AMC designer Bob Nixon passed away on February 5th at the age of 86. Nixon was responsible for design work on numerous AMC vehicles from the 1960s through the Chrysler acquisition, including the Jeep XJ Cherokee and ZJ Grand Cherokee.

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2019/0...er-dies-at-86/

 

Ouch. The AMC jeep pickup trucks were absolute brutes offroading with minimal upgrading. My friend had one that would go all but vertical in any field with the 360 v8

 

RIP

 

The man largely responsible for over seeing the reason that Chrysler was able to coast with the Jeep brand for about 20 years before having to put in any real design effort. The YJ was already being built, the XJ was already being built and the ZJ was already designed and ready to be built. When they went to redesign the Wrangler in the TJ they already had all the suspension parts and knowhow to make that work from previous AMC work on the Cherokee and Grand Cherokee and the WJ was just an evolution of the ZJ. IMO Chrysler didn't have to put in any real work with Jeep till they went to build the WK. Hell even today the Wrangler line is largely the result of AMCs work on the suspension design of previous Wranglers with Fiat/Chrysler's spin on the interior and exterior stuff, and alittle bit of drivetrain work.