In what’s now become a rite of passage, my daughter has waited until the leaves started dancing to the ground and crunching underfoot to begin the first of what I assume will be many Gilmore Girls watchthroughs. It’s been hard to bite my tongue as she expresses discontent with such eventually beloved characters like Paris Geller.
I’ve seen the show enough times that I am well aware that one of the eponymous Gilmore girls proudly drives a Jeep Wrangler. What I’d forgotten was that in the pilot she drives a YJ, which is swapped out for a TJ in every subsequent episode.
Neither is a great Connecticut car, which is what makes it excellent car casting.
A Little Town In Connecticut That’s Actually A Little Set In California
If you know nothing about the world of the show, just know that 99.8% of it takes place in rather small part of Connecticut. Richard and Emily, the grandparents, live in Hartford (Richard works in insurance, so this tracks). Lorelei and her daughter Lorelei–who goes by Rory for practical reasons–live in the fictional town of Stars Hollow, which is somewhere in the central part of the state.
The elder Lorelei, as played to perfection by Lauren Graham, gets knocked up at 16 and flees her embarrassed, overbearing wealthy parents. She continues to raise herself and her daughter, and by the time the show starts the younger Lorelei/Rory are fully a part of the quirky Stars Hollow.
The town is actually the village set on the Warner Brothers studio lot in Burbank. If you yearn for a certain sort of comfort food television, it’s also the town square used for the show Hart of Dixie (and roughly one million other projects). Having the plot of Gilmore Girls etched into the grooves of my brain, I now zone out and just watch the same red Ford Probe circle around the same gazebo.
Like standing too close to a Seurat painting, you can look at something so much you don’t even see it at all. I’m not rewatching the show to rewatch the show, I’m rewatching it to bond with my kid, which means I’m more interested in what she thinks than what happens on screen.
However, the Jeep Wrangler of it all did start to amuse me. At first glance it very much feels like a choice made by people who never visit Connecticut who just grabbed a car that happened to be available at the time (the pilot was shot in Ontario, thus the two different Jeeps).
Would Lorelei Actually Own A TJ?
I can practically walk to Connecticut, and my daughter’s own grandparents live near Hartford, so I know that soft top Jeeps aren’t entirely uncommon around here. It’s a popular enough choice in summer, though they mostly and conspicuously disappear around November. Growing up in Houston, a soft top Wrangler was basically always a soft top Wrangler, which is also true of David’s California-owned YJ.
Connecticut gets cold in a bitter sort of New England way that makes a soft top seem like a bad idea to me, which is why the hard-topped Jeep in the pilot makes more sense. You’d maybe imagine Lorelei would employ the optional factory hard top at some point, but I have done a full study of this and she’s pretty much always got the soft top installed.
Curiously, she also never seems to put the top down at any point ever in the show. Presumably, this is a production choice and not a narrative choice. In fact, the whole thing is preposterous based on Lorelei’s own well stated proclivities; She doesn’t like going outdoors, she’s not adventurous in the way you associate with most Jeeps, and she says she’s not a convertible type of person.
For all of these reasons, of course the vehicle makes sense. This came up on Reddit a few months ago, and someone pointed out that it’s a car that her parents would hate, and that the Jeep “is her counterculture symbol of rebellion.” The grandparents did end up buying Rory a Prius, which is the early 2000s antithesis of a Wrangler.
Not being sensible is the most Lorelei trait possible, and owning a soft top Jeep convertible that you never take off-road and never use as a convertible has a twisted logic to it.
The Car Is Real And Doug DeMuro Wants It
@cars_and_bids Doug DeMuro and the Gilmore Girls Jeep SAGA! Find or sell your cool car on @carsandbids #carsandbids #dougdemuro #thiscarpod#carsandbidspodcast #quirksandfeatures #carenthusiast#carenthusiasts #cars #gilmoregirls
As you can see in the above TikTok video, our pal Doug DeMuro considers Gilmore Girls the greatest television show ever made. He’s also kind of obsessed with this particular Wrangler, which was auctioned off when the show ended (to, of all people, a woman who lives in a small town in Connecticut).
