Speaker 1: Pushkin. Hey Eddie here, before we get started, I wanted
Speaker 1: you to know that you can listen to Car Show
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Speaker 1: or at pushkin dot Fm. Listen to that. Okay, that's
Speaker 1: ninety let's not do that. I'm sorry, but I didn't
Speaker 1: even feel us make the acceleration almost It just like
Speaker 1: jumped things so softly sprung that it just kind of
Speaker 1: rears back up when you accelerate, and all the mass
Speaker 1: loads they all shift to the back. They're like, whoa,
Speaker 1: my sunglasses just flues to the back of my head.
Speaker 1: No joke, that's so good. That just n That was me,
Speaker 1: our editor Jan Guera and our producer Sam Dingman going
Speaker 1: ninety miles an hour in a fifty five zone, floating
Speaker 1: the speed limit and common sense even dumber. We're at
Speaker 1: the wheel of a hot rod jeep, the Wrangler Rubicon
Speaker 1: three ninety two. It is so named because it comes
Speaker 1: stuffed with a huge three ninety two cubic inch hemy
Speaker 1: V eight engine making four hundred and seventy horsepower and
Speaker 1: a chassis ill equipped to deal with that kind of
Speaker 1: brute force. The regular jeep is handful enough on the highway.
Speaker 1: This roided up three ninety two. It's enough to pull
Speaker 1: the sunglasses right off your head. This is a muscle
Speaker 1: car engine in a jeep. Did you see how the
Speaker 1: whole thing was rocking up and down. I'm Eddie Alterman,
Speaker 1: and this is car show. I've been an automotive journalist
Speaker 1: since i was nineteen years old, and I've driven nearly
Speaker 1: every car that's been made since then, three decades, driving
Speaker 1: some two hundred and fifty new cars a year. The
Speaker 1: math is shocking even to me. For this last decade,
Speaker 1: I was the editor in chief of Car and Driver,
Speaker 1: the world's largest car magazine. I spent my entire life
Speaker 1: around cars and the people who make them. I think
Speaker 1: all cars are great, even the awful ones. I'm a
Speaker 1: fan of the genre, but some cars transcend there for
Speaker 1: lack of a better term, carness. Some cars have a
Speaker 1: story to tell, which got us thinking, what if we
Speaker 1: did a show that focused on what certain cars mean
Speaker 1: rather than how quick they are? What if we thought
Speaker 1: about what makes certain cars important rather than what makes
Speaker 1: them go on Car Show, We're going to look at
Speaker 1: the vital cars, the ones that have changed how we
Speaker 1: drive and live, whose significance lies outside the scope of
Speaker 1: horsepower or mile square gallon. Because some cars are more
Speaker 1: than just a pile of metal, glass and rubber. Some
Speaker 1: cars are rolling anthropology. This week we're talking about the
Speaker 1: Jeep Wrangler. The Wrangler is the direct descendant of the
Speaker 1: original jeep, created in the forties to serve the battlefields
Speaker 1: of World War Two. It was a tool, a Swiss
Speaker 1: army knife of a vehicle that's grown new blades generation.
Speaker 1: But this gym r of an SUV, the three ninety two,
Speaker 1: that's less of a basic military vehicle than a kaleidoscopic
Speaker 1: journey through the asteroid belt of niche marketing. It's an
Speaker 1: absurd outgrowth of an insanely popular vehicle line. There are
Speaker 1: hard top Wranglers and soft top Wranglers, sport versions and
Speaker 1: rubicon trail ready versions. There are two doors and four
Speaker 1: door jeeps, even pickups. There are four cylinders, six cylindar,
Speaker 1: eight cylinder, and even hybrid powered models. There is it
Speaker 1: seems a Jeep for everyone. You know, the jeep contains multitudes.
Speaker 1: There's all kinds of ways to play it. There's all
Speaker 1: kinds of facets on the original idea. But it's still
Speaker 1: a jeep. Yeah, you know, in one sense, it's like
Speaker 1: a beach toy beachcomber, and another sense it's the most
Speaker 1: serious off rodor of all time. In another sense, it's
Speaker 1: a muscle car in another, and it's you know, first
Speaker 1: car for a private school kid. Where do you think that?
