:10:37.716 The Jeep brand has persisted through more than seven decades 0:10:37.956 --> 0:10:42.596 without losing its essence. Depending on who's counting, Jeep has 0:10:42.596 --> 0:10:47.116 survived nine corporate custodians and emerged stronger for it. Like 0:10:47.196 --> 0:10:50.996 an organism that consumes its host, Its sales have steadily 0:10:50.996 --> 0:10:54.276 increased to roughly two hundred thousand vehicles a year, and 0:10:54.396 --> 0:10:57.636 it has spawned an entire range of vehicles with names 0:10:57.636 --> 0:11:03.796 like Gladiator, Patriot, Liberty. This year, a new Grand Wagon 0:11:03.956 --> 0:11:08.356 ar Mega Suv emerged, broad of beam and festooned with chrome. 0:11:09.476 --> 0:11:12.996 It's sticker price can easily top one hundred thousand dollars. 0:11:14.556 --> 0:11:17.596 Think about that. We are at a point now where 0:11:17.676 --> 0:11:22.276 Jeeps command Mercedes Benz money. There's really no better brand 0:11:22.316 --> 0:11:26.876 than the automotive realm, except perhaps Ferrari. Jeep is to 0:11:26.916 --> 0:11:30.916 the suv as kleenex is to facial tissue, as coke 0:11:31.196 --> 0:11:35.156 is Takola. As I discussed with my producer Sam, Jeep 0:11:35.276 --> 0:11:41.116 is the eponym. It's the icon. When I was a kid, 0:11:41.876 --> 0:11:46.236 I wanted an orange, cheap wrangler more than anything, because 0:11:46.236 --> 0:11:47.876 I thought it would be so cool to pull into 0:11:47.916 --> 0:11:51.236 the parking lot in high school in an orange jeep Wrangler. 0:11:51.556 --> 0:11:54.596 You're not alone. And I had this whole image of 0:11:54.636 --> 0:11:57.476 myself like taking my friends to the beach on the 0:11:57.516 --> 0:12:01.516 weekend in it. Even though I was not like a 0:12:01.556 --> 0:12:04.356 beach on the weekend type of kid. I was a 0:12:04.436 --> 0:12:07.316 like indie movie theater on the weekend type of kid. 0:12:07.996 --> 0:12:12.356 But just there was something about the Wrangler that signified 0:12:12.876 --> 0:12:17.236 like ease and freedom to me. This is the freedom machine, right, 0:12:17.476 --> 0:12:20.756 you know. Enzo Ferrari called it America's only sports car, 0:12:21.196 --> 0:12:24.316 and and he meant that in the pejorative, but it 0:12:24.396 --> 0:12:28.876 really is built for a different kind of fun, and 0:12:28.996 --> 0:12:31.956 it's built to go anywhere and do anything. It's very 0:12:31.996 --> 0:12:36.316 anachronistic and it's highly desirable. I mean, it's, you know, 0:12:36.356 --> 0:12:39.356 that toy like quality of it. And also I think 0:12:39.436 --> 0:12:42.876 the sense that you're kind of playing army guy has 0:12:42.916 --> 0:12:45.276 a ton of appeal. Yeah, you know, I wouldn't have 0:12:45.276 --> 0:12:47.756 thought of that, but I think that was somewhere at 0:12:47.756 --> 0:12:52.156 the center of probably my misplaced desire for one of 0:12:52.156 --> 0:12:54.796 these when I was in high school, was it was 0:12:54.836 --> 0:12:57.436 a way of seeming like a cool beach guy. But 0:12:57.516 --> 0:13:00.916 I'm also kind of a soldier, you know, right, Like 0:13:01.316 --> 0:13:07.716 why do young kids play with army men? Gives them 0:13:07.756 --> 0:13:10.716 that sense of power like they're in command, they're in control, 0:13:11.316 --> 0:13:14.156 and there's a lot of that wrapt up in this vehicle. 0:13:17.916 --> 0:13:20.436 A Jeep Wrangler is meant to be in the mud, 0:13:21.036 --> 0:13:25.796 off the highway, climbing steep slick grades with its axles locked. 