Jeep News and Rumors - October 2007 Dispatch

Associate Editor Pete

What We're Talking About Around The Office

* "The Simpsons" is now a movie! If you know us, then you know we live and breathe this television show. So when the editorial staff heard about the Burger King-sponsored www.simpsonizeme.com, we headed over with our mugs and got ourselves Simpsonized. (Sorry about the blank pages in the magazine this month, but we have our priorities). Hazel wonders why he's a yellow Tupac (easy to spot him on the trail, though), while Cappa is hurriedly upgrading his Match.com photo. We're still explaining to Pete that it doesn't mean he'll actually be on the show.

* "I've been sorry for buying it since before I handed over the money. I shouldn't complain. It only needs everything."-Hazel on his new white flatfender that doesn't run

Editor Cappa

* Speaking of: Worst vehicle ever purchased? Someone said his wife's American car (rhymes with mocus but not mucous). Another person said a $50 '84 CJ-7. The plan was to make that Jeep a daily driver, but it stayed rusted and minus floors and with a dead motor. Not to mention all the parking tickets. Nothing was ever done to it and now it's someone else's problem.

* One of us has too many boxes and toothbrushes in the garage. Another has unorganized random bolts, nuts, and washers from past projects. Someone else may or may not have a body.

* You read the magazine. How many guesses do you need to figure out who buys just as much peanut butter as he does ammo?

Long Live The Smokestack

We told you this time last year that the Jeep Parkway facility in Toledo was going to be demolished. But Chrysler found it in its heart to keep one of the three smokestacks intact on the site (the Overland), recognizable landmarks since 1915 (this photo is from 1926). Parkway was the oldest manufacturing plant in North America; in 1909, it was the main facility for Willys-Overland and produced military vehicles in the early '40s. It stopped doing business in 2006 when the Wrangler models all moved to the fancy, new Toledo Supplier Park.

If you want to own a commemorative brick (with a walnut wood base), go to www.thescoop-cg.com/jeepbricks or call 888/267-2187. The bricks are $39.99 each (plus there is a shipping charge), but that money will go to the Boys and Girls Club of Toledo.

Industry News

* BFGoodrich nabbed the military-tire contract for the HUMVEE from Goodyear. BFG is now building a special 37-inch Mud Terrain km2 specifically for the military to fit the 16.5-inch-diameter Hummer wheels. They should be on the Hummers as you read this. About 5,000 units have already shipped. The new Mud Terrain km2 is also available to civilians. It's starting with the following sizes, some of which are new and bigger. More sizes in 15- and 16-inch wheels to follow in September 2008.

*Rock Krawler Suspension is in the process of designing and building prerunner lift kits specifically for high-speed off-road use. This will include kits for TJs, LJs, XJs, and WJs.

Quote Without Story

"We both bought Jeep Grand Cherokees. It was funny because Ben (Affleck) and I, we both always wanted a Jeep Grand Cherokee for some reason. That was the car. We always talked about it but never could afford one. So when we suddenly had the money, we each instantly started trying to convince each other to get a different car. We'd say, 'Hey, have you seen the Explorer? The Ford Explorer is really cool.' Because we knew it would just be so gay to get the same car."-Actor Matt Damon in the August issue of GQ magazine

Tech Editor hazel