Jeep wave - myth??

[Waggymcgee]

Is this really a thing? I have only owned a Jeep for 5 months but I have yet to to witness the alleged wave. I see jeeps with Hand wave stickers on them. Having owned a 66 VW bus and a Harley, they are all about the neighborly gestures. Maybe Washington is just lame although there’s a million jeeps up here. Is it just an old school thing?

[SJTD]

I think there's so many yuppies buying Jeeps that it doesn't seem to happen much but the guys that waved ten years ago prolly still do. I do.

[madmikeX3]

Seems like SJTD has it right. A lot of people out there buying Jeeps who may not know about it. Ive always waved and still do.

[iapexl8r]

I have an old cherokee cheif that never gets the jeep wave.. but my daily is a new gladiator.... My arm gets sore from all the waving, go figure. I guess the jeep wave thing is just for the JK and JL crowd.

[goldhammer]

Back in the day, the CJ wave was pretty universal, seems to have carried over to the newer versions. Us SJ folks kind of got left out. But among us, still common, as it is with the XJ crowd.

[oregonphil]

Kerry, ditto with the old VW 57 van and 76 HD, the old Jeeps are an exclusive club I guess.

[Waggymcgee]

Nice Phil! I lived in Eugene with the bus (21 window rag top), got lots of love around those parts. Country fair and all. The bus is still there with my ex. Grumble grumble. Lol. It was clearly just a stepping stone to fsjeeps and this forum

[mwood65]

Personally I have seen Bigfoot more times around here than Jeep waves.

[rang-a-stang]

I get a very occasional VERY ENTHUSIASTIC Jeep wave. More like a "HOLY $#!+ A Wagoneer!!!" (even though I don't have a Wagoneer). I get more from CJs, YJs, and XJs then I do TJ, JK, JL, or JT.

Jeep wave etiquette is the newer Jeep waves first. Most open top Jeepers will say the Jeep wave is more for open top Jeeps and excludes XJ, non JK/JL/JT Fiat Jeeps (Renegades, Compasses, etc.). I don't think there is a general consensus on Jeeps like FSJs or the old school Commandos.

[conehead]

Back in the 60's, 70's and 80's it was very common with the CJ's but now Jeep isn't Jeep anymore it's just another cookie cutter car company and nobody cares.

[fulsizjeep]

If I meet a FSJ on the road, I always wave. No matter what I'm driving. Some look at me in the KIA and probably wonder if I'm a stalker. If I am in a FSJ and a CJer waves, I wave back. Do the other models really count?

[Brynjminjones]

I get the odd wave here in the UK when driving my XJ, but not very often at all.

Most Jeepers over here have no idea what my Grand Wagoneer is though, and I seem to get totally ignored by Wrangler owners. I usually give them a thumbs up.

Strangely though, I have had a few Jeep people go absolutely mad for it, but not who you'd expect. It's usually been somebody driving either a new Renegade or a Liberty.
One woman in a Renegade basically stopped in the middle of the road to give me a giant thumbs up, she seemed ridiculously excited!

[johnsonic]

It was still a thing when I had my 1st SJ in 99. Now, not so much unless I'm passing another FSJ - then we both freak the hell out. Not so much a wave as a full body reaction.

Don't know if the yuppie / soccer mom / bro-tractor crowd know about the wave.

[rang-a-stang]

Strangely though, I have had a few Jeep people go absolutely mad for it...

If I meet a FSJ on the road, I always wave. No matter what I'm driving. ... If I am in a FSJ and a CJer waves, I wave back...

... unless I'm passing another FSJ - then we both freak the hell out. Not so much a wave as a full body reaction.

EXACTLY!!! If I see another FSJ (whether I am in my super turd or not) I freak the hell out, too!! I just think there are so few of them around any more and they are so unique.

I have a buddy that was a CJ-2A, then CJ-5 guy that daily drove them for 30 years he said

Jeep wave is more about the acknowledgement of what it's like to drive a little Jeep. They are slow, cold, bounce around, unreliable, miserable on the highway but nothing beats them. The Jeep wave should really be CJ to CJ. When CJ7 came out, we all ignored them like TJ guys ignore XJ guys today because CJ7 guys 'didn't get it' like we did. Then after a while, it was 'don't Jeep wave unless it's a Kaiser/AMC Jeep, these MOPAR Jeeps aren't really Jeeps'. Now you hear XJ guys saying "I ain't Jeep waiving to no Fiat!!'. The bar is always moving.

For the record, the air cooled VW guys have a wave, too. So do Harley guys. So do Indian guys. If someone waves to me, I will wave back, even if they are driving a KIA or Mazda or FC-150 or Fiat, and I always wave to CJs and Commandos. BUT I will ignore any Honda Ridgeline that waves. You have to draw a line somewhere. I mean, you have to have SOME dignity...right?

[Crankyolman]

I get a lot more thumbs up than waves...In fact I can only recall getting a proper Jeep wave once when someone in a 2nd gen Cherokee rolled down his window and stuck his arm out into the cold rain to wave.


On some show on TV I watched once they said the lesser vehicle is required to wave first and since I view any FSJ as the superior vehicle over anything newer I never wave at a newer Jeeps first. I will wave at the occasional FSJ or anybody who gives me a thumbs up.