0:13:26.956 --> 0:13:31.436 Almost nobody does this. Only about ten to fifteen percent 0:13:31.436 --> 0:13:35.276 of Jeep Wrangler owners ever venture off the pavement. To 0:13:35.436 --> 0:13:39.596 most of them, off road means parking lot. Most of 0:13:39.596 --> 0:13:42.956 its drivers will never use a fraction of the jeep's capabilities. 0:13:44.316 --> 0:13:47.196 Where it shines is off the beaten path, where it's 0:13:47.236 --> 0:13:53.036 knobby tires and upright aerodynamically inefficient bodywork are virtues, not vices. 0:13:53.996 --> 0:13:56.716 It is to the freeway as a pork sandwich is 0:13:56.756 --> 0:14:01.756 to the passover sader. In some respects. It's that off 0:14:01.836 --> 0:14:06.356 road capability that makes the Wrangler so alluring. It's also 0:14:06.396 --> 0:14:09.636 the essence of the entire Jeep brand and what allows 0:14:09.676 --> 0:14:12.476 it to charge eighty thousand dollars for this one and 0:14:12.556 --> 0:14:15.516 one hundred thousand for a family holler like the grand 0:14:15.556 --> 0:14:19.876 Wagon ear. The off rounning prowess gives the brand meaning 0:14:20.596 --> 0:14:24.676 you're buying competence, most of which you'll never use. Car 0:14:24.756 --> 0:14:28.436 marketers have a phrase for this concept of unused capacity. 0:14:28.476 --> 0:14:32.356 It's called perceived performance. It's why people want the track 0:14:32.396 --> 0:14:35.596 ready portion of nine to eleven GT three rs, even 0:14:35.636 --> 0:14:38.916 though they'll never take their car to the racetrack. Just 0:14:39.116 --> 0:14:41.796 knowing that the car can do all this heroic stuff 0:14:41.916 --> 0:14:45.236 is good enough and worth paying a premium for. It 0:14:45.356 --> 0:14:47.876 drives unlike any other car you will ever drive in 0:14:47.876 --> 0:14:50.636 your life. In retrospect, it is super impractical. I mean 0:14:50.636 --> 0:14:52.756 like it now as a father of three, I look back. 0:14:53.876 --> 0:14:59.076 It's insane. Like the seatbelt situation was insane. I guess 0:14:59.116 --> 0:15:02.196 it was safe in that, like it had a roll bar, 0:15:02.396 --> 0:15:05.756 like if we rolled over, there was a bar, But 0:15:06.356 --> 0:15:09.836 my dad drove that thing like crazy, and then I 0:15:09.996 --> 0:15:16.756 also sort of subsequently driveled like crazy. This Wrangler we're driving, 0:15:16.836 --> 0:15:21.316 the three ninety two is also a ridiculous and great 0:15:21.676 --> 0:15:26.116 muscle car, probably closer to the chaotic, undrivability and lunacy 0:15:26.396 --> 0:15:30.556 of the original muscle cars than today's Dodge Chargers and Challengers. 0:15:31.076 --> 0:15:33.956 The Wrangler is the centerpiece of the only car brand 0:15:34.196 --> 0:15:38.956 that truly cuts across all market segments and socioeconomic strata. 0:15:39.396 --> 0:15:44.556 Everyone wants a Jeep. The Jeep's abstract power lies in 0:15:44.676 --> 0:15:48.316 its authentic ties to its military roots. It needs to 0:15:48.356 --> 0:15:52.916 feel different than a Chevy Equinox or Toyota Highlander because 0:15:52.956 --> 0:15:55.956 it is different. It strikes me as you're describing that 0:15:55.956 --> 0:15:59.836 that there's probably a lot of other SUVs in this 0:15:59.996 --> 0:16:03.916 class where the interior is trying to make you think, 0:16:04.716 --> 0:16:09.036 you know, that you're in a luxury sedan even though 0:16:09.796 --> 0:16:14.756 you're actually driving a four wheel drive machine, whereas this 0:16:14.836 --> 0:16:17.756 car is going to great lengths to remind you like, no, no, 0:16:17.796 --> 0:16:20.516 it's still a Jeap. It's definitely a Jeap, that's right, exactly. 