Bill Norris and Kevin Banonis are two Willys Jeep enthusiasts that met once a year at an antique Jeep meet. It was at the 2006 show that they discussed the lack of an antique Jeep calendar on the market. The two friends decided to take matters into their own hands and make one themselves, despite having no experience in the industry. The duo also did not want to make a typical calendar with just days of the week and numbers like everything else on the market. They wanted their calendars fun and interesting to make them stand out above all others. In fact, they began packing so much information in their calendars that numerous customers said they were more like coffee table books than wall calendars. After a few years of similar feedback from customers all over the world, they decided to use that as their advertising slogan.

In 2009, fellow Jeep nut Bob Christy approached Norris and Banonis about developing a calendar using his very artistic black and white photos of abandoned cars. They decided to take this project on as well packing the same kind of interesting information in Broken Down Heroes.

In 2010, Bill and Kevin decided that there wasn’t a really informative antique fire apparatus calendar on the market either. They decided to fill that niche as well. However, this calendar wouldn’t feature just fire trucks- numerous fascinating horse drawn rigs would also be included. By the way, Kevin is a former fire fighter and EMT.

In 2015, Norris-Banonis entered their calendars in the Calendar Marketing Associations National Best Calendar competition for the first time. They won first place in every category- Most Informative, Best Layout and Best Black and White Photography. Despite being approached by numerous printing companies offering to print their calendars in foreign countries assuring them they would save money, they have never waivered on their commitment to having them 100% Made in USA.