00:00Have you ever met your great-grandfather?
00:01Only in metal.
00:06So, when the original one was built,
00:07it was more engineered than designed.
00:09It was very utilitarian.
00:10It had a purpose to serve in World War II.
00:13Were there any design cues from this one
00:15that you brought in the new one?
00:17We always like to have inspiration for what we're doing,
00:19especially with Jeep with 85 years of history.
00:22So, I think the first one
00:24that always comes to mind is
00:26great-grandfather here.
00:27So much so that we actually have one in the studio
00:30that we cut right down the middle
00:31and mounted to the wall.
00:33Inspiration is pretty close by.
00:34I think overall, the first thing you notice is the color scheme.
00:37This is one of our newer colors
00:39we call 41.
00:41Of course, in reference to this one.
00:42I think like any good Jeep Special Edition,
00:45we really want to make sure it had a great tire
00:46and we want to make sure it had super cool wheels.
00:49I think this might be the first time we've done
00:50olive green wheels to match the body.
00:53I really like these because
00:55they're kind of modern in a way that they're aluminum wheels,
00:57but they're retro in that they look like steel wheels.
00:59I love them. They really match the 41.
01:02I love the interior.
01:03The fabric is, you know,
01:04it looks like that military canvas, but it's not.
01:07Yeah, I'm glad you noticed that, you know,
01:09we did a really good job of looking at the inspiration.
01:11I think the only thing we didn't get is that kind of
01:13iconic smell that that one has.
01:14Yeah, there is that canvas smell in all military vehicles.
01:17Yeah.
01:17So, you know, the original Willys, it was a government contract
01:20and they sent out bids to 135 different companies
01:23and only three answered.
01:24And from July of 1940 until when Willys signed the contract
01:29in July 1941, the whole vehicle just evolved.
01:32It came together in an astonishing amount of time, one year.
01:36By the end of World War II, everybody knew what a Jeep was.
01:40Correct me if I'm wrong.
01:41This could get dropped in a box
01:42and assembled in four minutes or less.
01:44Yes, that was part of the original design by the Army,
01:47that it had to have a folding windshield.
01:49They take the wheels and tires off
01:51and put them in a crate underneath the body
01:53and drop it on the ground.
01:54And guys in the Army knew how to pull it apart,
01:57slap the wheels on and get it running.
01:58And they shipped them, not with gas, but they may as well have
02:01because they were flying out the door with them.
02:03So the original vehicle, you know,
02:05was mission ready when it hit the battlefield 85 years ago.
02:08What kind of engineering and updates went into this one
02:11to make it mission ready?
02:12When we started this generation of Wrangler,
02:14I mean, the first things we keep in mind are all those requirements
02:17of approach, departure, break over, ground clearance.
02:21Visibility is one that we don't talk about all the time,
02:23but visibility is a really important one.
02:24I think all those things that you mentioned,
02:26that how it's designed for function
02:27and what it needed to do from the get-go.
02:29I mean, personally for me as the design guy,
02:31I think that's the reason that this has stood the test of time.
02:35Right.
02:35Pretty much design theme has been unchanged since the beginning.
02:38It's got to be a lot of pressure.
02:40I mean, this is an American icon sitting here
02:41and you're, you know, bringing it forward
02:44and bringing new generations forward.
02:46So, you know, it's a lot of pressure on you guys.
02:48I think as long as we stick to the roots,
02:49I mean, that's kind of been my philosophy on it.
02:51As long as we listen to the enthusiasts,
02:53we honor the functions of off-road capability,
02:57you know, I feel like we're doing a good job.
02:58So you brought the great-grandson,
03:00still built for adventure?
03:01Oh yeah, still made to get dirty.
03:06For more videos, just subscribe.
03:10For more videos, just subscribe.
