Tag: Jeep

Jeep trucks are bucking a common 4×4 price trend – Brandan Gillogly @Hagerty

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You’d have to be living under a sandstone outcropping in Moab to not notice that two-door 4×4 SUVs are among the hottest collectibles of the last decade or so. Led by the Ford Bronco, the classic two-door 4×4 SUV market has seemed to spur along the values of classic trucks as well.

As we explained in a story earlier this year in which we compared the values of wagon to their sedan counterparts, a longer roof is sometimes worth quite a bit more. We thought we might see the same when it came to pickups and their SUV relatives, so we asked James Hewitt, Hagerty Valuation Specialist, to run some numbers for us. The numbers mostly reflected our expectations, but there was one interesting surprise we saved for last.

1966–77 Ford Bronco

Whether it’s an uncut, all-original survivor or an orange-mocha-Frappuccino-seeking restomod, first-generation Ford Broncos are the king of the segment, with prices to match. In May of 2012, median #2 (Excellent) values for a first-gen Bronco and its contemporary F-100 pickup were separated by just four percent. By 2018, Bronco values had doubled while F-100 had barely moved.

Today, the median #2 (Excellent) Bronco is valued at $77,850—nearly five times its value from just ten years prior. Meanwhile, a 1967–1972 F-Series truck carries a #2 (Excellent) value of just less than half that, at $35,800. That’s a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison, as the Bronco was not based on the same full-size platform as the F-Series, but that generation of Ford full-size trucks has some off-road racing history of its own. The F-Series is establishing itself as a collectible in its own right thanks to its good looks and utility, as are plenty of other trucks from that era.

1969–72 Chevrolet C/K Blazer (K5)

The SUV premium looks just a bit lower when comparing a first-generation K5 Blazer to the same-year K10 pickup. Seeking to cash in on the growing SUV trend kicked off by International Harvester and Jeep, Chevy was working its own entrant before the Bronco was even on the market. After considering a smaller model to compete head-to-head with the Scout, Chevrolet decided to go full-size and base the Blazer on its existing pickup line. Those 1969–1972 K5s are rivaling the Bronco when it comes to value, as #2 (Excellent) versions of 1969 K5s are currently valued at $78,200 on average, when equipped with a 350 V-8. A similarly equipped K10 is valued at 45 percent less.

1974–80 Dodge Ramcharger

Mopar’s entry into the full-size SUV segment, Ramcharger, arrived in 1974, and, like GM’s K5 Chevy Blazer and GMC Jimmy, it featured a full-length removable hardtop. The Dodge doesn’t have quite the following of the K5, making it one of the best bargains in the full-size two-door SUV market—especially if open-air driving is a priority. Median #2 (Excellent) examples of 1974–1980 Ramchargers are valued at $32,950, which is double what they were just four years ago. Meanwhile, Dodge D/W Series pickups have also doubled but remain even more affordable, with a median #2 (Excellent) value of $24,000.

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Disassembling our 1993 Jeep XJ engine – Hagerty

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Last week you saw us pull in our most recent shop addition, a 1993 Jeep XJ with a 4.0L. Davin got it all pulled out and this week he wasted no time tearing into it. Things went fairly quickly as the pieces flew off this straight-six. Davin had his detective hat on as he uncovered a little more about this engine with every bit removed. You never know what you’re going to discover.

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Edsel Ford, president of Ford Motor Company delivers initial order of 1,500 Jeeps GPWs to the Army – Pacific War Stories @YouTube

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Pacific War Stories

President Dwight Eisenhower called the Jeep “one of three decisive weapons the U.S. had during WWII,” and General George Marshall called it “America’s greatest contribution to modern warfare.” The Ford GPW had predecessors in its 1923 4×2 Reconnaissance Car, the Bantam Reconnaissance Car of the American Austin Company, and the Willys MB. Ford’s prototype, the “Pygmy” was approved in 1940. It used a modified Model N tractor motor. The “G” in GPW stood for “Government” contract, the “P” indicated an 80in wheelbase, and the “W” referred to the design and engine licensed from Toledo, Ohio-based Willys-Overland Motors. The original origin of the “Jeep” nickname is debated to this day.”

