Kaiser Jeep

mrholmquist

Precision Fit
Jun 5, 2014
697
oshawa
First Name
mike
Willys Model
  1. Pickup
Willys Year:
  1. 1957
My father was a representative for Kaiser Jeep Canada from the mid 50's to 1970 when AMC took over . Dad said he did not like the direction American Motors was heading and that it was a toxic work environment so he left at that time. During his time as a rep for Jeep Canada as part of his employment he was permitted to order a new vehicle demonstrator probably every 3 to six months. In those days cars were not marketed as they are today and there was no LE or LS luxury or sport package that is common today. Each option was ordered individually and the factory would build the vehicle as ordered for the customer or in dads case the employee. It was very common in those pre cell phone , laptop days for mistakes to happen. In dads case The order was taken over the phone and hand written by someone at the factory . Dad was often frustrated to find the car he had ordered was not appointed as he had specified. If he asked for A/C or power windows he may get a Wagoneer with wind up windows and no A/C etc. For the most part he took it in stride. For some reason they never seemed to get the colour correct. If he ordered a blue Wagoneer he would get a red one etc. He must have been particularly frustrated one day as a young boy I recall listening to him on the phone to Toledo
ordering his new demonstrator. The whole family was laughing in stitches when he was overheard on the phone saying-------- " what colour? .....you want to know what colour? what the hell difference does it make what colour I want , you guys are all colour blind down there anyway"
 
  • as a child growing up and dad being a rep for Jeep we seemed to move all over Canada . every two or three years we would be in a new area. My very earliest childhood memories would be Winnepeg Manitoba . a particularly cold city in Canada. As I mentioned earlier dad did not always get the car he wanted from jeep when he requested it. This particular time he had ordered a Wagoneer and instead was provided with a utility Jeep with a canvas roof. The heater was marginal the roof leaked like a sieve and the car was uncomfortable to drive in a Manitoba winter to say the least. His repeated request for a Wagoneer instead of the canvas utility were ignored. Dads supervising manager was scheduled to visit from head office and dad was supposed to pick him up at the Winnepeg airport and drive him to his hotel. The local Jeep dealer offered to loan dad a Wagoneer for him to use for the trip which dad vehemently refused. Dads point of view was if this guy expects me to call on dealers and drive all over the province in the canvas covered Jeep he can ride to the hotel in it too.. The story as told to me goes that it was -43 the night the plane landed and the man from Toledo was ill equipped for a Canadian winter evening . No hat , no gloves and lots of chattering teeth between the airport and the hotel. When it came time to return to the airport for the trip home the Jeep big shot opted for a taxi instead of taking the ride dad offered. Dads utility was quietly replaced with a Wagoneer within the following week.
 
Our Family car growing up was a 65 Wagoneer with most the options. And dad had a 1970 J-3000 I would be surprised if power windows were even available in the Kaiser years. Dad bought the Wagoneer off the lot and the Pickup as a custom order. Neither had AC

edit I see that on some deluxe models AC was offered in the 66 model year.
 
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This story has been told many times over the years in my family as my mother used to take great joy telling and retelling it at family get together and such.
We were living in Nova Scotia at the time and dad was the Jeep district rep for the entire Maritime region. it was the mid 60's and Nova Scotia used to have some massive snowfalls with large accumulations of snow on the ground being common. One particular Saturday my parents and some neighbours had arranged to go to town for dinner that evening. Unfortunately throughout the day a vicious snow storm moved in and plugged the streets with a huge accumulation of snow. There was a discussion about dropping the trip downtown but with a wave of his hand dad spoke up and told everyone not to worry as his Wagoneer had 4 wheel drive and could literally go anywhere. In those days in Maritime Canada it was uncommon to have a vehicle with 4 wheel drive. It was not offered as an option on very many cars and trucks like it is today. People mostly drove sedans or family station wagons. When it was time to leave everyone converged in my dads driveway where a huge snowdrift had formed behind my dads Wagoneer. The men picked up shovels and started to dig but dad waved them off. Mom always starts to laugh at this point in the story . Dad jumped in the Wagoneer and backed through the drift at a high rate of speed . Mom said the scene was nothing short of spectacular. Snow flying everywhere as the Jeep effortlessly rolled through the snowdrift. All the time the neighbors ooh's and awe's could be heard while my father showed off. However the Jeep stalled at the end of the driveway and all dads efforts to restart it failed. In the end they had to drive the next door neighbours sedan to the restaurant and the men had to get out and push numerous times as the car became bogged down in the snow at various intersections and such. Mom said dad was unusually quiet for the balance of the evening lol. ..... years later I asked dad what had gone wrong with the Wagoneer that night . He said that he had it towed it to the local dealer who quickly determined the cause of the no start was that the tail pipe was plugged solid with snow and ice.
 
Mr. H's 1st 2 entries tell the story of corporate interests of that time period. No middle managers now (replaced by puters) men (no women either) could let 'the stuff' flow down hill at more effective rates then today. We have a digital trail, they hada paper trail - much easier to hijack w/o being found out: "Only we get the perks, U R the low life. Forget it. Deliver that un-sale-able one instead. I need good numbers this wk."
 
My father was a representative for Kaiser Jeep Canada from the mid 50's to 1970 when AMC took over . Dad said he did not like the direction American Motors was heading and that it was a toxic work environment so he left at that time. During his time as a rep for Jeep Canada as part of his employment he was permitted to order a new vehicle demonstrator probably every 3 to six months. In those days cars were not marketed as they are today and there was no LE or LS luxury or sport package that is common today. Each option was ordered individually and the factory would build the vehicle as ordered for the customer or in dads case the employee. It was very common in those pre cell phone , laptop days for mistakes to happen. In dads case The order was taken over the phone and hand written by someone at the factory . Dad was often frustrated to find the car he had ordered was not appointed as he had specified. If he asked for A/C or power windows he may get a Wagoneer with wind up windows and no A/C etc. For the most part he took it in stride. For some reason they never seemed to get the colour correct. If he ordered a blue Wagoneer he would get a red one etc. He must have been particularly frustrated one day as a young boy I recall listening to him on the phone to Toledo
ordering his new demonstrator. The whole family was laughing in stitches when he was overheard on the phone saying-------- " what colour? .....you want to know what colour? what the hell difference does it make what colour I want , you guys are all colour blind down there anyway"
That's funny, love it. and it continues
 
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