• News
  • Guides
  • Reviews
  • Media
  • About
  • News
  • Guides
  • Reviews
  • Media
  • About
Sign up Now (For Free)

Sign up for our newsletter and receive the latest automotive news in your inbox!

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Thanks for subscribing!
News
Read Now
  • All News
  • Automakers
  • Automobiles
  • Auto Shows
  • Business
  • EVs & Environment
  • Guides
  • Lawsuits/Legal
  • Regulatory
  • Ride-Sharing
  • Safety & Recalls
  • Technology
Recent
  • The Rearview Mirror: Tailfins Take Flight
  • TikTok Reveals the Hottest EVs in the Industry
  • Millions of Older Hyundai, Kia Owners May Face Trouble Getting Car Insurance
  • Bugatti Chiron Profilée Sets New Auction Sales Record
  • Another Delay for VinFast Customers
  • Ford Making Return to Formula One for 2026 Season
  • Ford CEO Farley “Frustrated” by $2 Billion Loss for 2022
  • Hyundai Ioniq 6 Achieves EPA-Estimated 361-Mile Range
  • Nissan’s Virtual EV Convertible, the Max-Out Reappears in Sheet Metal Form
  • Honda Launching Hydrogen-Powered CR-V in 2024
Editor’s Choice
    Reviews
    Read Now
    • All Reviews
      • Feeder
    • Classic Cars
    • Concept Cars
    • Convertibles
    • Coupes
    • Crossovers/CUVs
    • Diesel
    • Hot hatches
    • Hybrids
    • Luxury Vehicles
    • Minivans
    • Muscle Cars
    • Pickups
    • Sedans
    • Sports Cars
    • Super Cars
    • SUVs
    Recent Reviews
    • A Week With: 2023 Lexus GX 460 Black Line
    • A Week With: 2023 BMW X1 xDrive28i
    • A Week With: 2023 Kia Niro EV
    • A Week With: 2023 Hyundai Palisade Calligraphy
    • A Week With: 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R 4x4 Super Crew
    • A Week With: 2023 Genesis Electrified G80 AWD
    • A Week With: 2023 Land Rover Defender 110 V-8
    • First Drive: 2023 Honda Pilot TrailSport
    • A Week With: 2023 Jaguar F-Type R Coupe
    • A Week With: 2023 GMC Yukon Denali Ultimate
    Editor’s Choice
      Guides
      Car Warranty
      • Endurance Warranty Reviews
      • BMW Extended Warranty
      • Extended Warranty For Cars Over 100k Miles
      • Extended Car Warranty Cost
      • Subaru Extended Warranty
      • CarShield Reviews
      • CarShield Cost
      • Aftermarket Car Warranty
      • CARCHEX Warranty Reviews
      • Reputable Extended Car Warranty Companies
      • Used Car Warranty Companies
      • Best Car Warranty
      • Is CarShield A Scam?
      • Mercedes Extended Warranty
      • CarShield Plans
      Insurance
      • How To Identify A Car Insurance Company
      • Geico Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
      • How Far Back Does A Car Insurance Company Look
      • Mechanical Breakdown Insurance For Used Cars
      • State Farm Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
      • Mechanical Breakdown Insurance From Progressive
      • Dollar A Day Insurance
      • Auto Insurance For SSI Recipients
      • Car Insurance Rates After A Suspended License
      • Auto Insurance For Salvage Vehicles
      • Average Cost of Dodge Ram 1500 Car Insurance
      • Car Insurance Florida
      • Full Coverage Auto Insurance
      • GrubHub Insurance
      • Amazon Delivery Auto Insurance
      Shipping
      • Car Shipping Companies
      • uShip Reviews
      • Auto Shipping From California To Hawaii
      • Montway Auto Transport Reviews
      • Cheap Car Shipping
      • Easy Auto Ship Reviews
      • Auto Shipping Miami
      • Auto Shipping To Alaska
      • Car Shipping Cost
      • Auto Shipping Hawaii
      • Auto Shipping Puerto Rico
      • Sherpa Auto Transport Reviews
      • Auto Shipping Atlanta
      • Auto Shipping Boston
      • Auto Shipping. Chicago
      About
      • About Us
      • Contact Us
      • Terms of Use
      • Privacy Policy
      • Affiliate Disclosure
      • Sitemap
      TheDetroitBureau.com

      More than just “another” place to find news, reviews, spy shots, commentary, features, and guides about the auto industry. TheDetroitBureau doesn’t stop with the press releases or confuse a few lines of opinion with insightful, in-depth reporting.