Speaker 1: Because I do associate it with the beach, but a
Speaker 1: car for beach driving or like cruising up and down
Speaker 1: the boardwalk feels so out of step with the idea
Speaker 1: of a military hauler one hundred and eighty degrees away
Speaker 1: from it. Where did that come from? Good question, because
Speaker 1: Sam isn't talking about the beaches of Normandy. So how
Speaker 1: do we get to this point? How did the jeep
Speaker 1: go from the Arden forest to planet fitness? What energy
Speaker 1: was latent in that first Jeep that allowed it to
Speaker 1: thrive over eight decades even as the world seems increasingly
Speaker 1: dead set against it. On this episode, we'll talk about
Speaker 1: why the Jeep Wrangler is the most American vehicle of
Speaker 1: all time and along the way, we'll hear from folks
Speaker 1: will tell us what the Jeep means to them. People
Speaker 1: love talking about their jeeps. I feel very connected to
Speaker 1: the Americana element of jeeps. I've always been a huge
Speaker 1: fan of the Jeeps. I just love the way they look,
Speaker 1: and I kind of thought that I should have one
Speaker 1: before I die. The seatbelt situation was insane. I guess
Speaker 1: it was safe in there, like it had a roll bar,
Speaker 1: but I did drove that thing like crazy. It's a
Speaker 1: really joyful car and there's never a top on it,
Speaker 1: and it's sort of cool, but it's not pretentious and
Speaker 1: just invokes a sense of fun to me. After the
Speaker 1: break the Rise of the Jeep, I'm Eddie Alterman, and
Speaker 1: this is Car Show. We'll be right back. The base
Speaker 1: version of the Jeep Wrangler is agricultural. It's unrefined. It
Speaker 1: likes to veer all over the place on the highway,
Speaker 1: putting a hemmy in it, as Jeep did for this
Speaker 1: Wrangler three ninety two would appear to tempt fate, and
Speaker 1: yet the three ninety two and eighty thousand dollars elephant
Speaker 1: on roller skates makes a perverse kind of sense. The
Speaker 1: jeep is everything to all people. It's a war hero,
Speaker 1: a beach bugget, an army mule, a cultural movement, a
Speaker 1: Barbie accessory, a fraternity, a sorority, and now a muscle cover.
Speaker 1: You know, the cool thing about this vehicle is that
Speaker 1: it's like sort of like nothing else on the road.
Speaker 1: You have this really short windshield, it's almost in your
Speaker 1: face and totally upright. You have these really square peel
Speaker 1: off doors, you have a peel off top. You're sitting
Speaker 1: really high off the ground. You can see all four
Speaker 1: corners of the vehicle. There's a high hit point. You're
Speaker 1: sort of up in the air on this thing. And
Speaker 1: in this day and age, very few vehicles have that
Speaker 1: sense of uniqueness that there's really nothing else like it
Speaker 1: on the road. And I think that's a great part
Speaker 1: of its appeal. So how can something so out of
Speaker 1: step with a modern automotive environment be so popular, so varied,
Speaker 1: and so right for so many people. There really is
Speaker 1: a jeep culture. Get a lot of conversations with strangers,
Speaker 1: a lot of recognition, and a lot of love. People
Speaker 1: people love talking about their jeeps. You know, I guess
Speaker 1: you just fall for these machines and you appreciate people
Speaker 1: who have also Jeep cells roughly as many Wranglers as
Speaker 1: Honda sells accords. Unlike the Honda, though, the Jeep Wrangler
Speaker 1: is an anachronism, a bulwark against the endless refinements of
Speaker 1: the car industry with its fixations on noise, emissions, fuel economy,
Speaker 1: and passenger comfort and safety. In a world where carmakers
Speaker 1: are swearing off internal combustion engines for battery powered electric vehicles,
Speaker 1: the Jeep says, screw that free trade, farmers market, NPR, tote, bag,
Speaker 1: tote and crap. I've got a huge V eight under
Speaker 1: the hood. I'm the proud owner of a Jeep CJ seven,
Speaker 1: which I think is a car that isn't particularly snobby
Speaker 1: or inaccessible. It was something that I felt was part
Speaker 1: of a community in a way that you didn't even
Speaker 1: really have to intentionally tap into. It just existed. This
Speaker 1: sla sided mule designed for the Second World War, thumbs
Speaker 1: its nose that sophisticated luxury electric SUVs with their limited
Speaker 1: range and utility, and it out sells them by huge margins.
