One of the most distinctive features of a Jeep is its grille. This well-known Jeep part has evolved in many ways over the past eight decades.

A new exhibit at the Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival celebrates the grille and how it has changed over the years.

The idea of Bill Ringeisen, a Friends of the Bantam Jeep Association board member, the new exhibit, called “The Faces of Jeep” will be unveiled to festival visitors at noon June 10.

“I’ve been thinking about creating an exhibit like this since last year, and it’s great to see the idea come to life,” said Ringeisen, an Evans City resident and avid Jeep historian. “This exhibit is another way that we can celebrate our Jeep heritage, and I’m excited for people to see it in our Jeep history exhibit.”

The Faces of Jeep exhibit will feature grilles from 18 Jeep models of the 1940s and 1950s. These decades include both military and civilian models. The festival plans to unveil additional decades each year.

Seven of the grilles were manufactured by Tom Frank, who works in a family-owned fabrication facility with his brother in Mars. The grilles are reproductions of the first seven Jeep models and took Frank about 12 hours each to research, fabricate and paint.

The other 11 grilles on display are all original and were collected and painted with help from the Butler Flat Fender Club.

Ringeisen said this display is the only one he knows of in existence.

“Jeep enthusiasts have always collected grilles, but I have never seen them displayed all together in one exhibit like this,” he said. “The Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival is unique in many ways and this is just one more reason for people to come to the event and learn more about Jeep history.”

The exhibit building also will feature hundreds of photographs submitted by Jeep enthusiasts that feature their Jeep’s “face” along with their own. The photographs were submitted as part of a May contest to celebrate the new Faces of Jeep exhibit.