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Iconic grilles will fill 'Faces of Jeep' exhibit

The Faces of Jeep exhibit is growing.

Last year the new exhibit featuring Jeep grilles of the 1940s and 1950s was unveiled in the Jeep History exhibit. The exhibit is growing in 2017 with the addition of four new grilles from the 1960s.

The exhibit is the brainchild of Bill Ringeisen, Jeep History Exhibit manager.

“The Jeep’s grille is one of the things that make it so popular,” he said. “We eventually hope to have all of the walls of the exhibit filled with grilles from nearly every Jeep model.”

Each grille is presented by individuals, organizations or companies and plans are already under way to obtain grilles for 2018 when the 1970s will be featured. The festival is seeking others to present the new grilles. For more details, email info@bantam.org.

Following are the grilles on display — and those who made each grille possible:

1940s

Bantam Pilot — Heritage Region Jeep Alliance (HRJA)

BRC-60 — Wagner Truck Equipment

BRC-40 — Rodney Schaffer, Tom Lavorini and Jim Bob Donze

Willys Quad — Mark and Kristin Gaydosh

Willys MA — Wayne Kovac, Patti Jo Lambert and Charles Pro

Willys slat grille — The Grille Guy: Chris Rutherford

Willys MB — Marcia Ringeisen

Ford Pigmy — Fairground Market

Ford GP — Speedpro Imaging

Ford GPW — Bill Ringeisen

Early CJ2A — Flat Fender Club of Butler & Butler Old Stone House Region AACA

Jeepster (flat) — KaiserWillys.com

1950s

M38 — Bradley Ringeisen

M38-A1 — Airquest Aviation

CJ-3A — Golf Carts Unlimited

CJ-3B — General Rental Center and 3WaysToStore.com

CJ-5 — Elliott’s Tire Service

Jeepster (Point) — Classic Ink

1960s

Gladiator — Caldwell Energy Options, LLC

Wagoneer — Wagner Trucking

Jeepster Commando — Ron Lewis Automotive

M-715/M-724/M-726 — The Oswald family.

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