Speaker 1: The Wrangler, that rectilinear shape your mind conjures when you
Speaker 1: hear the word Jeep is a remarkably durable idea, even
Speaker 1: in those eras when the vehicle itself wasn't all that durable.
Speaker 1: The Jeep brand has persisted through more than seven decades
Speaker 1: without losing its essence. Depending on who's counting, Jeep has
Speaker 1: survived nine corporate custodians and emerged stronger for it. Like
Speaker 1: an organism that consumes its host, Its sales have steadily
Speaker 1: increased to roughly two hundred thousand vehicles a year, and
Speaker 1: it has spawned an entire range of vehicles with names
Speaker 1: like Gladiator, Patriot, Liberty. This year, a new Grand Wagon
Speaker 1: ar Mega Suv emerged, broad of beam and festooned with chrome.
Speaker 1: It's sticker price can easily top one hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: Think about that. We are at a point now where
Speaker 1: Jeeps command Mercedes Benz money. There's really no better brand
Speaker 1: than the automotive realm, except perhaps Ferrari. Jeep is to
Speaker 1: the suv as kleenex is to facial tissue, as coke
Speaker 1: is Takola. As I discussed with my producer Sam, Jeep
Speaker 1: is the eponym. It's the icon. When I was a kid,
Speaker 1: I wanted an orange, cheap wrangler more than anything, because
Speaker 1: I thought it would be so cool to pull into
Speaker 1: the parking lot in high school in an orange jeep Wrangler.
Speaker 1: You're not alone. And I had this whole image of
Speaker 1: myself like taking my friends to the beach on the
Speaker 1: weekend in it. Even though I was not like a
Speaker 1: beach on the weekend type of kid. I was a
Speaker 1: like indie movie theater on the weekend type of kid.
Speaker 1: But just there was something about the Wrangler that signified
Speaker 1: like ease and freedom to me. This is the freedom machine, right,
Speaker 1: you know. Enzo Ferrari called it America's only sports car,
Speaker 1: and and he meant that in the pejorative, but it
Speaker 1: really is built for a different kind of fun, and
Speaker 1: it's built to go anywhere and do anything. It's very
Speaker 1: anachronistic and it's highly desirable. I mean, it's, you know,
Speaker 1: that toy like quality of it. And also I think
Speaker 1: the sense that you're kind of playing army guy has
Speaker 1: a ton of appeal. Yeah, you know, I wouldn't have
Speaker 1: thought of that, but I think that was somewhere at
Speaker 1: the center of probably my misplaced desire for one of
Speaker 1: these when I was in high school, was it was
Speaker 1: a way of seeming like a cool beach guy. But
Speaker 1: I'm also kind of a soldier, you know, right, Like
Speaker 1: why do young kids play with army men? Gives them
Speaker 1: that sense of power like they're in command, they're in control,
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of that wrapt up in this vehicle.
Speaker 1: A Jeep Wrangler is meant to be in the mud,
Speaker 1: off the highway, climbing steep slick grades with its axles locked.
Speaker 1: Almost nobody does this. Only about ten to fifteen percent
Speaker 1: of Jeep Wrangler owners ever venture off the pavement. To
Speaker 1: most of them, off road means parking lot. Most of
Speaker 1: its drivers will never use a fraction of the jeep's capabilities.
Speaker 1: Where it shines is off the beaten path, where it's
Speaker 1: knobby tires and upright aerodynamically inefficient bodywork are virtues, not vices.
Speaker 1: It is to the freeway as a pork sandwich is
Speaker 1: to the passover sader. In some respects. It's that off
Speaker 1: road capability that makes the Wrangler so alluring. It's also
Speaker 1: the essence of the entire Jeep brand and what allows
Speaker 1: it to charge eighty thousand dollars for this one and
Speaker 1: one hundred thousand for a family holler like the grand
Speaker 1: Wagon ear. The off rounning prowess gives the brand meaning
Speaker 1: you're buying competence, most of which you'll never use. Car
Speaker 1: marketers have a phrase for this concept of unused capacity.
