Where Do Ducks in Jeeps Come From?

Whatever Jeep you buy, you become part of a passionate community and a friendly team of comrades and like-minded people. The Jeep community is an informal group of adventurers. It would seem like an ordinary club of car enthusiasts of a certain brand, similar to others. However, this is rather a brotherhood with a value system, where people get into a unique culture with hierarchy, secret Jeep waves, and gift rubber ducks (Duck Duck Jeep).

Jeep Wave - more than a tradition

Jeep Wave is an original tradition of mutual congratulations used by Jeep owners. There are even theories that explain the origin of the Jeep Wave. Most of them say that the custom of greeting Jeep drivers appeared during World War II, and then continued in civilian life. Another theory claims that these signs of attention were invented in the 70s when Jeeps became popular among adventure lovers. When meeting, the owners of these cars greeted each other, because they saw someone with a similar passion.

One way or another, but the tradition lives on to this day. In general, there are even several Jeep Wave gestures with different meanings. For example, when a Jeep driver sees another car of this brand and wants to say hello, they can:

Make a full wave with five fingers;
Two fingers in the form of the letter V (as a sign of victory or peace);
Show two fingers while keeping a hand on the steering wheel.

And if someone is driving a Jeep without doors, he can even stick his barefoot outside the cabin (preferably when the car has completely stopped).

With the development of the Jeep wave, the question arose: who deserves the most respect, and who should be greeted first? In general, a hierarchy takes into account the age of the car, its appearance, and the level of tuning. That is, if someone is driving a CJ on the road, it is all dirty and equipped for real adventurers, then you can be sure that they will certainly be held in high esteem by other Jeep owners. After all, the owner has a cool car, understands its purpose perfectly well, and does not hesitate to modify the SUV for real adventures.

Duck Duck Jeep - rubber ducks as a symbol of mutual respect

No less interesting is the Duck Duck Jeep culture, which appeared in 2020, but has already become an incredibly popular phenomenon among motorists. Its symbol is a toy duckling left in a visible place on a car. Imagine, you come to your Wrangler in the parking lot and see a small rubber duck on the hood and a note under it: "I drive a Jeep Compass, but your Wrangler is so cool! I invite you to visit our local Jeep festival near Indiana." That is, you were congratulated and invited to the party by a stranger simply because you both drive Jeeps. And sometimes there is no note - just a rubber duck to express respect.

This tradition arose in 2020 at a gas station in a small town in the province of Ontario in Canada. A woman named Alison, after an argument, put a rubber duck on the hood of a Jeep that belonged to another person as a sign of reconciliation and her good attitude. A yellow duck was the classic of the newly created genre, and the SUV on which it was most often found was a Wrangler. Over time, colorful ducklings were left on any Jeeps, even children's pedal-powered ones.

What are the rules for Jeep ducking?

In this way, Jeep owners express and promote respect for each other because one of the main advantages of owning any car of this brand is admiration and respect. The rules of such "games" suppose mutual politeness. The ducks are left in some visible place, like the engine hood or side mirrors, and never inside the car.