Jeep at 80: we drive the icons

Then I turn a corner at speed and, instead of a faceful of desert sand, I’m hit with the full force of a chilly Cambridgeshire wind and a faceful of sodden, decaying leaves. Our freedoms may be returning, but the restrictions and complications of travel mean celebrating Jeep’s 80th birthday in the UK, not Utah.

Still, the Imperial War Museum Duxford is a fitting venue, because the creation of the MB in 1940 was rooted in a very literal fight for freedom. In July of that year, with World War II escalating, officials recognised a need for a new light reconnaissance vehicle to replace its ageing fleet of converted Ford Model Ts. The War Department drew up a list of requirements and invited 135 manufacturers to tender for production. Two responded.

Those bids came from the American Bantam Car Co and Ohiobased Willys-Overland. Bantam was the quickest to respond, with a prototype beginning tests a staggering 49 days after the tender was received. But with doubts over Bantam’s ability to meet the production run, the War Department invited WillysOverland and Ford to bid on the contract and gave them access to the Bantam design to speed up the process. The Army then subjected the three designs to a triple test that probably matched Autocar’s equivalent in its thoroughness.

The Willys-Overland Quad was the most powerful, thanks to its 60hp Go Devil four-cylinder engine, the Bantam was the most fuel efficient and the Ford Pygmy was better constructed and had superior design details. The Army continued to revise the specifications – the original maximum vehicle weight of 1300lb was deemed too low, for example – and eventually awarded the first build contract to Willys-Overland. Ford later gained a contract to help meet production demand. For its efforts, Bantam was granted a contract to build trailers.

The resulting recce vehicle was an instant success and a rare example of design by committee actually working. It was fast and nimble yet tough enough to handle any terrain. It could tow weapons, be fitted with a machine gun or serve as a battlefield ambulance. For reasons the history books can’t agree on, it was nicknamed the jeep and, as the US joined the war, was pressed into action across Europe and the Pacific.

Willys-Overland would build more than 368,000 MBs, with Ford producing 277,000 under licence. As the war ended, Willys-Overland bosses began to plot a civilian future for the jeep – although they were beaten to it by thousands of enterprising types across the world, who repurposed in myriad ways the jeeps left behind by the US military.

In 1945, the Jeep CJ-2A arrived, essentially a reworked MB with a bootlid, a spare tyre, bigger headlights and other mod cons. The firm attempted to trademark the Jeep moniker in 1943, although this was rejected after it was opposed by Bantam and others. Willys used it in advertising anyway, and controversially was granted the trademark in 1950.

With an ongoing military production contract for jeeps, WillysOverland doubled down on the offroader’s success, never returning to car production. Instead it expanded the Jeep line-up with further models, including the Wagoneer SUV and the Gladiator pick-up truck.

Despite the Jeep’s popularity, Willys-Overland struggled, and it was bought by Kaiser in 1950. Rebranded Kaiser-Jeep in 1963, that firm also struggled, and in turn it was bought by American Motor Corporation (AMC) in 1969. 

Under AMC, the brand launched some of its most progressive machines, including the 1976 CJ-7, the biggest design change to the core Jeep model for more than 20 years. A longer wheelbase offered more space and allowed for an automatic gearbox, and a plastic roof and steel doors were offered as options.

While the basic layout and styling elements from the MB remain, any real vestige of military usage has long gone. There’s a lot more sport than utility going on here. It’s all very 1970s Americana, from the elongated, curved font used on the oversized dials to the tan leather seats, while the narrower, more rounded bonnet maintains the MB’s shape but veers close to pastiche. If influencers were a thing in 1976, pictures of them posing in a CJ-7 would be clogging up Instagram.

There’s a carefree pleasure to driving it. The steering is soft and lacks a bit of feel owing to the off-road tyres, and it wobbles and bounces along the access roads of IWM Duxford. It’s perfectly pliant on our Tarmac test route, but it’s clear this is a machine that would be more at home on rockier terrain.

But while built for the wild, Jeeps were increasingly used on the roads. In 1986, AMC responded and took the bold step of retiring the CJ line, replacing it with the Wrangler. The name change marked a significant shift in philosophy: the new machine was still a compact, capable offroader, but there was a determined shift to add more of the comforts and features of passenger cars. The first Wrangler took its basic design from the CJ-7, but the mechanicals were virtually all new.

Not long after the Wrangler was launched, Jeep had new owners. AMC had long struggled, despite the success of its off-road brand, and in 1987 it was snapped up by Chrysler.

Sure enough, Jeep’s popularity continued to build, with the Wrangler supplemented by a growing range of even more road-focused products, helping Chrysler to grow significantly in turn. In 1998, the firm merged with Daimler, but it was a disastrous venture that lasted less than a decade. Two years after that, Chrysler went bankrupt in the 2009 financial crisis.

It was saved by Fiat, whose boss, Sergio Marchionne, recognised the potential of the Jeep brand. He rejuvenated the line-up and kept it centred on the Wrangler, still the go-anywhere, do-anything heart of the brand. Jeep became the cash cow of the Fiat Chrysler empire, and at times it pretty much underpinned every other brand. 

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles recently merged with the PSA Group to form Stellantis. The new car giant may have a largely meaningless name, but it has signalled its intent to continue drawing on the rich – and very American – heritage of the Jeep brand.

That brings us to the Wrangler 80th Anniversary Edition, which closes the eight-decade circle with a raft of bespoke styling elements that hark back to the original MB. That said, from inside the Wrangler, sitting on the comfortable seats and cocooned from the elements by reassuringly chunky aluminium doors and roof, with warm air blowing out of the heaters and music playing, there’s really very little in common with the MB. Even if you squint really hard. 

But once you’re moving, there’s something. Not directly: the ride, suspension, refinement and comfort levels of the latest Wrangler are worlds ahead of both the MB and the CJ-7. But the same sense of freedom is there: the belief that you’re in a vehicle that could take you pretty much wherever you want. No wonder it’s a concept that has endured for 80 years – and doubtless many more to come.

Jeep spin-offs: the best and the worst

1946 Willys Jeep Station Wagon: The first all-steel station wagon designed purely as a passenger vehicle was offered with rear- or four-wheel drive, with the latter arguably the first true ‘sport utility vehicle’.

1962 Jeep Gladiator: The body-on-frame truck shared its basic architecture with the Wagoneer, and came with rear- or four-wheel drive. It remained on sale in the same basic form (albeit with different names and styling) for 26 years. A Wrangler-based revival went on sale in the US in 2019.