Speaker 1: It's called perceived performance. It's why people want the track
Speaker 1: ready portion of nine to eleven GT three rs, even
Speaker 1: though they'll never take their car to the racetrack. Just
Speaker 1: knowing that the car can do all this heroic stuff
Speaker 1: is good enough and worth paying a premium for. It
Speaker 1: drives unlike any other car you will ever drive in
Speaker 1: your life. In retrospect, it is super impractical. I mean
Speaker 1: like it now as a father of three, I look back.
Speaker 1: It's insane. Like the seatbelt situation was insane. I guess
Speaker 1: it was safe in that, like it had a roll bar,
Speaker 1: like if we rolled over, there was a bar, But
Speaker 1: my dad drove that thing like crazy, and then I
Speaker 1: also sort of subsequently driveled like crazy. This Wrangler we're driving,
Speaker 1: the three ninety two is also a ridiculous and great
Speaker 1: muscle car, probably closer to the chaotic, undrivability and lunacy
Speaker 1: of the original muscle cars than today's Dodge Chargers and Challengers.
Speaker 1: The Wrangler is the centerpiece of the only car brand
Speaker 1: that truly cuts across all market segments and socioeconomic strata.
Speaker 1: Everyone wants a Jeep. The Jeep's abstract power lies in
Speaker 1: its authentic ties to its military roots. It needs to
Speaker 1: feel different than a Chevy Equinox or Toyota Highlander because
Speaker 1: it is different. It strikes me as you're describing that
Speaker 1: that there's probably a lot of other SUVs in this
Speaker 1: class where the interior is trying to make you think,
Speaker 1: you know, that you're in a luxury sedan even though
Speaker 1: you're actually driving a four wheel drive machine, whereas this
Speaker 1: car is going to great lengths to remind you like, no, no,
Speaker 1: it's still a Jeap. It's definitely a Jeap, that's right, exactly.
Speaker 1: And I think that people want that authentic experience to
Speaker 1: the extent that, you know, there is this sort of
Speaker 1: counter movement in SUVs right now toward more authentic, more
Speaker 1: legitimate off roady sorts of vehicles like the Bronco, like
Speaker 1: the land Rover Defender that's just been been relaunched, you know,
Speaker 1: And there's this movement away from SUVs as family cars,
Speaker 1: back toward a more kind of rugged sensibility. But what's
Speaker 1: happened over time is because people have so loved some
Speaker 1: of the attributes of the suv, like the high seating position,
Speaker 1: the ability to really get anything in the back, that
Speaker 1: they become so popular and have made so many concessions
Speaker 1: to comfort that people sort of think of them as
Speaker 1: family cars now or minivan sur rogans. It's tempting for
Speaker 1: me hearing you talk about the authenticity piece of the
Speaker 1: off roading roots of this car to also make a
Speaker 1: connection between the fact that we as humans are spending
Speaker 1: less and less time in the real world and separating
Speaker 1: ourselves from the metaphorical bumps in the road more than ever. Yeah, man, Sam,
Speaker 1: It's like peboard craving experiences, and this car is an
Speaker 1: experience self contained. Deep down, the Jeep needs to feel
Speaker 1: like an unrefined war machine. The brand's imagery is powered
Speaker 1: by that authenticity, that sense that it can dominate any terrain,
Speaker 1: that it is purpose built for its mission, that it
Speaker 1: could charge into battle when the bad guys show up
Speaker 1: with the case nukes. It's a hero, and to drive
Speaker 1: one is to assume that role. After the break, we're
Speaker 1: going to war. America prefers all America orders its pattern
Speaker 1: of life work to meet the demand for protection industry
Speaker 1: is a double step to supply the sinews of safety.
Speaker 1: Before it donned at Civis and one on sale as
Speaker 1: a passenger vehicle, the jeep was pivotal to American success
Speaker 1: in the Second World War, and for all the influence
Speaker 1: and reach of this brand now, the peculiar thing is
Speaker 1: at its inception cheap wasn't even a brand per se.
Speaker 1: It was a type of vehicle, a general purpose GP
Speaker 1: light truck to supply the troops, made by various manufacturers.