0:16:20.556 --> 0:16:23.476 And I think that people want that authentic experience to 0:16:23.516 --> 0:16:25.636 the extent that, you know, there is this sort of 0:16:26.076 --> 0:16:32.316 counter movement in SUVs right now toward more authentic, more 0:16:32.516 --> 0:16:37.356 legitimate off roady sorts of vehicles like the Bronco, like 0:16:37.556 --> 0:16:41.156 the land Rover Defender that's just been been relaunched, you know, 0:16:41.196 --> 0:16:46.556 And there's this movement away from SUVs as family cars, 0:16:46.556 --> 0:16:52.676 back toward a more kind of rugged sensibility. But what's 0:16:52.716 --> 0:16:57.276 happened over time is because people have so loved some 0:16:57.356 --> 0:17:00.476 of the attributes of the suv, like the high seating position, 0:17:00.836 --> 0:17:05.396 the ability to really get anything in the back, that 0:17:05.756 --> 0:17:10.876 they become so popular and have made so many concessions 0:17:10.876 --> 0:17:13.716 to comfort that people sort of think of them as 0:17:13.756 --> 0:17:17.596 family cars now or minivan sur rogans. It's tempting for 0:17:17.716 --> 0:17:21.556 me hearing you talk about the authenticity piece of the 0:17:21.876 --> 0:17:25.716 off roading roots of this car to also make a 0:17:25.756 --> 0:17:33.116 connection between the fact that we as humans are spending 0:17:33.196 --> 0:17:36.356 less and less time in the real world and separating 0:17:36.396 --> 0:17:42.596 ourselves from the metaphorical bumps in the road more than ever. Yeah, man, Sam, 0:17:42.636 --> 0:17:45.876 It's like peboard craving experiences, and this car is an 0:17:45.916 --> 0:17:54.396 experience self contained. Deep down, the Jeep needs to feel 0:17:54.436 --> 0:17:58.716 like an unrefined war machine. The brand's imagery is powered 0:17:58.716 --> 0:18:02.596 by that authenticity, that sense that it can dominate any terrain, 0:18:03.116 --> 0:18:06.076 that it is purpose built for its mission, that it 0:18:06.116 --> 0:18:08.396 could charge into battle when the bad guys show up 0:18:08.556 --> 0:18:12.636 with the case nukes. It's a hero, and to drive 0:18:12.716 --> 0:18:17.636 one is to assume that role. After the break, we're 0:18:17.676 --> 0:18:37.156 going to war. America prefers all America orders its pattern 0:18:37.236 --> 0:18:40.996 of life work to meet the demand for protection industry 0:18:41.076 --> 0:18:43.516 is a double step to supply the sinews of safety. 0:18:43.836 --> 0:18:46.356 Before it donned at Civis and one on sale as 0:18:46.396 --> 0:18:50.236 a passenger vehicle, the jeep was pivotal to American success 0:18:50.356 --> 0:18:53.676 in the Second World War, and for all the influence 0:18:53.676 --> 0:18:56.716 and reach of this brand now, the peculiar thing is 0:18:56.836 --> 0:19:00.476 at its inception cheap wasn't even a brand per se. 0:19:01.516 --> 0:19:05.156 It was a type of vehicle, a general purpose GP 0:19:05.956 --> 0:19:10.716 light truck to supply the troops, made by various manufacturers. 0:19:12.036 --> 0:19:14.956 America's basque resources are harnessed to the job of being 0:19:14.996 --> 0:19:18.916 the world arsenal or this and other democracies. Its present 0:19:18.996 --> 0:19:21.316 day production of armaments is but a mere fraction of 0:19:21.356 --> 0:19:27.116 the great job, but live ahead. In preparation for entering 0:19:27.156 --> 0:19:30.476 the conflict, Washington knew that this war would be one 0:19:30.476 --> 0:19:34.556 of mechanized combat, and that it needed a mechanical replacement 0:19:34.916 --> 0:19:40.396 for World War One's army mules, yes, actual mules. The 0:19:40.556 --> 0:19:43.956 army needed something that could go anywhere, carrying men and 0:19:43.996 --> 0:19:47.716 weapons on and off the battlefield, something that didn't run 0:19:47.756 --> 0:19:51.716 on