      Contact Us

      Like what you see? Have some ideas for making The Detroit Bureau.com even better? Let us know, we’d love to hear your voice.

        Media
        Listen Now
        • Headlight News: All Episodes
        More from TheDetroitBureau
        • Guides
        • Latest News
        • Auto Reviews
        • Podcasts
        Headlight News

        TheDetroitBureau.com’s Headlight News offers a look at the past week’s top automotive news stories, as well as what’s coming up in the week ahead. Check out the week’s top story and our latest review…along with a dive into the past with this week in automotive history.

        home > news > Automakers > The Rearview Mirror: The SUV That Changed Everything

        The Rearview Mirror: The SUV That Changed Everything

        The Wagoneer is Jeep's big story this year. But it was also the brand’s big story this week in 1962.

        Larry Printz
        Larry Printz , Assistant Managing Editor
        Nov. 20, 2021
        The Jeep Wagoneer changed perceptions of what an SUV could be.

        There was a time when all other 4x4s were spartan and utilitarian, workhorses designed in the spirit of the original four-by-four, the 1941 WIllys MB. But this week in 1962 saw the introduction of a different sort of SUV: the Jeep Wagoneer.

        It is the first SUV to offer comfort and convenience features seven years before Land Rover introduces the same idea in the Range Rover. In the interim, SUVs have gone on to become positively luxurious, spawning the Navigator, Escalade, Cullinan, Bentayga, Urus, Levante, Range Rover, G-Wagen, Cayenne, DBX, X7 and Q8.

        Yet it all started with the Wagoneer, a nameplate Stellantis is reviving as a luxury sub-brand within Jeep.

        But the gestation of the Wagoneer didn’t just happen. It was the result of the Jeep’s evolving bloodline.  

        Willys faced a postwar dilemna

        Willys stopped production of the Americar after World War II, but would continue to use its chassis. (Brochure image)

        It was 1945, and World War II was coming to an end. With war’s end, Willys-Overland President Charles Sorensen, an ex-Ford executive, was contemplating his company’s direction. The company’s sole car, the Americar, was very much an also ran. That wasn’t the case with its other vehicle, the Jeep MB. Its wartime fame gave the company the greatest chance for success, despite its small potential market. 

        So, the company went to work on a civilian version of the MB, which would be dubbed CJ. 

        But the company needed more than the CJ. The company previously considered building a Jeep-based compact car named the 6-70, designed by Milwaukee-based industrial designer Brooks Stevens. But wiser heads prevailed, and the project was abandoned. 

        Building on a wartime hero’s status

        The Jeep Station Wagon, built on an Americar chassis, would be replaced by the Wagoneer.

        Instead, the company produced another Stevens Jeep-based design, the Jeep Station Wagon, which wore flat exterior panels that could be stamped in appliance factories to keep costs down.

        Arriving for 1946, it rode atop a heavily modified prewar Willys Americar chassis, with power from a prewar Willys 2.2-liter L-head 4-cylinder engine rated at 63 horsepower with a 3-speed manual transmission. Yet it wasn’t available with four-wheel drive until 1949, as a result of a special order arrived from the U.S. Army the year before. After that, changes were few, even after Willys-Overland was acquired by Kaiser Motors Corp. in 1953. 

        But by 1959, the Station Wagon was facing competition from newer truck-based competitors like the Chevrolet/GMC Suburban, International Harvester Travelall and the Dodge Power Wagon. So once again, the company, now known as Kaiser Jeep, turned to Brooks Stevens. 

        When it debuted, the Jeep Wagoneer was the only American car built with an overhead-cam engine.

        A new type of vehicle emerges

        In turn, Stevens produced a prototype vehicle he dubbed the Malibu, which debuted in 1962 as the Wagoneer.

        “The Wagoneer is not a converted passenger car with a tailgate thrown in,” its brochure stated, “nor a modified truck with windows — the all-new ‘Jeep’ Wagoneer was conceived and designed as a wagon.”

        Built on a Jeep SJ chassis, it had a 110-inch wheelbase and 183.6-inch overall length, nearly 8 inches more than the Station Wagon and came with two or four doors. It was the first four-wheel-drive wagon to offer an independent front suspension (standard on 4x2s, optional on 4x4s), and an optional BorgWarner automatic transmission.

