The Original Jeep

By: Kase van Rees

You would be right to say I look at our 1948 Willys CJ2A through a thick pair of rose colored glasses. It's the first Civilian model of Jeep, and it's how I learned to drive at 9 years old. That being said, I'm also the first to laugh at its many flaws. With one mirror, one brake light, no doors, no seatbelts, no turn signals, and an exposed gas tank under the driver seat, it's safe to say it's not very safe. With a realistic top speed of about 40 and the handling/steering characteristics of a lawn mower, it's also not very fun to drive on your favorite paved road.

But if you put this light weight, robust chassis over gravel, it transforms into a tail-happy trail-hopper that makes 20mph feel like 60. The 3-speed manual transmission takes hard shifts like thats its business, and the carbureted 4-cylinder revs happily with a semi muffled buzz. Drop the linear clutch and the Jeep's skinny tires kick up dirt like an old rally car. Through turns a dab of throttle in second will kick out the back end as you chop the vague steering hard right.

If you lock the front hubs and select 4-low, it even becomes an unstoppable hill climber. Obviously this is an objectively bad car, but that only matters if you aren't having fun. This simple old Jeep is far from an exercise in nostalgia without substance. It's the original light-weight off roader, with the fighting spirit of an army truck. More than anything, this dependable, versatile, and visceral machine is the Jeep that started it all.