Opening titles (0:07). Dedication: “This film is respectfully dedicated to the officers and men of the United States Army in the name of American Industry…” (0:27).

A trio of Ford 4×4 Reconnaissance Cars or GPW “Jeeps” exit a Ford River Rouge Plant garage in single file. Edsel Ford, president of the Ford Motor Company delivers the initial order of 1,500 U.S. Army cars to then-Brigadier General Charles H. Bonesteel III, speaking into a WXYZ radio microphone (0:45).

Under a Jeep’s hood, “the final nuts are turned,” putting the finishing touches on a new “scout car” (W-2017422) in a staged photo-op. The front fenders, wheels, grill, and headlights are seen in closeup (1:12).

Edsel Ford and General Bonesteel climb aboard. Ford smiles behind the wheel and reads a prepared statement (1:24).

Ford shifts the GPW into gear and drives ahead (2:09).

A Ford GPW drives wildly across a snowy Michigan winter landscape, bouncing over hills at high speed. Industrial buildings in the background (2:22).

The three vehicles race past an assembled crowd of onlookers, jumping over a bump in the off-road terrain to demonstrate liftoff. The trio drives straight at the camera head-on from two angles (2:37). In a closer view, the 45 horsepower Jeeps skid into a sharp curve and climb muddy hills with ease (3:01).

Ford and General Bonesteel watch approvingly in closeup (4:02). The GPWs drive over weeds and branches up steep hills (4:08). The Jeeps continue proving themselves, circling around warmly dressed officials in the foreground (4:37). A closeup reveals chained tires. The Jeep, driven by a man in aviator’s goggles, brakes, then drives down a steep hill, seemingly unharmed (4:54). A Jeep carrying two passengers bounces up and down a hill in a loop, dodging barren trees (5:15).

A driver and General Bonesteel behind the windshield. Edsel Ford holds onto his hat in the rear seat. The Jeep proceeds more cautiously, and General Bonesteel grips a canvas side panel (5:55). A GPW splashes through a narrow canal filled with water, spraying streams from either front wheel well (6:35).

Another car with two passengers and its hood flipped open, blocking the windshield. Water splashes over the exposed engine. Steam rises, yet the Jeep continues driving on (6:51). More Jeeps “rolling off the assembly line” of the River Rouge Plant. A wider shot reveals the outline of the Rouge plant, and other early 1940s Ford vehicles parked outside. Jeeps drive over railroad tracks (7:10). A seemingly endless stream of Ford GPWs drive forth from a gated service road (7:21). “The End” (7:33).

Against all odds, French inventor Albert-Paul Bucciali spent decades claiming he invented the Willys MB Jeep – Daniel Strohl @Hemmings

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Albert-Paul Bucciali was livid. Sometime after the Allied forces invaded Normandy and fought their way across France, he got an up close look at the little Jeep that everybody was talking about. While he appreciated what it could – and did – do for his country, one look underneath the Willys- and Ford-built light reconnaissance vehicles led him to spend the next 35 years in court defending his claim that he’d invented the Jeep and that he was owed a sizable fortune for doing so.

If Bucciali didn’t actually invent modern front-wheel drive, as he often claimed to have done, he at the very least made some pioneering advancements in sending power through the steerable wheels at a time when other inventors and carmakers were just starting to see the potential of such a system. Other than filing a series of French and U.S. patents for the system, though, he never fully capitalized on it and left behind just a handful of prototypes when he and his brother shut down the Freres Bucciali venture in the early Thirties.

*Bucciali’s front-wheel-drive system. Hemmings file photo.*

The two later went on to experiment with a four-wheel-drive sports coupe and a 12-wheel-drive armored fighting vehicle before Albert-Paul Bucciali settled on building gas generators toward the end of the decade. After the war and his brother’s death, Bucciali went on to experiment with helicopters and gas turbine engines before developing a semi-automatic transmission for Cotal.

