I didn’t know about the Porsche Wave until just now, but I did learn about the Wrangler Wave — mere hours after I picked up an old Jeep a few years ago.
First time I took the Wrangler out — not off-road, mind you; just down to the store — another Wrangler passed in the opposite direction. The driver had his left hand in the 12 o’clock position (I assume his right hand was, like mine, on the stick), and as he passed he raised and waved four fingers at me, his thumb still locked around the wheel.
“I wonder who he mistook me for?” I thought.
Next day: same thing, different Wrangler. And again, just a couple seconds later. (There are lots of Wranglers on — and off — the roads of Colorado.) So I caught on quickly that Wrangler drivers give each other a little wave. Sometimes a nod. Less frequently, a headlight wink. But almost always a wave.
There’s more to it than that, though. Here’s what I’ve gleaned over the years.
• If the driver of an old Jeep Cherokee (not the Grand, mind you) initiates a wave, Wrangler drivers are encouraged, but not required, to wave back. Same goes for any Jeep produced before the Chrysler buyout.
• Drivers of old CJ Jeeps have wave seniority, like salutes.
• If a Liberty driver waves, try not to laugh.
• Odds are, if the Wrangler in question is one of those new four-door models, and the paint is shiny, then they have never heard of the Wrangler Wave. Also, they’re probably still trying to figure out why they couldn’t get a leather interior.
• The driver of a Grand Cherokee or a new Commander will never wave, as it might distract them from their cell phone, their mocha latte, their snacks, and whatever is playing on their in-dash DVD.
• If, as the driver of a Wrangler, you ever receive a wave from a Jeep Compass or Patriot, you are required by Federal law to pull off the road immediately, drop your transfer case into Four-Lo, and drive up over the nearest great big rocks.
Alternately, you may drive up over the Patriot or Compass in question.
I experienced the same bewilderment when I got a Corvette about five years ago. Once we figured out what was going on (that the wavers were also in Corvettes), my wife laughed and said, “You just thought you’d bought a car; you didn’t know you’d joined a cult.”
We Element owners used to wave at each other back in ’03, when driving a box with wheels was something new. Frickin’ copycat Scions have rurnt it.
Years ago I experienced the same phenomenon as an Alfa Romeo owner. I think we were all just excited to see someone else stupid enough to have bought one and lucky enough to have managed to get it started on any given day.
I just recently got rid of my XJ (Cherokee). The dealer informs me that the transmission blew up on the way to auction. I’m a lucky man indeed.
We Bronco owners don’t wave at each other. We’re too busy looking for Explorer owners to drag out of their cars and beat up.
These days we even get Bronco II owners joining in
BMW drivers had the same thing going back in the 70′s. My dad had a ’74 2002 and bimmers were rare enough in those days that you noticed when another one was coming in the opposite direction. Almost every one of their drivers would flash their high beams in salute. Now you can’t throw a rock in any direciton without risking hitting one.
When I get my postal (not exactly a) Jeep on the road, will people be afraid to wave? Will they just avoid eye contact and drive to a safe location if I wave? I want to enjoy driving around in my ridiculous little beater of a jeep, but I don’t wish to cause any panic.
The dummy steering wheel that my son will have in the “driver’s” side will make for enough of that.
Jon –
Are you kidding? I’m pretty sure the postal Jeeps are straight-up CJs, only with the right-hand steering. Way cool.
Alfas got waves because when it broke, you might need some help.
My Uncle had a restored 53 Willy’s (looked like the CJ3 before they added a few more inches to the wheelbase) and it got plenty of Jeep Waves. There was a postal jeep in N.O. that was hard to get a wave from. . . he had a 455 Buick in it and it was usually going by at too high a speed for him to let go of the wheel, as it was known to sometimes change lanes on the shift.
I now ride a 1980 Honda XL250S, and get the motorcycle wave. Most Sportbike riders, Tourers,hardcore Harley guys (and once, Gal)wave, but yuppiewannabe types and the wannabe stunt riders often do not wave. I get some waves from guys in trucks when I’m riding in bad weather. I even rode in the last ice storm we had. . . The bike is now my only transpo. Meet another rider in 40 degree, rainy weather, and they will risk falling to wave (They had no helmet, a leather facemask painted to look like a skull and sunglasses).
Ah, memories! Back in th 60′s I drove a VW Beetle because I couldn’t afford anything else and because I liked them. Somebody, in a car magazine, outlined the pecking order for waves. Beetle drivers, being at the bottom, waved to everybody. Porsche drivers, from their exalted and high position, waved to nobody. In between there was a highly detailed order, D waved first to E, E would respond, but if D waved to A or B or C the wave wasn’t returned. I made my own rule — I waved to people on horseback and to hell with all the others.
I noticed the same thing with VW van drivers when my brother owned one years ago. The little 4-finger wave from other VW vans.
Us motorcycle riders have been doing it for years. It’s funny, when I’m in my car and pass a motorcycle and wish there was some way to do the same little hand wave so they know I ride, too.
Stephen,
Some of the old postal jeeps are, some aren’t. Mine’s an AMC, so for the purists it certainly isn’t a Jeep. Not 4WD, not with a Jeep transmission, and certainly not much of an off-road vehicle. I bought mine to be a ridiculous town vehicle (anything without air conditioning in Tucson = ridiculous.) I’m thinking of converting it to be an all-electric vehicle, but for now it just sits and taunts me with its frivolity.
