Touring Cambodia in a Willys Jeep
Traveling Cambodia in an authentic Jeep dating from the period of the Vietnam War is now possible as a German company is for the first time organizing a 15-day rally in 2013.
Starting in Siem Reap and passing through the famous Phnom Penh and Angkor regions, participants will travel through the country in classic Jeeps, each driven by a crew of two. The event is organized by German organization Namipenda and will take place in February 2013.
According to the company's website, the rally will have a team of mechanics available for assistance along the road.
There are a large number number of Willys and Ford Jeeps in Cambodia, most of them imported from Vietnam. The US Army Jeep was developed during World War II and manufactured by both Ford and Willys to a standardized design. Both companies continued to produce variants of the military Jeep up until 1982, and many were left in the region following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.
Namipenda organized its first rally in 2008 through the desert in Namibia, from the borders with Angola to South Africa. The company organized a second rally through India in the iconic car model the "Ambassador."