Speaker 1: America's basque resources are harnessed to the job of being
Speaker 1: the world arsenal or this and other democracies. Its present
Speaker 1: day production of armaments is but a mere fraction of
Speaker 1: the great job, but live ahead. In preparation for entering
Speaker 1: the conflict, Washington knew that this war would be one
Speaker 1: of mechanized combat, and that it needed a mechanical replacement
Speaker 1: for World War One's army mules, yes, actual mules. The
Speaker 1: army needed something that could go anywhere, carrying men and
Speaker 1: weapons on and off the battlefield, something that didn't run
Speaker 1: on oats. Based on much failed testing of other white
Speaker 1: yet rugged concepts, including a stripped down forward model t
Speaker 1: Army engineers settled on the basic specifications. It needed four
Speaker 1: wheel drive in a certain minimum level of performance, with
Speaker 1: loads of climbing and care capability. At one point, they
Speaker 1: even specified four wheel steering so that a rear facing
Speaker 1: driver with his own steering wheel could take control of
Speaker 1: the vehicle and reverse out of danger in the event
Speaker 1: of an ambush. The vehicle had to weigh no more
Speaker 1: than thirteen hundred pounds but be capable of hauling six
Speaker 1: hundred pounds, and the timeline was super tight, less than
Speaker 1: three months to deliver a selection of working models. In
Speaker 1: other words, the Army's expectations were totally unrealistic. It sent
Speaker 1: the bid out to some one hundred and thirty five
Speaker 1: manufacturers and was sure that this massive and literal call
Speaker 1: to arms would be answered in force. Only two companies
Speaker 1: submitted bids, American Bantam out of Butler, Pennsylvania and Willis
Speaker 1: Overland out of Toledo, Ohio. Bantam won their preliminary contract,
Speaker 1: but in the end it was the Willis design that prevailed.
Speaker 1: Ford started making them too, and used the GP designation
Speaker 1: for its version of the model. Some say that the
Speaker 1: name jeep came not from a contraction of the GP initials,
Speaker 1: but from a character in a comic strip. I couldn't
Speaker 1: confirm that. It seems more interesting to entertain the notion
Speaker 1: that the first jeep was actually a Ford. Anyway, America
Speaker 1: got itself an innovative for the time light transport vehicle
Speaker 1: that could do everything and go everywhere. The GP guided
Speaker 1: into France during the invasion of Normandy June six d Day.
Speaker 1: A great plan is put to the test. American soldiers
Speaker 1: hit the beach, It slogged through the bulge, It plied
Speaker 1: the North African sands. Because the fighting develops, every means
Speaker 1: is used to hasten the removal of the wounded from
Speaker 1: the scene of battle. The wearing farm plows, it dug
Speaker 1: trenches for telephone lines. And that's to say nothing of
Speaker 1: its workaday applications. And you were saying part of the
Speaker 1: appeal of the traditional wrangler was the flat flatness of
Speaker 1: the hood, right, Yeah, there are stories about the flatness
Speaker 1: of the hood being a place where you know, all
Speaker 1: sorts of work got done, lunches were eaten. It was
Speaker 1: an altar for Chaplains to give mass on. That flatness
Speaker 1: of the hood was sort of core to the original design.
Speaker 1: The jeep of all trades is pressed into service and
Speaker 1: proves itself again, Which brings us to an interesting point.
Speaker 1: When we talk about the jeep being authentic and people
Speaker 1: buying into that realness, what are we really talking about. Well,
Speaker 1: on one level, the notion of authenticity arises from functionality.
Speaker 1: The jeep reinforces that functionality and capability at every turn,
Speaker 1: at every touch point. They are a little visual military
Speaker 1: jeep east or eggs all over these vehicles, tiny graphics
Speaker 1: of army jeeps crawling up the windshield glass and lights
Speaker 1: in the dash that read since nineteen forty one. That
Speaker 1: connection to its origin story is something that jeep carefully curates.