That he never capitalized on his many patents, however, seemed to have stuck in Bucciali’s craw in his latter years. He accused Jean-Albert Gregoire, Tracta, and Citroen of stealing his ideas and claiming the glory and commercial success he believed was owed to him for inventing front-wheel drive. He contended that Renault built its automatic transmission on the principles he established with Cotal, and argued that Panhard et Levassor’s eight-wheeled EBR derived from the armored fighting vehicle work he and his brother did

But those claims all paled in comparison to his campaign to be credited as the father of the Jeep. While one would have expected he’d have cited the four-wheel-drive sport coupe that he and his brother developed, he instead looked at the Willys nameplate on the Jeeps he inspected and built his case upon the fact that Willys was one of several American companies to review one of his TAV30 prototypes in early 1930 while considering his pitch to license the front-wheel-drive system.

According to Griffith Borgeson, who visited Bucciali for a story in Automobile Quarterly in the late Seventies, the inventor pointed to one design in particular, US1837106, as “the patent upon which the whole issue depends.” That patent, filed in September 1928 and granted in December 1931, describes Bucciali’s TAV front-wheel-drive system. It includes a number of innovations, including drum brake linings integrated with the wheels, electrically actuated brakes, and a “parallelogramic” independent front suspension, but for the purposes of Bucciali’s argument, it also includes claims for inventing the spherical casing for a universal joint that permits the steering of a pair of driven wheels.

Bucciali suspected that, even though Willys brass passed on licensing Bucciali’s patent, they also filed away the design until the time came, a decade later, to design and build a light four-wheel-drive reconnaissance vehicle. Then, underhandedly, those same Willys executives and engineers re-constructed Bucciali’s design, slapped it under the front of the Jeep, won lucrative defense production contracts, and went on to build a civilian version with the potential for making millions upon millions of dollars.

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JEEP RESCUE MISSION in Farmersville, Texas!! – Dennis Collins @CoffeeWalk

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Welcome to Coffee Walk Ep. 156! Instead of taking our lunch breaks, my crew and I decided to head out East to Farmersville, Texas for a Jeep rescue mission. With the disruptions in the Jeep parts supply chain over the better part of the last year, these parts Jeeps are starting to become more and more in need and harder and harder to find. Interested in any parts off of the Jeeps in today’s episode? Shoot us an email to Social@CBJeep.com and we’ll let you know if we’ve already called dibs on it or not.

Which one of these 4×4 trucks from the early Seventies would you choose for your dream garage? – Matt Litwin @Hemmings

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Believe it or not, the ancestral lineage of the modern four-wheel-drive system dates to 1893. Bramah Joseph Diplock, an English engineer, patented a four-wheel-drive system that year, designed for a steam-powered traction engine. The concept was then adopted by would-be dignitaries in the self-propelled industry, including Ferdinand Porsche (in 1899), Daimler-Benz (1907), Marmon-Herrington (1931), and a host of others, including American Bantam, which designed the prototype general purpose vehicle that famously became the jeep built by Willys and Ford during World War II. Three decades later, the 4×4 drive system – offered by multiple corporations – had attained a long-established reputation for uncompromising off-road durability. In our latest edition of This or That, we’re celebrating 4×4 vehicles from the early Seventies. Let’s take a closer look at four examples for you to ponder, all of which are currently available in the Hemmings classifieds.

