The Willys Jeep: a cafetero icon
Who would have imagined that this military Jeep – the same one with which the GI’s landed in Normandy in 1944 – would become one of Colombia’s most emblematic vehicles? The Willys Jeep, invented by the American army in 1940 as a « light reconnaissance vehicle », is today a true Colombian icon, and even more so in the coffee-growing area – the departments of Risaralda, Caldas, Quindio and southern Antioquia.
But how did we get here, you may ask? After the Second World War, the U.S. Army didn’t know what to do with its stock of Jeep Willys (650,000 were produced between 1940 and 1945) and began selling them at very attractive prices in developing countries, including Colombia. The first Willys (M38 and CJ-2A models) arrived at the end of the 1940s, imported by the Colombian Ministry of Defense.
When a jeep made in the USA replaces the mules...
To convince Colombian farmers to buy the Willys, expert drivers put on spectacular demonstrations at the wheel of their fully loaded Jeeps in church squares and village squares. Immediate success. This all-terrain vehicle, with its four-wheel drive, seduced rural areas.
Farmers, banana growers and cafeteros appreciate both its power and lightness (it weighs around 1000 kilos unladen), as well as its maneuverability, which comes in very handy on bumpy mountain or field roads. Above all, they love the multiple uses they can make of it: transporting goods, animals, passengers…
Soon Jeeps were known as « mulas mecánicas », or… mechanical mules! And the « Yipao » (a Jeep loaded with cargo) became… a standard for measuring agricultural produce (equivalent to around 25 bags of orange). Other Jeep models soon arrived in Colombia: the CJ-3B and CJ-5, as well as replicas of other models such as the CJ-6. Over time, the vehicle, which undoubtedly played a part in the development of coffee growing, became a star automobile: in the cafetero region, Willys are particularly pampered, painted in bright colors and adorned with accessories (decorative rims, religious symbols, etc.). Many Jeep tours are offered to tourists. Some have even been transformed into cabs or cafeteros on wheels!
Willys Jeep festival
Every year since 1988, the Willys Jeep has even been the subject of a festival in its honor, the Yipao Parade, held mainly in Calarca and Armenia, in the department of Quindio (central Colombia). The event features a grand parade of hundreds of vehicles, as well as serious competitions involving the region’s best « yiperos » (Jeep drivers)!
The challenges? There’s the « transport of agricultural products » category: the Willys are loaded with coffee, bananas, manioc, wood, citrus fruit… The « moving » category: the aim is to fill the Jeep with as many objects as possible, in the style of « old-fashioned moving », with furniture (beds, chairs, tables, cupboards), plants, pictures, dogs, cats, birds, pigs, ducks, sewing machines, mattresses, blankets, clothes, chicken cages, lamps, toilets, portraits of grandparents, and even, sometimes… a few family members! Great fun to watch and photograph!
A Jeep Rodeo
The highlight of the show, however, is the « spade » category: the test consists of loading the Willys with 1800 kg of regional products (bags of coffee, bananas, etc.) or other items. The weight must be extremely well distributed in the rear of the Willys so that, when accelerating, the car tilts and rolls… on its two rear wheels for as long as possible in a straight line! A sort of Jeep rodeo, attracting thousands of curious onlookers and tourists every year…