In the long run? I’m probably going the full Rat Patrol if I can track down a 50cal machine gun replica. What could be more fun?
Jon –
Aw, hell. Chrysler’s built Jeeps. AMC has built Jeeps. Kaiser has built Jeeps. During the war, even Ford built Jeeps on license. There’s even a “Jeep Curse,” where forcing whatever company is building Jeeps into a forced buyout or bankruptcy. The curse seems to be holding.
Maybe we’ll enter the fun days when there are thirty or so car companies. With enough plant closings and enough patriotic and egotistical billionaires with money, we might even get some good stuff people like me could afford. I’d buy a Mark Cuban, but not a Trump. A Gates would crash without moving. A Jobs sounds dirty. A Huntsman sounds classy, but would probably seat twelve comfortably. Who knows what a Soros or Murdoch would look like, but there’d be buyers.
Oh I love this. Being a Corvette owner back in the 70′s The Wave, done with extreme coolness was a must. BF soon to be hubby thought the whole thing was very juvenile. Fast forward to 07, hubby buys first ever new car, Toyota
FJ Cruiser. Driving down the road one day we pass one and THE WAVE. Me to hubby, you know them? Nope we just always wave. Ohoooo really?
Better yet Toyota billed the FJ as entry level for young Turks, the only guys driving them in my neck of the woods are the midlife crisis guys, what a hoot! Better yet most wear those floppy brim safari type hats, hubby now also has one.Screamin’ funny
As a teenager in the ’70′s, I was visiting England and was invited to spend Saturday at the country house of some friends of my parents back in the US. The head of the family was a retired colonel in the British Army. I took the train from London and he picked me up at the station, somewhere in Surrey, in a VW Beetle. On the drive to his house, I remember that every once in a while, without a pause in the otherwise lively conversation, he would give a funny little wave to a car passing in the other direction – never a change of expression, smile or nod, just this impersonal wave, briefly raising his hand a couple inches from the steering wheel, with all 4 fingers extended stiffly and pointing together at the approaching car. Even more oddly, these gestures were all returned in like manner. This happened maybe 5 or 6 times in 20 minutes. Finally I remarked that he seemed to have quite a lot of friends on the road that day! No, he explained, he didn’t know any of the other drivers personally, was only giving other VW owners the “Sieg Heil” salute… as did all Volkswagen drivers in the UK (their being quite rare in 1975). After that, it was fun to see that yes indeed, every VW we passed gave us the same Heil Hitler wave…
By the way, here in Switzerland, where I drive a BMW, I’ve noticed that all BMW drivers studiously ignore each other. On a sunny day with the top down, I once smiled at a guy driving the identical model as mine (3 series cabrio, a car that might not exactly make us blood brothers for life, but you would expect a glint of mutual appreciation in each other’s eyes…) – but NO, he glowered at me like I’d not only invaded his personal space but was probably unqualified to be in his league. The Swiss!!!
I too bought an FJ but have yet to experience the wave whilst driving it. Were it not for the piss-poor sales tactics of the local Jeep dealerships, I’d probably be driving a Wrangler Unlimited instead. However, most of the hardcore off-roading enthusiasts I know here (Texas) think the FJ is one of the best stock rigs that money can buy. I intend to put that claim to the test just as soon as the loan is paid off.
RE: Alfas – I must have gotten extremely lucky as all three of my Alfas ran great. I’d get another older one in a heartbeat if I could somehow manage to wedge my wife and three 80 lb dogs into it simultaneously.
RE: Rat Patrol – They released the show on DVD a while back and I had to get it. My *much* younger wife finds it … bemusing.
RE: the wave – back before I moved to the flatlands from Colorado and still rode Harleys, the wave was *only* offered to other Harley riders along with various “cool” rides like Nortons, Triumphs, Guzzis, etc.
I’ve experienced the wave in my Subaru WRX. More than that, the day after I bought mine, I pulled into the local mall in it for some shopping, and a fellow WRX owner drove his car across the parking lot to stop next to me and chat for about half an hour.
Some cars are just like that, and truly worthy of it. The WRX is one. Most definitely so are Porsches and the classic Jeeps.
What do drivers of J-10 trucks and old Grand Wagoneers gets? Both were great snow transport and could pull anything short of a semi out of the snow. Grand Wagoneers are making a comeback, being restored and what not. mpw
I went through two Alfas. The first was a ’79 Alfetta sedan that suffered from the traditional loss of 1 qt. oil/1,000 miles, random electrical disturbances, and the fabled crap 2nd gear synchro. Plus no mechanic in the world knows what they’re looking at when they see a SPICA mechanical fuel injection system and immediately wants to blame everything in the world on it, from the national debt to their hair loss. Regardless, I loved that car and it had the best handling and weight distribution of anything I’ve ever driven with rear-wheel drive.
Alfa no. 2 was a 1991 164 that spent nearly as much time in the shop as it did on the road. Nonetheless it was faster off the line than all but the most robust Bimmer, and caused much embarassment for the import tuner crowd of upstate NY. That alone was worth the price of admission.
Alternate headline: “How Closeted Gay Men Pick Up Other Closeted Gay Men.”
“So I caught on quickly that Wrangler drivers give each other a little wave.”
(translation: small penis here)
What — so now I’m getting spammed by Camry drivers?
I drive an old Series IIA Land Rover, so any hand-waving coming from a Jeep looks pretty limp-wristed to me…