oats. Based on much failed testing of other white 0:19:51.796 --> 0:19:55.556 yet rugged concepts, including a stripped down forward model t 0:19:56.556 --> 0:20:04.196 Army engineers settled on the basic specifications. It needed four 0:20:04.196 --> 0:20:07.596 wheel drive in a certain minimum level of performance, with 0:20:07.716 --> 0:20:11.756 loads of climbing and care capability. At one point, they 0:20:11.796 --> 0:20:15.276 even specified four wheel steering so that a rear facing 0:20:15.356 --> 0:20:18.476 driver with his own steering wheel could take control of 0:20:18.516 --> 0:20:21.476 the vehicle and reverse out of danger in the event 0:20:21.516 --> 0:20:24.836 of an ambush. The vehicle had to weigh no more 0:20:24.876 --> 0:20:28.396 than thirteen hundred pounds but be capable of hauling six 0:20:28.556 --> 0:20:33.036 hundred pounds, and the timeline was super tight, less than 0:20:33.076 --> 0:20:37.436 three months to deliver a selection of working models. In 0:20:37.476 --> 0:20:44.036 other words, the Army's expectations were totally unrealistic. It sent 0:20:44.076 --> 0:20:45.956 the bid out to some one hundred and thirty five 0:20:45.956 --> 0:20:49.436 manufacturers and was sure that this massive and literal call 0:20:49.516 --> 0:20:54.116 to arms would be answered in force. Only two companies 0:20:54.156 --> 0:20:58.676 submitted bids, American Bantam out of Butler, Pennsylvania and Willis 0:20:58.676 --> 0:21:03.596 Overland out of Toledo, Ohio. Bantam won their preliminary contract, 0:21:03.836 --> 0:21:06.436 but in the end it was the Willis design that prevailed. 0:21:07.796 --> 0:21:11.276 Ford started making them too, and used the GP designation 0:21:11.436 --> 0:21:14.956 for its version of the model. Some say that the 0:21:15.036 --> 0:21:18.316 name jeep came not from a contraction of the GP initials, 0:21:18.796 --> 0:21:21.956 but from a character in a comic strip. I couldn't 0:21:21.956 --> 0:21:25.716 confirm that. It seems more interesting to entertain the notion 0:21:26.076 --> 0:21:30.076 that the first jeep was actually a Ford. Anyway, America 0:21:30.156 --> 0:21:33.516 got itself an innovative for the time light transport vehicle 0:21:33.796 --> 0:21:38.436 that could do everything and go everywhere. The GP guided 0:21:38.476 --> 0:21:43.876 into France during the invasion of Normandy June six d Day. 0:21:44.716 --> 0:21:49.956 A great plan is put to the test. American soldiers 0:21:49.996 --> 0:21:54.596 hit the beach, It slogged through the bulge, It plied 0:21:54.636 --> 0:21:59.516 the North African sands. Because the fighting develops, every means 0:21:59.636 --> 0:22:01.836 is used to hasten the removal of the wounded from 0:22:01.876 --> 0:22:05.636 the scene of battle. The wearing farm plows, it dug 0:22:05.676 --> 0:22:09.716 trenches for telephone lines. And that's to say nothing of 0:22:09.756 --> 0:22:13.236 its workaday applications. And you were saying part of the 0:22:13.236 --> 0:22:18.476 appeal of the traditional wrangler was the flat flatness of 0:22:18.516 --> 0:22:22.876 the hood, right, Yeah, there are stories about the flatness 0:22:22.916 --> 0:22:25.196 of the hood being a place where you know, all 0:22:25.236 --> 0:22:29.556 sorts of work got done, lunches were eaten. It was 0:22:29.596 --> 0:22:34.596 an altar for Chaplains to give mass on. That flatness 0:22:34.636 --> 0:22:37.956 of the hood was sort of core to the original design. 0:22:38.676 --> 0:22:41.396 The jeep of all trades is pressed into service and 0:22:41.476 --> 0:22:46.876 proves itself again, Which brings us to an interesting point. 