The Jeep Wave
I'm driving home Wednesday and catch myself returning the Jeep wave the second or third time of my commute. The experience triggered the thought: "How does such a grassroots practice begin, catch on and maintain hold among a diverse and geographically dispersed population of drivers?"
Jeep doesn't advertise the decades-old practice. The owner's manual contains no mention nor instruction. Neither does the accompanying safe-driving video delivered with each vehicle cover the topic. Yet it persists, stronger than ever. Jeep owners, particularly those who pilot the makes (CJ, YJ and TJ - the Renegades and Wranglers) that trace their ancestral descendence directly to the military MB models of '41, all become members of an unofficial fraternity.
However it began, it's an incredible phenomena. In the several years I've owned my Wrangler, I can't count the number of times I've been greeted cordially by complete strangers. It's a hospitable practice, and it's a tradition that leaves you with a pleasant sensation.
Why? Maybe it's in sharing the knowledge with another driver that you needn't travel through life driving boring beige boxes, but instead a vehicle credited with helping the United States win WWII, something dependable in the day of disposable autos, a vehicle that will get you through thick and thin to your destination. Only in a Jeep can you remove the doors. Even if you're not that adventurous the top is easily removed to provide the open-air driving experience in which so many convertible owners rejoice. Maybe it's just the quick revelation, shared with a stranger, that even as an adult you needn't conform to conventional standards but instead can cut your own, adventurous path.
Is it a Jeep thing others don't understand? I doubt it. I suspect it's a mentality others unknowingly misplaced. A part of themselves lost along the way. That may be why the Jeep wave continues: to remember and recognize that all our days need not be filled with homogenous motorized cages, standardized cubicles, crappy franchised food and focus-group approved pop music.
Jeep doesn't advertise the decades-old practice. The owner's manual contains no mention nor instruction. Neither does the accompanying safe-driving video delivered with each vehicle cover the topic. Yet it persists, stronger than ever. Jeep owners, particularly those who pilot the makes (CJ, YJ and TJ - the Renegades and Wranglers) that trace their ancestral descendence directly to the military MB models of '41, all become members of an unofficial fraternity.
However it began, it's an incredible phenomena. In the several years I've owned my Wrangler, I can't count the number of times I've been greeted cordially by complete strangers. It's a hospitable practice, and it's a tradition that leaves you with a pleasant sensation.
Why? Maybe it's in sharing the knowledge with another driver that you needn't travel through life driving boring beige boxes, but instead a vehicle credited with helping the United States win WWII, something dependable in the day of disposable autos, a vehicle that will get you through thick and thin to your destination. Only in a Jeep can you remove the doors. Even if you're not that adventurous the top is easily removed to provide the open-air driving experience in which so many convertible owners rejoice. Maybe it's just the quick revelation, shared with a stranger, that even as an adult you needn't conform to conventional standards but instead can cut your own, adventurous path.
Is it a Jeep thing others don't understand? I doubt it. I suspect it's a mentality others unknowingly misplaced. A part of themselves lost along the way. That may be why the Jeep wave continues: to remember and recognize that all our days need not be filled with homogenous motorized cages, standardized cubicles, crappy franchised food and focus-group approved pop music.
posted by Erik Eckel at 5:34 PM
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