'Speed' starting a Jeep....

[RattlesnakeBob]

I know I have read of this somewhere but I'm devilled if I can find any reference to it, so....has anyone on here ever heard of it before???

The 'procedure' originated sometime during WW2 .I'm guessing whenever soldiers were bored they found ways to amuse themselves...and this was one way

The idea was to see how fast you could 'enter' a Jeep , start it , and pull away.

The drill (as I remember reading many years ago ) was to.

..Park a Jeep with the engine off and the handbrake on and in neutral (I'm guessing you removed the canvas and sticks )

the 'competitor' then leapt into the drivers seat (from the side or behind ?)

..one foot would depress the clutch, one hand release the handbrake whilst somehow or other the other would shove her into gear and hit the starter button as the right foot hit the accelerator.........a bit like an organised octopus !

the winner being whoever could start the engine and move the vehicle from a standing start in the shortest time.....

Now I can't recall what the 'record' was but!!!... I do remember being suitably impressed that it could be done so quickly

Has anyone else ever heard of this ?

I also recall reading that after the war during the long boring months of occupation that this game was seen regularly at more organised 'events' that were put on to keep the bored occupation troops interested whilct they were waiting shipment / demob home

Also ! I reckon it would be a good competition to hold at our various vehicle shows..!

Edited September 5, 2013 by RattlesnakeBob

[Pete Ashby]

It was reputed to be a favorite trick of the Canadians, those who have experience of 6volt starter systems fitted to MB's and GPW's may question the validity of some of the claims

 

Pete

[Big ray]

I dont think that I ever started a Jeep any other way during my service in Germany (Mid 1950s) We always jumped in,clutch down and into gear, hitting the starter at the same time (we certainly did not bother with the handbrake) our reason for doing it that way was because you would have to wait a second or two before selecting first gear without the associated crunch........... just seemed to make sense at the time, I even do it now sometimes when driving my Jeep.

And incidently you could always guarantee that it would select the gear the moment that the engine began to turn.

[RattlesnakeBob]

It was reputed to be a favorite trick of the Canadians, those who have experience of 6volt starter systems fitted to MB's and GPW's may question the validity of some of the claims

 

Pete

 

 

ah well I'd have to agree with you on that mate : ..... there's a 6 volt system on my old Hudson and you could not describe nor persuade it to 'speed start' in any manner ,shape nor form

[Richard Farrant]

I have heard this method called a "jack rabbit start".

[N.O.S.]

I'm pretty good at what I term the John Wayne jeep stop.

 

Foot on clutch and brake, screech to a halt, pull on handbrake and leap out.

 

As you exit the space where any normal vehicle would have a driver's door, your foot leaves the clutch and you realise (too late) that it is still in gear and you've forgotten to kill the ignition, so the poor thing jumps forward an inch or two as it stalls.

 

Look at any John Wayne war movie - he always exits a jeep that way :-D

[RattlesnakeBob]

I'm pretty good at what I term the John Wayne jeep stop.

 

Foot on clutch and brake, screech to a halt, pull on handbrake and leap out.

 

As you exit the space where any normal vehicle would have a driver's door, your foot leaves the clutch and you realise (too late) that it is still in gear and you've forgotten to kill the ignition, so the poor thing jumps forward an inch or two as it stalls.

 

Look at any John Wayne war movie - he always exits a jeep that way :-D

 

I have no doubt if I tried such a thing it'd go more like ...

' screech to a halt , attempt to leap out ....catch left foot on lip of doorway ...scrunch lower tender areas on bottom of rim of steering wheel...right knee collides with gear stick.....end up face down in the dirt to the side of Jeep with feet still snaggled up in the pedals and groaning profusely , clutch comes back up and engages as the motor fails to shut off and Jeep drags me across the show ground arena looking a proper clown '

[robin craig]

I think as we are a serious forum and always try to do things in an authentic way, the members above should attempt both the start and stop methods in front of a camera and post the results of their experiments, if nothing else, to give the rest of us some good laughs.

 

R

[Enigma]

I have no doubt if I tried such a thing it'd go more like ...

' screech to a halt , attempt to leap out ....catch left foot on lip of doorway ...scrunch lower tender areas on bottom of rim of steering wheel...right knee collides with gear stick.....end up face down in the dirt to the side of Jeep with feet still snaggled up in the pedals and groaning profusely , clutch comes back up and engages as the motor fails to shut off and Jeep drags me across the show ground arena looking a proper clown '

 

That made me laugh...if only because I was thinking along the same lines.