Arguably, Jeep made the 4×4 vehicle both fun and affordable for the masses with a contemporary system that was truly battle-tested. Its proliferation beyond what became the CJ was hard to miss, offered in larger platforms such as this Commando-based Super Commando II from 1972. This was one of but a couple years in which the Commando line did not include the Jeepster name, and convertibles, like our featured vehicle, came standard with a removable hardtop, V-8 engine and, of course, the four-wheel-drive system. According to portions of the seller’s listing

The Commando had its own new front end and unique sheetmetal that made it one of the most distinctive Jeeps in decades. What makes this one even more distinct is it’s done in range-topping Super Commando II trim. While we don’t have the paperwork to confirm an SC2, the appearance absolutely shows the premium feeling correctly…The darker blue streak highlights the power bulge in the hood, and the full-length stripe is a reminder that these had flush-fitting front fenders…The sea of blue continues inside, and it shows off quite a comfy interior. You have high-back bucket seats with a velour pattern, and the door panels were even done to match…the dash has a great classic look with a clean pad, factory speedometer, heat/defrost controls, and even the locking hub instructions are still affixed. You’ll also notice well-integrated upgrades for more confident driving, including the auxiliary gauges…This optional 304 cubic-inch unit looks authentic and authoritative under the hood…A three-speed automatic transmission, power steering, and Goodyear tires make for a good all-around cruiser…Plus, don’t forget as a true jeep you have a proper two-speed 4×4 transfer case.

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FOUND & RESCUED: AMERICANA CLASSICS IN VIRGINIA BARN!! – Dennis Collins

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Welcome to Coffee Walk Ep. 148 Man do I have a heck of a buy to show y’all!! This week my team and I packed up both trucks and trailers and headed out East to Purcellville, Virginia for an incredible Americana Classics Barn Find that I have been working on for a good while now with the family of the late J. Roland Stephens. After picking up some of the rarest low-mile Jeeps in the world, we then decided to truck on over to Butler, Pennsylvania to get a look at the factory where these Jeeps were built *hint, hint*.

The History of the Jeep Grand Wagoneer – Benjamin Hunting @Motortrend

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How the 1984–1991 Grand Wagoneer cast the luxury SUV mould for today’s model.

Although luxury trucks are a key profit center for modern automotive manufacturers, there was a time when only a single brand on the American market was brave enough to make the leap from ski station to valet station. It was the early ’80s when AMC decided to go all-in on an aging platform by transforming its already decades-old Wagoneer into the Grand Wagoneer and open up an entirely new segment for U.S. buyers. The Jeep Grand Wagoneer beat the (still Spartan but nevertheless high-priced) Range Rover to the American market by a handful of years, and while Land Rover was able to outlast its underfunded rival in the long run, as contemporaries there was no question who was first, and in the minds of many sport-utility fans, who also did it better.

Ancient Roots

A bit of backstory first. The original Wagoneer, internally known as the Full-Size Jeep, FSJ, or SJ, debuted in 1963, and would soldier on for decades with only minor mechanical tweaks. The first hints that the truck had the potential to woo an upscale clientele came with the Super Wagoneer, which then Jeep owner Kaiser released in 1966. Packed with luxury gear completely foreign to anything trucklike at the time (power brakes, a high-end radio, tilt steering, power steering), it wasn’t long before the model was commanding nearly three times the average transaction price of an entry-level automobile.

Once AMC purchased Jeep in 1970, the product line coalesced around the more basic Cherokee and its more family-friendly Wagoneer variant. Despite repeated urging from AMC dealers to increase the price point on the latter—due to the surprisingly high household incomes of buyers attracted to the truck’s blend of on-pavement comfort and rugged go-anywhere image—each truck would stay in its lane for the next several year

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HOLY GRAIL ’76 to ’83 Jeep CJ5’s! We’ve got ’em ALL! – Coffee Wak with Dennis Collins on @YouTube

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Welcome to Coffee Walk episode 114!

We have every single CJ-5 from ’76 to ’83 on the lot and a couple of them are, yes I’m going to say it, HOLY GRAIL Jeeps!

Dennis knows his stuff on Jeeps, take a look!

HOW ICON BUILT THE BEST JEEP WAGONEER EVER – Hoonigan Build Biology

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Johnathan Ward from ICON brings by another toy we’ll never be able to afford – the ICON Reformer Kaiser Wagoneer. Meticulously crafted and impressively engineered, this is yet another one of Ward and team’s hand-built creations that transcends simple car building to become a true work of art.