Doug tracked down the daughter of the auction winner, hoping to acquire it. He was tersely rebuffed, saying it was “a family heirloom.” Doug was undeterred, pointing out that the “crossover before car enthusiasts and Gilmore Jeep enthusiasts is me, you’re going to want to sell it to me!”
What I’m realizing now is that every time I’m in Connecticut visiting the grandparents I’m going to have to look for that Jeep, if only to send Doug a photo. Here’s hoping it hasn’t been hit by another deer…
Top photo: IMCDB
Matt, Jeep Weekend is an annual thing on Crystal Beach, between Galveston and Beaumont. But you probably knew that. Being from Houston and all that.
To be clear. Xj’s never had heat problems. (Michigan former XJ owner). I can’t speak for TJ’s but I would definitely not call what Yj’s blew out, in the winter, heat.
Having watched and (mostly) enjoyed Gilmour girls, I can confidently say the beige TJ is exactly the sort of “rebellious” vehicle choice Lorelei would have made, in complete opposition to her mother. Actually, all of the automobile casting in the show is pretty good, and contribute to the story line and character development.
-Emily’s Jaguar was a definite choice over a generic domestic luxury car, showing her aspirations of status, and her high-achieving / high maintenance personality.
-Rory being gifted the Prius matches her deference and social consciousness, but also shows her coddled upbringing, with her guardians clearing the path ahead of her.
-Luke’s aging yet rather nice Chevy C10 Custom shows he is a practical, hardworking, outdoorsy (and lonesome) guy, who takes good care for the things (and people) around him.
(This one initially felt heavy-handed from a 2020s perspective, as those trucks have attained considerable value, and the ‘slightly too nice’ truck or Ford Bronco has become a trope for those sort of characters. However at the time, a C10 would have been seen as a ‘classic’ but not particularly expensive or special vehicle.)
My question to you Matt, is do you watch the ‘Year in the Life’ reboot?
I had to stop halfway through the first episode. All of the character growth implied at the end of the show was basically un-wound. All of the outcomes show Amy Sherman Paladino to be a hack with utter contempt for her characters, in particular the women. The ladies’ arcs all felt deliberately cruel, with literally ALL being forced to compromise their aspirations needlessly despite their community, resources and education.
Don’t even get me started on Lane having ‘no choice’ but to carry dead-beat Zach’s baby, get married and give up her band- never mind what supposedly happens to Rory. I would find this hard to watch with my own future daughter without some heavy contextualizing.
Growing up in the cold Northern winters of Canada, soft-top Jeeps of that era were a lot more common than their hard top counterparts for two very real reasons:
-Hard tops were not standard, and were a significant cost-plus on a cheap 4×4
-No one wanted to try and store a hard top in the summer
Plus, having owned two XJs, I can confidently say that the 4.0L has an endless supply of heat.
Especially through the firewall. When you’re stuck in traffic. On hot days.
Yeah, this is my experience as well, the heater works just great. You could make the decision to roast a potato on the passenger seat even with the soft top up.
I’d also say having driven an XJ in ski country (which I’d not recommend) with the soft top deployed, wind noise was as always terrible, but cold air intrusion, while present, was not so robust as to overwhelm the aforementioned highly capable heating system…
Just curious… are they bad in the snow/ice?
I mean, it’s certainly workable, it’s the shorter wheelbase which makes things more challenging on occasion. I think I’d categorize it more as, if you’re going to drive on snow/ice regularly, there’s just better options out there for you, versus “bad”.
I had a Suzuki GS850 that would get pretty warm between the legs stopped in traffic in the summer. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed any heat making it through the firewall on anything I’ve owned.
