They were just three words scrawled on the side of a restored World War Two MB Jeep, but when Joe Hires saw them for the first time a few years back, he knew he had to have that vehicle.
For Pete’s Sake. Right there above the rear wheel wells.
See, Hires’ dad Pete was a Merchant Marine in World War Two who loved Jeeps. And Joe Hires really wanted the vehicle as one way to remember his father – who passed away in 2010.
When the vehicle’s owner, a local gun shop merchant, then called to sell, Hires couldn’t say ‘yes’ fast enough.
Hires, from West Goshen, PA, was one of hundreds of Jeep enthusiasts who came out Sunday to Quadratec’s popular monthly Jeeps & Java get-together. And while the company’s lot swelled with all kinds of Wrangler, CJ, Cherokee and Grand Cherokee vehicles during the event, Hires motored up in that fully restored 1943 olive green MB to take in his first Jeeps & Java.
“I never knew you guys did this,” Hires said. “I befriended (one of the Quadratec employees) over Facebook and he saw some of my Jeep pictures and said, ‘hey you need to come out.’ I asked him where are you located and he told me, and I said geez, I’m like 5 minutes from here. Never knew you were here.”
Jeeps & Java provides area Jeep lovers a chance to get together once a month and compare builds, swap stories, spend time with friends, and show off all their iconic vehicles which range from bone stock to ‘need a stepladder to get in’ sizes.
Event goers also have a chance to donate to the Michael Strange Foundation "Voices For Silent Heroes", which is an area foundation that provides support and services to families of fallen service members. In addition, Quadratec has been accepting canned food donations to the upcoming 'Preston and Steve Camp Out for Hunger' event later this month.
For Hires, it was a good chance to get the Jeep out of the garage and into some nice fresh air.
“When I bought it, it had maybe a thousand or so miles and I’ve put on about 500 so far,” he said. “But mostly it’s a garage queen. Any chance of rain, it doesn’t move. Gets too hot out, it doesn’t move. But days like this, I like to take it out and buzz around West Chester.”
Hires bought the vehicle back in 2012, shortly after selling his dad’s house. A friend had called while Hires was in the middle of settlement and planted the seed about getting something to help remember his father. Hires replied that he wanted a World War Two Jeep.
“My father was a Merchant Marine during World War Two and he fell in love with the Jeep when he was over there,” Hires said. “They’d off-load them and when he was ashore he would steal officers’ Jeeps and go for a ride for the day.”
“Dad died in 2010, and in 2012 we were selling the house which had been in the family since the 1940s, and we were very sentimentally attached to it, so we sold the house and made settlement and I went to the local gun shop – I was going to buy an M1 Carbine because I do World War Two reenactments – this is the day after we sold the house, and my buddy who works there says ‘well my dad’s the owner and he just bought a World War Two Jeep’. And just as he said that, his father came out and says ‘hey Joe, you know about these – how about I go get it and show it to you.”
“He went home and got it..and (the owner) rolled up with it and my dads name was Pete – and the owner rolled up with it – and it already said ‘For Pete’s Sake' on the side. And he never knew my father or anything. My eyes started welling up and everything and the owner said ‘what the heck’s the matter with you’ and I told him that story.”
“But anyway, I said I gotta buy this from you. And he says ‘well I just got it and I want to have some fun with it, but if I ever decide to sell, you’ll be the first right of refusal.’ Six months later he called me and said ‘I lost my storage and do you want it?’ And I said ‘does a bear s*** in the woods? Needless to say, we see how it went.”
Hires himself didn’t complete the restoration on the vehicle as the person who sold it to the gun store owner did the work, he said, but Hires certainly keeps it as pristine as possible because (in part) he takes it out to several World War Two reenactments during the year.
“The guy put a lot of money and a lot of years into it and restored it to an off-the-line ’43 condition so it has a lot of the early parts on it,” Hires said. “It still has manual wipers, never done up with the vacuum wipers and it was a radio Jeep so it has the spark plug covers to stop distortion. It’s all new old stock - its got the correct MB block, the tub is original; the only thing that’s not is the tires. And the other thing is it was converted to 12-volt instead of 6-volt so it starts and runs better. It actually runs better than anything modern that I have.”
“I go out with it to reenactments in Reading, to Eisenhower Farm near Gettysburg, and we have one coming up in May in Phoenixville for the Valley Forge Freedom Foundation."
Quadratec's Jeeps & Java will return in December on a date TBA. Check back later this month for full details.