Speaker 1: Think about Rolex watches. If you want one of the
Speaker 1: more prized models, the Submarner or maybe the sky Dweller,
Speaker 1: it's going to cost you ten, twenty, maybe even forty
Speaker 1: thousand bucks. But people are tripping over themselves to pay
Speaker 1: those prices, and the reason has less to do with
Speaker 1: the beauty of the piece or the cost of the
Speaker 1: materials than the story. The bottom line is that those
Speaker 1: Rolexes were built to do jobs, and they did those
Speaker 1: jobs either first or better than any other watch. They
Speaker 1: are chunky and clunky, and they don't often keep great time.
Speaker 1: They are not the elegant gold wrist watches that used
Speaker 1: to define success. What they telegraph is the status of action,
Speaker 1: of power, of mastery, and that functional authenticity is worth
Speaker 1: a lot to people. So it is with Jeep. Yet
Speaker 1: the Jeep has a deeper context than any time piece,
Speaker 1: And here, finally is the real essence of the thing,
Speaker 1: the ultimate core sample of its meaning. To Americans and
Speaker 1: indeed other Western countries, where it's always been sold as
Speaker 1: a luxury good. The Jeep represents a connection not just
Speaker 1: to war, but to a specific war. The one embedded
Speaker 1: in America's consciousness is our last good war, the last
Speaker 1: war we could understand a clear cut conflict between right
Speaker 1: and wrong, the last war where we were unambiguously the
Speaker 1: victors and the heroes. The Jeep represents America's yearning for
Speaker 1: the simplicity and moral clarity of World War two. Think
Speaker 1: about those jeep naming conventions for a second Gladiator. Patriot
Speaker 1: liberty cynics might argue that they are evidenced of some
Speaker 1: wild shit about the American psyche, that we have a
Speaker 1: warrior complex that we glorify theatrical, large scale conflicts and
Speaker 1: the war machines used in them. That may be true,
Speaker 1: but I think the impulses around the jeep are a
Speaker 1: bit nobler than that. Through the jeep. We're trying to
Speaker 1: get back to that brief moment of packs Americana that
Speaker 1: existed in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War.
Speaker 1: Everywhere since then has only made many Americans questioned the
Speaker 1: justifications behind the conflicts Korea, Vietnam, Racks one and two, Afghanistan.
Speaker 1: They were all opaque, distant and remote, with no clear cause.
Speaker 1: As an effect, proxy wars, cold wars, allegedly ideological ones.
Speaker 1: Only the attacks of nine to eleven presented a threat
Speaker 1: equivalent to or exceeding that of Pearl Harbor, and in
Speaker 1: that case we responded with an agenda and false claims
Speaker 1: of WMD's in Iraq, there's a concept in the CIA
Speaker 1: called blowback. It doesn't mean the unintended consequences of America's
Speaker 1: military actions, but rather the unintended consequences of covert operations.
Speaker 1: How fed up is that assassinations, regime changes, drone strikes
Speaker 1: and sanctions that impel US ever deeper into inscrutable conflicts.
Speaker 1: World War Two wasn't like that. It was the first
Speaker 1: real buildup of American military might. It made a superpower.
Speaker 1: The military industrial complex it spawned, and that President Eisenhower
Speaker 1: warned us about in nineteen sixty one on his way
Speaker 1: out of office, that was about enforcement. We now stand
Speaker 1: ten years past the midpoint of a century that has
Speaker 1: witnessed four major wars among great nations. Three of these
Speaker 1: involved our own country. Despite these holocausts, a Maratha is
Speaker 1: today the strongest, the most influential, and most productive nation
Speaker 1: in the world. The Maratha's leadership and prestige depends not
Speaker 1: merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches, and military strength,
Speaker 1: but on how we use our power in the years
Speaker 1: of world peace and human better World War Two built
Speaker 1: our global position. Everything afterward attempted to maintain a profit
Speaker 1: from it has messed up. As it sounds, the Second
Speaker 1: World War was America's feel good war, uncomplicated and wholly embraced,
Speaker 1: a moment of unvarnished glory for our country. Watch any
Speaker 1: World War two documentary and you'll hear old veterans talked
Speaker 1: proudly about how they killed Nazis at knife point fun stuff.
Speaker 1: The jeep is our connection back to that moment. The
Speaker 1: jeep isn't just a means of getting from point A
Speaker 1: to point B. It is a mobile emblem of freedom
Speaker 1: and independence. It's why Jeep has worked so hard to
Speaker 1: keep the Ranger the way it has always been, and
Speaker 1: it's why that basic jeep can fetch ever higher prices.