        The 1969 Jeep Wagoneer would be the last one built by Kaiser Jeep before its acquisition by AMC.

        Power came from the only overhead-cam engine built by an American automaker, a 3.8-liter 6-cylinder, generating 140 horsepower and 210 pound-feet of torque through a standard 3-speed manual transmission.

        Base models were hardly opulent, however, with plain upholstery, rubber floor mats, and a rolldown tailgate window. Deluxe models, later known as Customs, were nicer, boasting carpeting, upgraded upholstery and door trim and, on 4x4s, a compass. Buyers could add such amenities as a front-mounted winch, AM radio, glove box light, electric clock, dual-speed windshield wipers, power steering, power brakes, overdrive, heater and defroster, seat belts, right-side mirror, snow plow, an electrically operated tailgate window. 

        Prices started at $2,546 for a two-door 4×2.

        The Wagoneer gets upgraded

        The 1966 Jeep Super Wagoneer was the first luxury SUV, and included a vinyl roof and every option imaginable.

        But Jeep kept making their good idea better, adding air-conditioning in 1964, while an American Motors-made 250 hp “Vigilante” 5.3-liter V-8 followed in 1965. A new, top-of-the-line model, the Super Wagoneer, was added for 1966 and came with every possible amenity.

        After all, an SUV with a vinyl roof, chrome roof-rack, tinted windows, whitewall tires with full wheel hubcaps, bucket seats, a center console, tilt steering wheel, air-conditioning, full carpeting, power brakes, power steering, power tailgate window, and an AM radio was positively luxurious.

        A four-barrel version of the 5.3-liter V-8 was nestled under the hood producing 270 hp through the console-mounted TH400 Turbo Hydra-Matic automatic transmission. Priced at $5,943,or $48,422 today, it cost more than a Cadillac DeVille. Never very popular, the Super Wagoneer was dropped for 1969.

        The idea of a luxury SUV never died, and returned after a nine-year hiatus as the 1978 Wagoneer Limited.

        When Kaiser Jeep Corp. was purchased by AMC in 1970, AMC continued to upgrade the Wagoneer adding Quadra-Trac four-wheel drive in 1972, and front-disc brakes in 1974. Then in 1978, AMC introduced the Limited, a fully-loaded Wagoneer not unlike the Super Wagoneer. 

        An idea whose time had come

        But times had changed, and this time, the luxurious Limited proved successful. It remained in the Wagoneer lineup even once the Wagoneer was downsized on AMC’s XJ platform for 1985. The old Wagoneer soldiered on. Now known as the Grand Wagoneer, it was built through 1991, wearing the same body panels it did in 1962.

        Fittingly, the Wagoneer has returned for 2021 as a new Jeep luxury sub-brand. The first two models include the standard-wheelbase Wagoneer, and an extended-length Grand Wagoneer. But odds are, there’s more to come. 

        And it all started this week, 59 years ago.

        How to Care for Your Car

        Cheap Car Warranty

        Editor's Choice

        Best Extended Car Warranty

        Editor's Choice
        Recently Published

        The Rearview Mirror: Tailfins Take Flight

        Yesterday
        2021 Porsche Taycan - charging

        TikTok Reveals the Hottest EVs in the Industry

        Feb. 03, 2023
        2018 Hyundai Sonata front

        Millions of Older Hyundai, Kia Owners May Face Trouble Getting Car Insurance

        Feb. 03, 2023

        2 responses to “The Rearview Mirror: The SUV That Changed Everything”

        1. Jim says:
          November 22, 2021 at 8:54 am

          Good or bad, I always think of the Ford Explorer as the start of the SUV craze.

          Reply
        2. Jonathan Wilkinson says:
          November 23, 2021 at 2:21 pm

          Love this. The Wagoneer really did start it all. The Wagoneer Chief evolved into the Cherokee XJ in 1984, which is the first truly modern SUV. The Explorer copied the Cherokee.

          Reply

        Leave a Reply Cancel reply

        Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

        Share this article:
        © The Detroit Bureau 2023
        • Guides
        • Privacy Policy
        • Terms of Use
        • Affiliate Disclosure
        • Contact Us
        • Sitemap
        Follow Us: