Since 1941

Returning from Chicago Monday, I’m filling up the Jeep at the DeKalb oasis.  Some guy filling up a Toyota Camry asks “Is that thing loud on the highway”?  I tell him it’s louder than his car but not too bad.  He says he’s always wanted a Jeep, but hasn’t been able to take one on a test drive.  This is the part where a normal person concludes the conversation with a suggestion to stop by his hometown Jeep dealer, where I’m sure they’ll be happy to let you drive one.

So much for normal.  I say, instead, “Jeeps are the best and you can take this one for a test drive!”  It takes him a few seconds to process the offer.  Some guy I’ve never met is saying I can take his car on a test drive, while I’m stopped here for gas at the I-88 oasis …

“Ok”, he says.

We complete our fill ups, he parks his car and then sees it’s a stick shift.  He says he can’t drive a stick and I say get in anyway.  If you want to see how loud it is on the highway, now’s your chance.  This is where I wonder if my lack of interest in a concealed carry permit was a wise decision. 

He hops in and we head west to the first exit, where we pay an exiting toll and an entrance toll after the U-turn.  He’s a grad student at Nebraska who lives in Chicago.  He’s been Jonesing for a Jeep since he was a kid watching MacGyver.  In the five minutes of the demo drive, I school him in the basics of Jeep tribal lore.  The history.  The wave.  The stopping to help all damsels in distress or other Jeeps.  When we get back to the oasis he’s worried that we’re now stuck on the eastbound side.  I demonstrate that curbs are more advisory than regulatory in a Jeep.  He’s sold.

So the most ridiculous thing I’ve read today in a newspaper (WSJ website, actually) is that GMC is thinking about bringing a Jeep competitor to market.  Jeeps are essentially alone in the market these days and are setting sales records.  So, leave it to some biz school genius to try to carve some market slice away from the direct descendant of the vehicle that saved the world from the Nazis.   Bring it GMC.   Start digging your grave next to Hummer, Xterra, FJ, Bronco and Scout. 

In a world of diminishing authenticity, why try to be something you are not?  People.  Products.  Brands.  Cities.  States.  Nations.  Be who you are.  It’s ok to try to be better.  But be who you are, and when you see someone who is who they are, don’t try to be them.  Just smile, and be welcoming.