Speaker 1: The feeling it gives us grows more valuable the further
Speaker 1: it recedes. By way of contrast, look at the Hummer,
Speaker 1: another military off rotor, but this one has no such
Speaker 1: exalted provenance or staying power. It was not the mule
Speaker 1: of World War Two, but of the Iraq Wars. General
Speaker 1: Motors canceled it as a Sumer brand in twenty ten,
Speaker 1: and it is only bringing it back now. But as
Speaker 1: an electric pickup truck, it couldn't drive away fast enough
Speaker 1: from all it represented. Once Schwartz Coough's war machine now
Speaker 1: here to save the earth. The Jeep, however, always, always,
Speaker 1: always refers back to the Second World War, from its
Speaker 1: color palette with its olive drabs, to its graphics packages
Speaker 1: with their stencils and stars. In the Jeep, everyone's a victor.
Speaker 1: Everyone shares in the glory whether you take it to
Speaker 1: the trails, the beach or the forest. One of the
Speaker 1: great things about owning a jeep I might drive around
Speaker 1: who brings me a huge amount of joy? In many ways,
Speaker 1: it seems to bring enjoyment to almost everyone who sees it.
Speaker 1: Everyone wants to talk to me, everyone wants to say hello.
Speaker 1: And Wade kids, you know, no matter who they are
Speaker 1: and no matter where they come from, always going to
Speaker 1: toggling their mums or dad's hands to say that pleased
Speaker 1: and we can found look that car team seems to
Speaker 1: make everyone so happy. And you know, it's smelly, and
Speaker 1: it's awkward, and it's not comfortable, and it's kind of dangerous,
Speaker 1: but like it's the best thing to drive in the world.
Speaker 1: Isn't that wild? Somehow everybody wants it cheap? Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I think it's because it's so interlaced with the idea
Speaker 1: of being American. It's so interlaced with that identity that
Speaker 1: you'll pay any cost to be part of that story.
Speaker 1: You'll put up with this crazy woollie highway driving behavior.
Speaker 1: It almost enhances the experience. You'll put up with an
Speaker 1: eighty thousand dollars price tag to get it. You just
Speaker 1: want to be part of it, and it doesn't matter
Speaker 1: who you are. And this is one of those threads
Speaker 1: in the American fabric. This is one of those things
Speaker 1: that make that ties us together. This vehicle, this thing
Speaker 1: like feeds off our conception of ourselves as rugged in individualists,
Speaker 1: go anywhere withstand any kind of torture, do anything, and
Speaker 1: yet have fun, be having fun the whole time. Like
Speaker 1: With's smile out a phrase authenticity, freedom, the pursuit of happiness.
Speaker 1: This is America on four wheels with an optional canvas
Speaker 1: top car. Show is written and hosted by me Eddie Alterman.
Speaker 1: It's produced by Sam Dingman, Jacob Smith, and Amy Gaines.
Speaker 1: Our editor is Jen Guera. Original music and mastering by
Speaker 1: Ben Tomiday. Our executive producer is Mia lo Bell. Our
Speaker 1: show art was designed by Sean Ernie and airbrushed by
Speaker 1: Greg Lafeever. Our patron saints are Leetam Malad and Justine Lange.
Speaker 1: Sources for this episode included the Story of Jeep by
Speaker 1: Patrick R. Foster and the Jeep Owner's Bible by Moses
Speaker 1: lou Dell. Special thanks to Stilantis for the insanely fun
Speaker 1: ride in the Cheap Wrangler Rubicon three ninety two and
Speaker 1: thanks to our cheap owners, John Schnar's, Carrie Brody, Fiona Gorman,
Speaker 1: and Ryan Dilley. Car Show is a production of Pushkin Industries.
Speaker 1: If you love this show and others from Pushkin Industries,
Speaker 1: consider subscribing to Pushkin Plus. Pushkin Plus is a podcast
Speaker 1: subscription that offers bonus content and uninterrupted listening for four
Speaker 1: ninety nine a month. Look for Pushkin Plus on Apple
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