Jeep wasn’t big on the whole “insulation” thing in the 80s, so the XJ definitely cooked you through the sheet metal.
Was great in the winter, wasn’t so good in the summer with no A/C.
Never seen Gilmore Girls. But then again my TV is only hooked up to a DVD player and I will occasionally rent a movie online. I live in a bubble, but I have seen plenty of soft top Wranglers driven in Maine in the winter. Broncos too nowadays.
I briefly had an Amigo, manual, 4×4, V6 with the hard top and soft top. Should have repaired it and kept that one…
“Lorelei Gilmore Driving A Soft Top Jeep Wrangler In Connecticut Makes No Sense Until You Remember Who Lorelei Is”
I don’t remember who she is because I didn’t watch the show… but I’m guessing she’s an idiot of some sort, no?
“Not being sensible is the most Lorelei trait possible, and owning a soft top Jeep convertible that you never take off-road and never use as a convertible has a twisted logic to it.”
You call it ‘twisted logic’. I call it stupidity… a trait of someone who is an idiot.
Leaky cowl vent TJ
Are deer in this state seriously targeting and subsequently attacking and hitting Wranglers? I have so many questions! Why just Wranglers? Do the deer see them as competition for resources? Are the deer organized or is it just instinctual for them to attack status vehicles that are poorly designed for regular road travel? Are those deer crossing signs actually created and posted by the deer themselves, and are a warning that the deer will sneak up on you (if you drive a Wrangler) and spring an ambush?
Got a laugh out of your username.
It’s MY name and I wanna use it NOW!
The jingle IS kind of an earworm, Mr. or Ms. Wentworth.
if you know anything about TJ’s it’s that those engines put out SO MUCH HEAT that the soft top is definitely not an issue, you will overheat inside there in winter if you’re not careful. And they heat up extremely quickly, too. I swear it’d be putting out heat by the time it got out of the driveway.
In the winter in relatively temperate Seattle, my old TDI didn’t put out noticeable heat for at least five minutes. Thankfully it did have some pretty impressive bun warmers. Turned all the way up to 5, they were uncomfortably hot within a minute. I used to wonder how much current they drew.
Ha I has a 98 TDI Jetta as my daily for 12 years in MN.
Winters with double digit negative temps in the morning I would cycle the glow plugs at least 3 times before even attempting to start it.
The shifter (yes it was a 5 spd) was like trying to move a big stick stuck in Georgia clay mud.
I wouldn’t even attempt to turn on the ‘heat’ until 10 min. in to my drive otherwise it would just be blowing cold air. The seat warmers would stay on High from about the middle of January until at least the end of Feb. which worked great to keep me toasty warm
Being efficient with fuel doesn’t produce a lot of wasted heat, does it. After Y2K curtailed my travel for a while, most of the miles I put on it were ferrying my kid and his friend about two miles to school in the morning and back in the afternoon. It never got anywhere close up to optimal temp. Yet, the worst MPG I got on those tanks was 38. I’d take it out for a longer drive almost every week to drive out any moisture, real or imagined.
The YJ from the pilot had a hard top, but the TJ had cupholders, and you really need somewhere to put the neverending cup of coffee.
In all my times watching the show, I’d never realized that a) the Jeep was a soft top(or I did and didn’t register it) and b) the top never got put down. I do think it’s the perfect vehicle choice for Lorelei as a character since a jeep is not quite mainstream, kind of fun, gives off the idea of fun and adventure and most importantly would be the exact type of vehicle a high class member of society would not want anything to do with. Practically, it’s cheap and can do most things well enough. I’d also never realized how good the vehicle casting is for the show until my latest rewatch. Luke’s old Chevy C20, Emily’s Jaguar, Dean’s F-150 then Ram 1500, they all fit the characters super well.
My spouse is rewatching the series, and I watched alongside the frist couple of go-arounds along with daughter and again this week in a walk-through mode.
