Staff writer
While many young kids dream of owning their own pint sized Barbie Jeep, 4-year-old Charlotte Silhan of Hillsboro thinks big: she has her own life-sized Jeep.
Her parents, Fred and Staci Silhan, who own the Jeep, have designated it for her in their will.
“Someone already reached out to me today to ask if we were selling it,” Silhan said. “I said ‘No, it’s not mine to sell.’”
The Jeep became Charlotte’s after Staci realized she was pregnant with her.
“When my son (Thurston) was one, we thought we’d have only one kid because that’s what the doctors told us,” Silhan said. “So we went to an MCC sale and we bought Thurston my great grandpa’s tractor. Well, Charlotte came along, and I said, ‘I am not buying another tractor!’’”
The Silhans already owned the 1956 Jeep, and decided once they found out Charlotte was coming that it would be hers.
The Jeep is unique in that it has a power take off generator in the back.
“That’s typically just on tractors,” Fred said, “but the Jeep has one.”
The Jeep appeared in parades at Lehigh and Redneck in Ramona, and was most recently seen sitting out on Main St. in Hillsboro to help advertise a Red Cross blood drive Monday.
“The Jeep is a 1950s model, but I tried to decorate it like the WWII era Jeeps,” Staci said. “It’s not an actual military Jeep, but it’s almost identical to those Jeeps that were used.”
Staci used the Jeep to advertise because of the significance of the Red Cross with military.
“A lot of people are like ‘Oh, it’s a M*A*S*H* Jeep’,” Silhan said. “And with the Red Cross being active with military and all that, we thought it would be a neat way to promote it.”
The Silhans intend to continue showing the Jeep.
“We plan on using it more,” Staci said. “Charlotte’s proud of her Jeep.”