Michael Polemeni is no stranger to Jeep, nor is he a stranger to winning a contest.
Polemeni, hailing from Beverly Hills, Florida, is the 2024 Quadratec Stages Jeep Giveaway winner, claiming a thoroughly bulked-up 2018 Jeep Wrangler JL in the process.
He was one of nearly 300,000 contest entrants during the sweepstakes period from September 18, 2023 through March 29, 2024.
Over that time, Quadratec built up its 2018 Wrangler JL in three distinct stages, starting with a mild stage one, all the way through a boulder-bashing stage three.
For Polemeni, this Wrangler JL isn’t his first Jeep.
His first was a 1996 right-hand drive Cherokee that he kept until the brakes eventually forced him to sell.
”It was old when I got it, and it was a beast,” he said. “It just kept on running and running.”
This isn’t his first contest win, either.
Polemeni claimed a 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle through a 2019 contest sponsored by the Daytona Beach News Journal.
That vehicle he used for parades and weddings, as part of his job at the time as a chauffeur. Eventually, he got rid of that one as well.
This one, though, will stick around for a while.
”This is a keeper,” he said. “I wasn’t so sure what was going on when I got the email, but I sent a reply thinking ‘let’s see what is going on here’. I thought maybe I won a t-shirt or something. And now that I see [the Jeep], it is way better than the picture.
”I remember sending in the entry, and I remember thinking ‘what’s it going to cost me but a little bit of time’”, Polemeni said. “I didn’t expect anything out of it, and then boom.”
For Quadratec, the contest was all about showing customers different avenues of modifying their Jeeps.
”You don’t always have to put every bell and whistle on your vehicle to enjoy off-roading,” said Quadratec Video Manager and YouTube Personality Rob Jarrell. “You can add products like what is in our Stage One build and get out there, or you can get a bit more aggressive with some Stage Two items. And then, of course, for those who want to really build out their Jeep, we have our Stage Three setup.”
Polemeni said he plans to make this Jeep his daily driver and enjoy the warm Florida sun with family as much as possible.
”The grandkids will really determine what I do with it, though.”
