videocam_off
This livestream is currently offline
Check back later when the stream goes live
Up next in 10
As Jeep announces a year of monthly Special Editions™, we look a little at their history, the first Special Edition (Moab 392), and how old the jeep is vs how old Jeep Brand is!
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Hi, this is Dave from Motel and Still
0:02
Power again and I'm here to talk to you
0:04
briefly about the big Jeep thing. They
0:07
announced it about a day ago. They had a
0:10
countdown clock. They said something big
0:12
is coming. It's going to drop in. And
0:14
what is it? It's a marketing campaign.
0:18
And it there are 12 special edition
0:20
Jeeps that they are going to drop over
0:23
the course of 12 months, one per month
0:26
to celebrate, in the words of the press
0:28
release, the 85th anniversary of the
0:32
Jeep brand. They specifically say the
0:35
Jeep brand. Here's the problem with that
0:38
is Jeep was indeed created 1940 or at
0:42
least the Jeep was or at least what
0:44
became the civilian Jeep and was then
0:46
the military MA and MB were created that
0:51
that in that time frame. So the thing is
0:54
it wasn't called a Jeep at first. It was
0:56
nicknamed a Jeep but it wasn't
0:57
officially a Jeep. What it was was a
0:59
light reconnaissance vehicle. So you
1:02
know the basic history of it. You
1:03
probably already know American Banttom
1:06
created this vehicle based on their
1:08
light truck and they modified it a bit
1:10
to meet the Army's needs. It was already
1:13
pretty close because the army needed
1:15
something very small, very light, fuel
1:17
efficient and yet powerful and agile
1:20
because they had to ship boatloads of
1:22
them. Literally boatloads of them. So,
1:25
it was an amazing bit of techn a bit of
1:28
engineering that they did with the
1:30
four-wheel drive system built in and uh
1:34
the engine wasn't quite sufficient that
1:36
Banttom had. So, the army ended up
1:38
saying, "Well, we'd like you to change
1:39
this, that, and the other thing. Oh, and
1:40
by the way, use the Willis engine and it
1:43
worked very well in this new light
1:46
reconnaissance vehicle." So, Willis got
1:48
the main contract for building these
1:50
things, the MA and then the MB and some
1:53
of the variants. So, the Jeep brand only
1:57
makes sense as something where you're
1:59
calling a product a Jeep officially. And
2:02
that started with the uh first CJ,
2:06
the Civilian Jeep. I mean CJ, civilian
2:09
Jeep. That's what it meant. And that
2:11
came out 1946.
2:13
So, the 85th anniversary of Jeep brand,
2:17
the the anniversary of the Jeep brand
2:20
comes in 2031, it turns out, which is 85
2:23
years after 1946. If you want to
2:25
celebrate 85 years of the vehicle that
2:29
we now call the Jeep Wrangler, well,
2:31
fine, that's 1940, but then you don't
2:33
say Jeep brand, you say the Jeep, and
2:35
you hope people don't notice. So, the
2:38
real anniversary of the Jeep brand comes
2:42
85 years from
2:45
1946,
2:46
which is 2031. Or you can do it 80 years
2:49
from 1946, which is 2026, which would
2:52
have worked if they were willing to wait
2:53
a little bit. Or if actually it works
2:56
even if they don't wait a little bit.
2:57
And so, they should have just called it
2:59
the 80th anniversary because then we'd
3:00
be right on time with their 2026 models.
3:04
Anyway, we already know that they're bad
3:07
with anniversary math, so let's just
3:09
give them that and not worry about it.
3:11
What we've got here is a bit of a
3:13
letdown uh based on the reactions I saw
3:16
on social media and at all where people
3:19
looked at it and say they said, "Oh,
3:21
gee, another $80,000 special edition."
3:25
And that really it is a bit
3:26
disappointing because the Moab 392 for
3:29
all that they talk it up, it's just a
3:31
Wrangler 392, which they're selling
3:33
anyway, Moab edition, which means that
3:36
they have some graphics and they change
3:38
around the options and standard features
3:40
a little bit. And there it is for
3:42
$80,000 or so. So, we're going to get a
3:45
special edition every month for the next
3:47
12 months. Hopefully, Jeep has something
3:50
more interesting in store. Uh, the Jeep
3:52
Cherokee will start rolling off the line
3:54
sometime in the next year or so. Uh, the
3:56
new Jeep Compass will start rolling off
3:58
the line sometime in the next year or so
4:00
in the United States. It's already uh
4:03
being produced elsewhere. And we will
4:06
hopefully someday be seeing the Jeep
4:08
Recon that they had announced earlier.
4:10
That is the electric Jeep, which is
4:12
supposed to be off-road capable, not as
4:14
off-road capable as the Wrangler, but
4:17
with fewer compromises to the on-road
4:20
use. So, you know, an independent
4:22
suspension is really nice for on-road
4:24
use. The Wranglers um solid axles are
4:29
great for modifications and they are
4:31
good in some off-roading, but the
4:34
independent suspension is really much
4:36
better for most people, for the vast
4:38
majority of buyers, and that's what the
4:40
Recon will bring. So, that will
4:43
hopefully be coming out in the next
4:45
year. Uh, I really haven't heard any
4:47
rumors lately about it, but I haven't
4:50
heard any rumors that it's been
4:51
cancelled. So, it might come out. It
4:54
might even come out with a gasoline
4:55
engine. You never know. So, I just want
4:57
to put in a plug for my Jeep book, which
5:00
is uh it's got a very long name, Jeep
5:02
Wagon Ear, blah blah blah blah. Um, it's
5:06
uh been put out a while ago. It's a
5:08
professionally laid out book. It's not a
5:11
self-published edition and it is still
5:14
out there at various book sellers,
5:17
Amazon, uh, eBay probably. Uh, just look
5:21
up David Zatz and Wagon Ear and it
5:24
should come up.
5:25
I'll see you
#Jeep
#Jeep