Archive for November, 2009

What is a Willy’s Jeep? A Willy’s Jeep is an old ass Jeep. One of the first to be made. They were made from WWII army parts after the war. They were simple, slow and awesome. My Mom’s family grew up with a 1961 Willy’s Jeep that was the family vehicle for road trips and mountain climbing. And when I say “Mountain Climbing” I mean the jeep would literally climb mountains. My grandfather would tell stories of the jeep going vertical with the help of the wench attached to the front bumper.  My Mom’s family would go camping with the small car stuffing six people in a small four person vehicle.  It honestly seems impossible.

Aside from all the history the car had before I got to drive it, it was my first car.  After my brother used it for his first two years of driving experience, I got my turn.  I learned how to drive on it.  You see, if you can drive this thing, you can drive anything.  It has four gears to it’s manual transmission.  The first gear is only used when climbing 90 degree rocks, so on the street you started the jeep in second.  It maxed out at about 55 mph.  And I mean peddle to the floor and about twenty minutes and a straight flat interstate to build up speed.  The freeway in that thing was scary.   The top is a soft rag top that made talking to your passenger a challenge every time.  There is no radio unless you bring a battery powered boom box and lay it on the floor.  The back seat is literally made by my Grandpa with wood, padding and some springs.  The Willy’s Jeep is dark green and overall pretty bad ass.

Looking back the car seems a hell of a lot better now than it did back in High School.  I was in High School.  It was not great for picking up the chicks if you know what I mean. It was slow, not fast.  It got me to school and back.  It was a good car for some things and a horrible car for some things. The winters sucked bad. The heat barely worked. In the summer having the top down was all you could do to beat the heat. Road trips were not an option and getting across town was a trek in itself.

The Jeep was a great car, but not very reliable. Considering how old it was, it ran pretty good for the most part. It was in the shop all the time. It was hard to even find someone to even work on it. It was so hard to find parts to fix the thing, it became harder and harder to maintain. Eventually, I put it on the shelf. I was the last constant driver my Grandfather’s Willy’s Jeep had. It made appearances many times after I moved on from it, but it mostly lived in the garage from which we resurrected it.

Eventually my Marine cousin Richard relocated the Jeep from Sacramento to Texas and put it in a garage in a Military base. I’m sure the Willy’s Jeep is happy back in it’s original surroundings waiting for the next generation to break it out for a few more high school experiences. Who knows, maybe after a really long road trip from Texas my kids can enjoy the Willy’s jeep as I once did here in Atlanta. That is if Willy can make it.