Tisk tisk, you didn’t include the couple of episodes that included the engine munching itself, and the emotional trauma surrounding the attempts to have Lorelai buy a more practical sedan instead of fixing it. Lots of talk (of course) around the emotional attachment to that particular Jeep. Luke finally found a different vehicle with the same engine to swap into her Jeep saving Lorelai from the anguish of getting a different vehicle.
Such a missed opportunity for a longer post. Oops did I spoil a followup post? Sorry about that!
That was a good storyline, never mind the fact that you can buy rebuilt engines or buy just a used engine from a wrecking yard…
No care. Cars on TV shows don’t matter after Ashes to Ashes.
They may well be all Trabants compared to the mighty quattro.
The way that Doug talks about wanting to own this Jeep is not helping him. In this case he sounds arrogant and to me it feels like he thinks he is entitled to buying said Jeep just because he is a fan of the show. If I was the owner of the Jeep, I would (A) sell it to anybody but Doug, (B) sell it to Doug but ask an gargantuan amount of money or (C) never sell it and send Doug a picture every time I drive through snow and salt.
(to be clear; I do like Doug, its just the vibe of this videoclip)
I can see it. Base 2dr Wranglers were CHEAP back then. And as you say, what better vehicle to stick it to her hoity-toity mother. And while not my idea of a good time in a New England winter, they (usually) are 4×4 and thus quite capable in snow as long as you don’t try to go fast, and they do in fact have absolutely face-melting heaters that will keep you warm just fine. I have a couple Jeepnut friends in ME/MA. The biggest issue with them is keeping them from rotting to pieces if you drive them in the salt.
One of my favorite shows of that era as well. Now I want to rewatch it too.
It’s interesting. I own a Jeep TJ with a soft top and a hard top. I have experienced both tops in very cold and snowy winter conditions. I’ve never thought that the hard top is “warmer” than my properly installed soft top. The Jeep has a warm heater folks.
I occasionally see some lunatics driving both hardtops and soft tops around my area, near Ottawa. You’ve got to be hardcore to drive a Jeep when it’s -40 and icy.
Never seen the Gilmore girls. A couple more decades and I can add another record to my list.
I’m on the MA coast and I see them in winter all the time with soft tops on. I suspect people get hard tops and swap the first year, then realize it’s kind of a pain and the vehicle has a heater, so they don’t bother in the years after. It’s mostly 4-doors today, but wasn’t this show set in the late ’90s/early ’00s before the 4-doors existed and when Jeeps were probably still somewhat reasonably priced? I never saw it as it doesn’t look like my kind of thing and Doug is a huge negative endorsement, but I’m somehow familiar with pop culture enough to be somewhat familiar with it nevertheless.
I think it is funny that folks keep trying to justify driving a Wrangler, or trying to justify why someone else would drive a Wrangler. It doesn’t make any sense, and that is part of the point. Cold, noisy, knobby tires that are actually dangerous in the rain. Fun to drive though. In the 90’s a ton of jeeps had a sticker on them that said “its a jeep thing – you wouldn’t understand”. The sticker was annoying, but actually true. I grew up with an old ’60 CJ-5. Compared to that, my ’21 Wrangler is a luxury car. Still doesn’t make any sense, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Also, turn on the heater and wear a coat. People who live in the north understand how to function in the cold. Its really not that big of a deal. (gloves and hats exist).
Seriously – the Jeeps I have been in have all had “bake a chicken in the car” heaters on par with Saabs and Volvos.
I feel like this checks out. Wranglers are notoriously inefficient at turning fuel into motion, so there is a lot of extra heat available.
Wranglers were rated at 15/17/20 mpg which isn’t much different from other vehicles of the day. They didn’t make more heat but they were better at getting that heat into the cabin
And once you have your heavy coat, boots etc you really don’t want to crank the heat up too high for anything that isn’t a long drive since you’ll soon be getting back out into that cold.