0:22:47.476 --> 0:22:50.196 When we talk about the jeep being authentic and people 0:22:50.236 --> 0:22:55.596 buying into that realness, what are we really talking about. Well, 0:22:55.636 --> 0:22:59.716 on one level, the notion of authenticity arises from functionality. 0:23:00.116 --> 0:23:04.036 The jeep reinforces that functionality and capability at every turn, 0:23:04.396 --> 0:23:08.436 at every touch point. They are a little visual military 0:23:08.516 --> 0:23:12.556 jeep east or eggs all over these vehicles, tiny graphics 0:23:12.556 --> 0:23:15.996 of army jeeps crawling up the windshield glass and lights 0:23:15.996 --> 0:23:20.316 in the dash that read since nineteen forty one. That 0:23:20.476 --> 0:23:24.996 connection to its origin story is something that jeep carefully curates. 0:23:25.916 --> 0:23:28.916 Think about Rolex watches. If you want one of the 0:23:28.956 --> 0:23:32.636 more prized models, the Submarner or maybe the sky Dweller, 0:23:33.316 --> 0:23:36.356 it's going to cost you ten, twenty, maybe even forty 0:23:36.396 --> 0:23:40.236 thousand bucks. But people are tripping over themselves to pay 0:23:40.276 --> 0:23:42.996 those prices, and the reason has less to do with 0:23:43.036 --> 0:23:45.036 the beauty of the piece or the cost of the 0:23:45.116 --> 0:23:49.916 materials than the story. The bottom line is that those 0:23:50.036 --> 0:23:52.996 Rolexes were built to do jobs, and they did those 0:23:53.116 --> 0:23:57.796 jobs either first or better than any other watch. They 0:23:57.796 --> 0:24:01.436 are chunky and clunky, and they don't often keep great time. 0:24:02.196 --> 0:24:05.156 They are not the elegant gold wrist watches that used 0:24:05.156 --> 0:24:09.796 to define success. What they telegraph is the status of action, 0:24:10.436 --> 0:24:15.836 of power, of mastery, and that functional authenticity is worth 0:24:15.876 --> 0:24:20.756 a lot to people. So it is with Jeep. Yet 0:24:20.796 --> 0:24:23.756 the Jeep has a deeper context than any time piece, 0:24:24.316 --> 0:24:27.676 And here, finally is the real essence of the thing, 0:24:28.276 --> 0:24:32.116 the ultimate core sample of its meaning. To Americans and 0:24:32.236 --> 0:24:35.676 indeed other Western countries, where it's always been sold as 0:24:35.676 --> 0:24:43.276 a luxury good. The Jeep represents a connection not just 0:24:43.356 --> 0:24:47.956 to war, but to a specific war. The one embedded 0:24:47.996 --> 0:24:52.796 in America's consciousness is our last good war, the last 0:24:52.836 --> 0:24:57.716 war we could understand a clear cut conflict between right 0:24:57.796 --> 0:25:02.436 and wrong, the last war where we were unambiguously the 0:25:02.516 --> 0:25:09.276 victors and the heroes. The Jeep represents America's yearning for 0:25:09.316 --> 0:25:14.356 the simplicity and moral clarity of World War two. Think 0:25:14.396 --> 0:25:20.796 about those jeep naming conventions for a second Gladiator. Patriot 0:25:20.996 --> 0:25:25.516 liberty cynics might argue that they are evidenced of some 0:25:25.596 --> 0:25:28.716 wild shit about the American psyche, that we have a 0:25:28.756 --> 0:25:33.516 warrior complex that we glorify theatrical, large scale conflicts and 0:25:33.556 --> 0:25:37.316 the war machines used in them. That may be true, 0:25:37.556 --> 0:25:39.716 but I think the impulses around the jeep are a 0:25:39.756 --> 0:25:43.556 bit nobler than that. Through the jeep. We're trying to 0:25:43.596 --> 0:25:46.796 get back to that brief moment of packs Americana that 0:25:46.956 --> 0:25:50.436 existed in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. 