DUDE454

Had to write about the history of 1 car maker in Auto class so i of course chose Jeep, its not total but the cut off was 1200 words. Just finished and felt like posting.

When most people hear the word Jeep, they imagine this vehicle going over muddied hills and to the front lines or driving across some wilderness trail. And in the early days this was all it was, but through many years, makes and models Jeep has become something totally different than it set out to be. Jeep is a company that when I see it I imagine reliability, ruggedness and performance. A company that’s modern creations don’t live up to the history behind them, I want to show that Jeep is more than an SUV maker, they are a force that shaped America.
Before World War II the US was still using motorcycles and modified Ford Model-T’s on the field. They saw the need for a more specialized vehicle to serve. In 1939 the Military sent out 135 invitations to see what companies were up to the task. The vehicle had to meet certain specifications though; a payload capacity of 600lbs, a wheelbase under 75 inches, a fold-down windshield, weight under 1200lbs, and it must be four-wheel drive. Three companies were up to the task; Bantam, *****-Overland, and Ford. Bantam was the first company to come out with a working prototype, called the “Blitzbuggy”. But due to Bantam’s limited manufacturing abilities and financial position they could not meet the Military’s desired output. *****’s “Quad” beat Ford’s “Pygmy” due to its higher torque but Ford was eventually employed as well to meet the output the Military wanted. They were the same basic design but *****’s were called the MA and MB while Ford’s were called the GP and GPW.
In 1941 *****’s put the first civilian jeeps on the market, called CJ’s. They were called jeeps, but how Jeep got its name is unclear. Some say its when WWII troops called Ford’s GP a Jeep for blurring words. Others think it was Popeye’s magic pet called Jeep that could teleport and go anywhere. In 1945 came the CJ2A and shortly after that was the CJ3A and CJ3B all had iconic flat front fenders. There was a CJ4, just one. It was a prototype that was created in 1951 that had significant body changes. *****’s sold the Jeep name to Kaiser in 1953 and they released the CJ5 a year later. A CJ6 came out as well but in 1970 Kaiser had financial issues and sold the Jeep name to AMC, American Motors Company. In 1976 they released the CJ7 series, it only ran for 10 years but it was the most popular out of all the CJ models. Between 1981 and 1986 AMC decided to elongate the wheelbase and add a pick-up bed to their Jeep and call it the CJ8, the last of the CJ series.
At the time Jeep also had models other than their civilianized military vehicles. They had the Gladiator and Honcho pick-ups in the 60’s and 70’s. Jeep’s Wagoneer opened a family market for Jeep. It was a vehicle with four doors and plenty of room for a family and all their cargo, there was also a two door version called the Cherokee. Both of these continued on to have a complete body and frame change but the early ones were the FSJ platform, Full Size Jeep. When the body of the Wagoneer and Cherokee changed in 1984, the FSJ platform kept going until 1991 with the Grand Wagoneer which was advertised as a more luxurious SUV.
In 1984 Jeep came out with the XJ unibody platform of the Cherokee. It was much smaller, 1000lbs lighter, and was Jeep’s first unibody vehicle. It began to replace cars and made a huge innovation for modern SUV’s showing that you didn’t need a huge full size SUV where a scaled down version would work. A small pick-up model was also offered called the Comanchee from 86-92. It was the same as the Cherokee until you got to the truck bed and frame in the back. In the off road category it revolutionized suspension systems. The XJ had a Quadralink front axle that was suspended by coil springs and held in place by four control arms. This provided much better articulation and a smother ride. This Quadralink system was adopted by the later Wrangler as well as the Grand Cherokee and has set the basis for all the top modern off road suspensions like coil overs.
In 1987 Chrysler bought the Jeep name from AMC. They kept most of the models but they did get rid of the CJ series and replace them with the Wrangler series. The Wrangler series was much more “people friendly” than the running out of date CJ’s. From 87-96 the YJ Wrangler was offered, it was lower to the ground and had a smoother ride but still had the same leaf spring suspension all around. The big innovation came in 97 where the Wrangler got the Quadralink suspension that was tested on the Cherokee with great success. The difference here was that the new TJ Wrangler had the new suspension on both the front and rear axles, making it an incredibly capable factory off road vehicle. In 93 they released the Grand Cherokee that was supposed to replace the standard Cherokee models but the popularity of the XJ kept it on the market 8 year after the release of its so called Grand upgrade.
Chrysler took Jeep in a new direction after a while. With the design of the new Liberty they let off almost all of their product designers that held the true Jeep name, most of which were still from when AMC had control of Jeep. This new Liberty did literally replace the Cherokee as it came out the year after the XJ was discontinued and is even called the Cherokee in other countries. The Liberty took out the Quadralink solid front axle and replaced it with an Independent Front Suspension. This suspension was much weaker, had much less articulation (which leads to a loss of traction when off road) but it did offer a smoother ride. The “new” Jeep was focused more on grocery getting and cabin technology. They did away with the old reliable engines like the 4.0L I6 and released lower quality underpowered engines like the 3.7L V6.
Jeep has always been known for being rugged and mostly reliable vehicles that were never at the head of ride quality or technology. A Jeep was simply meant to get you there and back, even if there was off the beaten track. Now Jeep has become an average car company that has a past behind it but an unforeseeable future. They claim to be the same but with only one vehicle that offers any serious off road capabilities, that doesn’t seem to be the case. In June 2009 Fiat, a compact car company, bought out Chrysler and thus Jeep. It seems Jeep will no longer be known for the rugged, simple, go-anywhere vehicles of the past. They are now the grocery getters of tomorrow that are more practical for families instead of fun lovers.

MallCrawlXJ

spelled comanche wrong.......

other than that, good paper.