- 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? Thanks to Keeps for
sponsoring today's episode. My Uncle Jerry was two of
a kind, and by that I mean he was one of the two out of three guys experiencing some form
of male pattern baldness 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. We sold fireworks together, went camping, even drove across the country to Cabo, but instead of crying over his loss, let's celebrate his life, a good life, one that he'd still be
living if he had used Keeps. Keeps makes hair loss prevention easy by shipping your hair loss
medication directly to your door every three months, plus you get access to
real doctors online. So don't mourn the loss of your follicles, start your hair loss prevention today, by going to keeps.com/wheelhouse50, or by clicking the link in the description to receive 50% off your first order. 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.
