The lead Jeep in the parade was "Speedy"; a lady who is a WWII reenactor. Speedy (the Jeep) was arguably the oldest Jeep in the parade, and as appropriate, she led the parade behind the sponsors and the mini-Jeep.
As a re-enactor, she is an Army Signal Corps 1st Lieutenant whose specialty is photography. Her Jeep, which is a WWII era authentic Jeep (examined and attested to by GMWillys) has the name "Speedy" on the cowl in script reminiscent of the script on the Speed Graphic camera she uses both in her reenactor legend as well as her actual real-life photography.
Speedy (the Jeep) was arguably the oldest Jeep in the parade, and as appropriate, she led the parade behind the sponsors and the mini-Jeep.
Now, since she is a helpless female in her WWII role, she has to be protected. So, someone assigned a Sergeant as her bodyguard and he follows her around with his M1 Garand (replica...). He claims to be ready to be done with this babysitting detail and get to Berlin - he has silk stockings in his gas mask case, but the chocolate melted. (Again, totally in character.)
We never figured out just how to explain her daughter (dressed in WWII era clothes) as part of the persona. Maybe she is one of several French orphans or a refugee?
Speedy (Jeep and character) was featured in the KWAS Catalog a year or so ago - and she contributes a great deal to the Jeep Fest!
Follow this link to see her story in the KWAS Blog:
That lady is Betsy Bashore and you can read about her on page 4 of the Kaiser Willys 2021 catalog and the June 2020 Jeep life blog. She was sure serious about the reenactment. Her whole crew stayed in character, and the young girl even repeated honks in Morse code!
Nice Az! I haven't been able to find that footage. The Jeeps in front of us are all the sponsors. Money first! The amount of sponsors was tremendous. A lot of money went into this one. The KW crew (with KW flags flying) was right behind the go-kart that lead the parade participants. We were right up front. So many people. This doesn't even show how much activity there was. A lot of things going on at once. So many people and food and Jeep things to see. A great time to say the least!
Drop Rachel or Amy a PM and see if you can get a KW flag! You never know what those ladies might do if they get enough requests. The KW flags we had were the highest quality I have used. If we can get Mike to buy them a plane ticket, I think KW would be right at home in the fest.
Looking forward to next year, and hoping KW sends a Jeep and a couple of drivers next year!
I agree with Bmorgil. Everyone at Kaiser Willys set us up with a great swag package to represent their brand, and some good stuff to give away. It was a great event, and even better weather. Thank you again to Bmorgil for hosting, LarrBeard and TJones for coming. We all had a great time!
We left the Owens-Corning lot, went up a block, turned left a block and then turned right. That put us in the heart of downtown Toledo. There were literally thousands of people standing along the street, three or four deep in places.
When we turned up that block, people started clapping, cheering and whistling - the experience was humbling to say the least.
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