Jeep Wagoneer – The Pioneer of the Prairie

Today, four-wheel drive and luxury go hand in hand. Most new registrations are more or less luxurious and off-road vehicles. 60 years ago you still had to choose between off-road and clubhouse interiors, until the Jeep Wagoneer came onto the market in 1963.

Under the aegis of Kaiser-Jeep, the development of a new Jeep series was pushed forward in the early 1960s. The Willys Jeep Station Wagon, which had been produced since 1946, was now getting a bit old.

Designer Brooks Adams, who designed, among other cars, the Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk, several models for Excalibur, but also the PR vehicle Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, was entrusted with the design of the Wagoneer. Even though the Wagoneer, like its predecessor, is based on a pickup truck chassis – in this case a Jeep Gladiator – Adams tried to make the body untypical for trucks. But it shouldn’t be a jacked-up car with a tailgate.

For an off-road vehicle, the Wagoneer was quite elegant. Opinions only differed on the first radiator grille. With the start of the Super Wagoneer from 1966, the new front was introduced with the more pleasing and familiar wide air intakes.

Options are everything

But the equipment options were much more important than the external shape. And the Jeep Wagoneer brought with it a variety of options that were previously unknown in the all-wheel drive segment. The chassis scored points with its front independent suspension. On board were power steering, automatic transmission, radio and optional air conditioning. Under the hood is the Jeep “Tornado” six-cylinder engine with overhead camshaft. From an initial displacement of 3,769 cm³, it generated 105 kW/142 hp. Even before AMC completely took over Kaiser-Jeep, American Motors Corporation contributed a new, slightly enlarged and improved in-line six-cylinder engine from the 1966 model year. In the same year, a V8 engine was offered for the first time.

From a displacement of 5.4 liters it produced 184 kW/253 hp. During the Kaiser-Jeep era, the so-called “Super Wagoneer” appeared between 1966 and 1969. First with an AMC engine with 5,369 cm³, later a 5,735 cm³ engine from Buick. If you look at the original Wagoneer as the starting point of modern SUVs, you can confidently view the Super Wagoneer as the veritable ancestor of luxurious SUVs. Numerous equipment and comfort details were on board as standard or as options. For example, there was power steering, automatic transmission, interior lighting, push-button radio, adjustable steering column and an electric tailgate.

The constant in changeable times

In the following years under the umbrella of the AMC and Chrysler corporations, the engines and the details in the equipment changed, but the basic goal always remained the same: more equipment, more comfort and more sovereignty on the road – and especially off road.

AMC banned all non-brand engines from the Wagoneer and only installed its own, mostly large-displacement engines. Curiously, after the takeover of Chrysler in 1987, the AMC V8 remained under the hood, although Chrysler had more modern eight-cylinder engines with fuel injection in its range. The changes remained more of a cosmetic nature.

But even if the adjustments were always moderate, they only went in one direction, upwards in terms of equipment. The crowning glory was the Jeep Wagoneer Limited, introduced in 1978. Air conditioning was installed, as were electrically adjustable seats and windows, cruise control, leather interior and wood veneer trim. Even though the Limited clearly broke the $10,000 barrier, the model sold very well.

In any case, sales figures for the Wagoneer have always been extremely good over the years, with sales only declining slightly in the 1980s due to high fuel consumption and rising gasoline prices.

End and epilogue of the Jeep Wagoneer

The end of the Wagoneer came in 1991, when the last 1,500 examples with the “Final Edition” badge were manufactured. From then on, Jeep placed its hopes on the Cherokee and the Grand Cherokee, which, despite the name, were significantly smaller than the Wagoneer.

However, the story of the Wagoneer had a small epilogue. The popularity of the Wagoneer continued unabated. However, plans to bring a completely new model onto the road never materialized because implementation would have been far too expensive. So, Chrysler reached into its bag of tricks and tried to associate the name with a well-equipped Grand Cherokee with a V8, all sorts of special equipment and the typical imitation wood paneling. People didn’t fall for this label fraud at the sales counter and so the ZJ-based Grand Wagoneer fell short of expectations and was only in the range for a short time. You can see from the pure performance figures that it wasn’t actually such a bad car.

How should the impact of the Jeep Wagoneer be classified?

An off-road vehicle with a few amenities, what’s special about it? You might be able to ask yourself that from today’s perspective. Things were different in 1963. Vehicles such as station wagons or off-road vehicles were simply supposed to fulfill their purpose, everything else was secondary. The Wagoneer was, in fact, something of a pioneer. The Land Rover “Classic” only came onto the market a few years later. The direct contemporaries of International Harvester or Land Rover were rough fellows without comfort.

But the Wagoneer wasn’t Everybody’s Darling, and never wanted to be. And that’s not just because of the imitation wood paneling on the sides, which is reminiscent of the early real woodies. You must want such a stately vehicle. But those who chose the Wagoneer to cruise down the highway with their kids and kids — knowing in the back of their minds that they could also turn the wheel and drive cross-country across the prairie.

Accordingly, well-preserved or well-restored examples are rare and expensive today. The prices can therefore be in the mid five-figure range. But if the cars are well restored, you also get a reliable companion for all challenges on and off the road, who has also written a little piece of automotive history.

Photos Maximilián Balázs

Author: Paolo Ollig

As editor-in-chief Paolo regularly writes about all the big and small stories related to classic cars and motorbikes. Classic dreams: Lamborghini Countach and Mercedes-Benz 300 SL. View all posts by Paolo Ollig →