"Indo-Canadian Jeep Club"

[MarkOttawa]

Beautiful British Columbia:

Their membership roll might be small, but their combined collection of wartime classics certainly isn't

They don’t have a website, regular meetings or a lot of members. But they sure have a lot of fun. The group of eight enthusiasts attending a summer car show south of Vancouver had their barbecue going and picnic lunch laid out. They shared soft drinks and animated conversation as they sat alongside each other on folding lawn chairs.

An amazing array of restored wartime Jeeps and trailers were parked in front of the men. The quality and detail of these restorations seemed flawless. Many of the Jeeps were fully equipped with army gear and some armaments. Many were towing military trailers that were loaded with equipment and appeared battle ready.

Most of the Jeeps and trailers have been restored in home garages with club members swapping their knowledge and expertise.

“All the farms in India have these Jeeps,” says Kam Mann, owner of an immaculate 1943 Ford GPW. “They were like part of the family. We would never sell our Jeeps.”

The Willys MB and Ford GPW commonly known as Jeeps, short for General Purpose, were highly successful off-road-capable military utility vehicles built in high numbers to a standardized design from 1941 to 1945. It was the world’s first mass-produced four-wheel drive vehicle with an estimated 650,000 put into service...

Romy Swatch, with eight restored military Jeeps along with matching trailers, has a wide array of wartime memorabilia including armaments. He shows one of his Jeeps with a decommissioned sub machine gun mounted in place and has a Howitzer, hand grenades and other field artillery – that can’t be triggered.

“I have dreamed of Jeeps since I was very young and had toy Jeeps to play with,” he recalls from his childhood in India. He came to Canada in 1993 and started working in a Subway restaurant. Three years later, he bought the franchise. He now has 11 restaurants in the Fraser Valley.

He says the giant Indian steel company Mahindra began assembling Jeeps in 1953. But there were many wartime Jeeps left in Europe that ended up in India...
https://driving.ca/jeep/column/collector-classics/indo-canadian-jeep-club

Mahindra still-making Jeep-type Roxor for off-road only use in North America:

https://www.mahindraautomotivena.com/roxor

Mark
Ottawa