Here’s a shot my friend Argiearts sent me some time ago, a pair of oldies sitting in a ritzy gated community in San Salvador. A nice duo in relatively good condition, that wouldn’t seem too extraordinary on their own, but that together seem to tell a story. Here, in the metal, is the origin of two global players in the early stages of their ascendance. They were basic, austere, and rudimentary; and yet found an ever-growing group of buyers. Back in the day, who would have thought that these two outcasts would have such a future?
Our driveway Beetle has suffered some odd parts swapping, but I’m pretty sure it’s a ’70s model. If so, it’s in the waning days of the Beetle era, when many pundits of the day were warning of inevitable doom. It almost came to be for a while, and VW’s last-minute switch to water-cooled FWD was a mix of despair, effort, and luck. VW has since then gone through a Wagnerian Opera of sorts to reach the heights of the automotive world.
Meanwhile, in the US, Jeep (First Willys-Overland, then Kaiser Jeep) was a small player creating niche products. When AMC CEO Roy D. Chapin looked into acquiring Jeep in the late ’60s, he sent AMC’s Purchasing Director Gerald C. Meyers to assess Jeep’s situation. After evaluation, Meyers’ counsel was to not proceed with the purchase. In his opinion, Jeep’s operations were ‘hopeless.’
Not that it mattered, Chapin had already made up his mind. There were two main factors in his decision; first, he had been a close friend of Jeep’s owner, Henry Kaiser. Second, Chapin knew of Jeep’s international reach and growth.
After brushing him aside, Chapin placed Meyers in charge of overseeing Jeep’s renewal and eventually, he became AMC’s CEO. In this shot, Meyers is in the passenger seat and looks mighty pleased with Jeep’s operations.
In any case, is curious to see in one driveway two rather crucial models. One was the beginning of a global company, and the other was the beginning of a global trend. Kind of an odd coincidence to find them together, but as I said, stranger things have happened.
Further reading:
Curbside Classic: 1946 Willys Jeep Station Wagon – The First Modern Station Wagon And SUV
The Willys is the 1961 or later model with the one piece windshield .
Interestingly it uses the too common “manual park brake” (rock under a tire) .
-Nate
Nice Willys. I appreciate the use of original rims and original-ish tires, you can’t improve on that visually.
Yeah the VW is a real mongrel, but mongrels are nice too…
Love the colors on that wagon. Foreign divisions often fancied up the wagons and pickups, and the US division tried it for a few years. The chromy two-tone version was called the Maverick, but fortunately the name didn’t stick.
Meyers later admitted that advising against Willys was his worst mistake.
Not really so strange to see them together; they have a long joint history: They both started out their lives together on the battlefields of WWII.
I couldn’t find a picture of both the Jeep and the VW Kommandeurwagen together.
That’s the scene that completes the origin scenario: “We met in the trenches, we crawled through mud, we heard the explosions in the distance; that’s when we decided… we would take over the world.”
Many times on this site, there will be an article about another old car sitting that seems to have been forgotten. We all like older cars and is (I assume) why we come to a site like this. So articles such as those often give me reason to comment on why the “owners” of those cars being left to rot don’t sell them to someone who would love them and/or use for parts at the least. This article seems to be the opposite where we see two lovely old cars that seem to be well kept and at least under a roof for some protections. It is fun to see old cars not matter what the level of condition or care, but this makes me feel better about them. It also reminds me of my situation where I have two older Cadillac’s in pristine condition. I don’t have a garage per-se, but I do have a very nice car-port with another home close to mine on that same side. My cars are fully protected from the sun and most elements other than they do get dusty. So out comes my California car duster several times per week to keep them looking clean and shiny. But I sure do wish I had a nice closed garage like I did back in Illinois.
Great to see these two classics together and obviously being cared for.
Very much so ! .
When I lived in Guatemala City I once spotted a BIG open private garage near where I lived in Zona 5 – spotless inside, it had a polished concrete floor and white washed walls and a 1957 VW Beetle that upon closer inspection had been repaired after something has crushed the right rear corner of the roof including the little oval rear window ~ it was a fantastic 100 footer, must less so close up but had shiny paint, good, correct upholstery and nice chrome ~ obviously well loved and cared for by someone .
-Nate
Question for you, Rich…
Would the VWs sold in El Salvador be of German or Brazilian manufacture? I ask because I often see air-cooled VW that look a bit odd, or “off”, or mongrel-like in this case, but sometimes that’s how Brazilian-built cars look from the factory.
Or maybe made in Mexico.
Let’s see; we got a lot of VW sources over here. In the case of VWs, most came from Germany, at least until 1979. On the side, Brasilias came in decent numbers, which back then were the only Brazilian ones imported.
As I’ve stated in previous posts, car imports ceased through the civil war, and once that changed in 1985, most VWs came from Brazil; except no Beetles, mostly Gols. Then, a new batch of Beetles came from Mexico in the ’90s.
The Beetle in the driveway seems to be a 70s German one, with mirrors poached from a Mexican one. The fenders throw me off, so I guess they’re sourced from an earlier one, or just have those chrome vents for decoration (can’t tell in the picture). Then there’s the handle-less hood, which just seems a custom mod.
Thanks, Rich!
VWs were definitely a universal car other than Antarctica every country had some, the Jeep not so much, they were quite scarce down under and by the time good numbers began arriving the japanese 4×4 brands had the market sewn up having taken said market from Landrover who had 4 door station wagon SUVs from the mid 50s onward
I hate to tell you, but Antarctica did not escape the VW.
Fantastic pics! Thank you for sharing. The grille on the Jeep manages to look brutish and elegant, at the same time.
The “beetle” has a “right side mirror”!!Something I’ve virtually no memory of seeing here in the states.
Great piece about two interesting vehicles. According to family legend I was a Beetle spotter as soon as I could talk and would call them ‘taxicar’ – we lived on a British Army base in North Germany so this was accurate. Later when I was about 6 VW owning dad encouraged me to learn what model year they were by looking at the window, bumper and light shapes. Unfortunately I didn’t continue this skill and can’t identify the age of the Bitsa Beetle.
The front bumper is low like an earlier car, but a post 1967 shape. Similarly the boot lid and indicators seem to be from different years. This happens, I had a VW T25 with front and rear bumpers that didn’t match, the previous owner couldn’t source a correct part after one got damaged. If it’s getting used it’ll get knocked and need changing one day anyway.
I always use the manual parking brake at home. Manual transmission and don’t want the hand brake to stick on!