The culprit
Of course, one could argue about which was the first sports utility vehicle. There are all kinds of candidates: Ford built high-legged station wagons with four-wheel drive even before the Second World War, and Willys also had the Jeep Station Wagon in its range from 1948 onwards. But the Jeep Wagoneer, which came onto the market in 1963, was in a completely different league – probably the first luxury off-roader that cut a fine figure both on and off the road. Kaiser Jeep took a big gamble with the Wagoneer at the time. Development costs amounted to $20 million, which was a lot of money in the early 1960s. The design was by Brooks Stevens. What was unusual was that the new Jeep still had a rigid axle at the rear, but had independent suspension at the front. The new model was initially available with two or four doors, with the two-door version also available as a delivery van with a split tailgate. This Jeep could also be ordered with rear-wheel drive only.
The Jeep Wagoneer was powered by Jeep’s brand new 3.8-litre six-cylinder engine, which impressed with its overhead camshaft and 140 hp. It could be shifted either manually via three gears or, for the first time in an off-road vehicle, via an automatic transmission. From the 1966 model year onwards, there was also the Super Wagoneer with a 5.4-litre V8 engine. The Jeep looked big at the time, measuring 4.74 metres long, 1.9 metres wide and 1.69 metres high, but still weighed only two tonnes. The Wagoneer was built almost unchanged until 1991. Here we show an early model from 1965, a classic Wagoneer with a manual 3-speed transmission and a 3.8-litre six-cylinder engine, which is in good condition both inside and out. What is unusual about this vehicle, which has Swiss registration papers, is certainly the interior in ‘Sylvan Green’.
These early Wagoneers have become really expensive, with beautiful examples such as this 1968 model below fetching well over $50,000.
More exciting US cars can be found at: Numbers.
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