0:25:51.156 --> 0:25:54.476 Everywhere since then has only made many Americans questioned the 0:25:54.556 --> 0:26:03.236 justifications behind the conflicts Korea, Vietnam, Racks one and two, Afghanistan. 0:26:04.436 --> 0:26:09.036 They were all opaque, distant and remote, with no clear cause. 0:26:09.116 --> 0:26:16.436 As an effect, proxy wars, cold wars, allegedly ideological ones. 0:26:19.956 --> 0:26:22.796 Only the attacks of nine to eleven presented a threat 0:26:22.836 --> 0:26:26.316 equivalent to or exceeding that of Pearl Harbor, and in 0:26:26.356 --> 0:26:30.156 that case we responded with an agenda and false claims 0:26:30.156 --> 0:26:39.076 of WMD's in Iraq, there's a concept in the CIA 0:26:39.196 --> 0:26:43.876 called blowback. It doesn't mean the unintended consequences of America's 0:26:43.876 --> 0:26:49.276 military actions, but rather the unintended consequences of covert operations. 0:26:50.516 --> 0:26:56.636 How fed up is that assassinations, regime changes, drone strikes 0:26:56.636 --> 0:27:01.036 and sanctions that impel US ever deeper into inscrutable conflicts. 0:27:02.236 --> 0:27:05.236 World War Two wasn't like that. It was the first 0:27:05.356 --> 0:27:10.076 real buildup of American military might. It made a superpower. 0:27:10.516 --> 0:27:14.916 The military industrial complex it spawned, and that President Eisenhower 0:27:14.996 --> 0:27:17.716 warned us about in nineteen sixty one on his way 0:27:17.716 --> 0:27:22.676 out of office, that was about enforcement. We now stand 0:27:22.756 --> 0:27:26.076 ten years past the midpoint of a century that has 0:27:26.116 --> 0:27:30.476 witnessed four major wars among great nations. Three of these 0:27:30.636 --> 0:27:36.036 involved our own country. Despite these holocausts, a Maratha is 0:27:36.076 --> 0:27:41.436 today the strongest, the most influential, and most productive nation 0:27:41.516 --> 0:27:46.356 in the world. The Maratha's leadership and prestige depends not 0:27:46.556 --> 0:27:51.556 merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches, and military strength, 0:27:52.196 --> 0:27:56.076 but on how we use our power in the years 0:27:56.076 --> 0:28:01.396 of world peace and human better World War Two built 0:28:01.396 --> 0:28:05.876 our global position. Everything afterward attempted to maintain a profit 0:28:05.956 --> 0:28:09.876 from it has messed up. As it sounds, the Second 0:28:09.916 --> 0:28:15.556 World War was America's feel good war, uncomplicated and wholly embraced, 0:28:16.276 --> 0:28:20.796 a moment of unvarnished glory for our country. Watch any 0:28:20.836 --> 0:28:24.556 World War two documentary and you'll hear old veterans talked 0:28:24.676 --> 0:28:29.356 proudly about how they killed Nazis at knife point fun stuff. 0:28:30.316 --> 0:28:33.276 The jeep is our connection back to that moment. The 0:28:33.396 --> 0:28:35.476 jeep isn't just a means of getting from point A 0:28:35.676 --> 0:28:38.996 to point B. It is a mobile emblem of freedom 0:28:39.116 --> 0:28:42.916 and independence. It's why Jeep has worked so hard to 0:28:42.996 --> 0:28:45.916 keep the Ranger the way it has always been, and 0:28:45.996 --> 0:28:49.156 it's why that basic jeep can fetch ever higher prices. 0:28:49.916 --> 0:28:52.996 The feeling it gives us grows more valuable the further 0:28:53.076 --> 0:28:56.956 it recedes. By way of contrast, look at the Hummer, 0:28:57.276 --> 0:29:00.236 another military off rotor, but this one has no such 0:29:00.276 --> 0:29:03.956 exalted provenance or staying power. It was not the mule 0:29:03.956 --> 0:29:07.716 of World War Two, but of the Iraq Wars. General 0:29:07.756 --> 0:29:10.596 Motors canceled it as a Sumer brand in twenty ten, 0:29:11.236 --> 0:29:13.836