What the car is and where it came from
The Jeep CJ is a series of small, open-bodied off-road vehicles and compact pickup trucks, built under successive Jeep owners from 1945 through 1986. In 1944 Willys-Overland, the main maker of the wartime Jeep, built prototypes for a commercial version, the CJ, short for civilian Jeep. The design evolved directly from the wartime vehicle. The most obvious change was a tailgate, with the spare wheel moved to the side, plus basic civilian amenities and legal lighting. The drivetrain also had to be sturdier, since rural buyers would expect years of service, not weeks.
How it works, in terms someone would actually use
Every CJ kept a separate body and frame, rigid live axles with leaf springs at both ends, a tapering nose with flared fenders and a fold-flat windshield. It could be driven without doors. With few exceptions, it had part-time four-wheel drive with a choice of high and low gearing, and an open body with a removable hard or soft top. Over 42 model years it gained straight-six and V8 engines, automatic gearboxes and different four-wheel-drive systems.
What it gets right
The first production CJ was aimed at the farm. The CJ-2A, built from 1945 to 1949, looked much like a civilianised MB, with a tailgate and side-mounted spare. It was meant for farming, ranching and industry, with options such as a power take-off, belt pulley, winch and snow plough. A total of 214,760 were built. The CJ-3B, from 1953, was licensed abroad, and Mitsubishi built its derivatives until 1998 and Mahindra until October 2010.
What it does not
The CJ-5 drew complaints early and a damaging television segment late. Owners complained that its 75 hp four-cylinder Hurricane engine was underpowered, and Kaiser added a Buick V6 in 1965. By 1968 some 75 percent of CJ-5s were sold with it. In December 1980 a 60 Minutes segment showed an IIHS demonstration that the CJ-5 could roll over at low speeds. Years later it emerged that the testers had managed only eight rollovers in 435 runs, after adding hidden weights to the vehicle.
What it changed
The 1945 Universal Jeep was the world’s first mass-produced civilian four-wheel-drive car. The CJ-5 ran for three decades, and the 1976 CJ-7 added ten inches of wheelbase and made doors and a removable hardtop common. AMC, which bought Kaiser Jeep in 1970, began marketing the Jeep as a sporty vehicle rather than a universal utility one. The CJ-7 became a favourite for mud racing and rock crawling.
Who it is for, and who it is not
It was first for rural buyers who wanted a working vehicle, and it was later a sporty one, with Renegade, Golden Eagle and Laredo trims. The CJ-7, built for eleven years, reached 379,299 units. It is not for readers expecting a single machine, since the line included the CJ-6, the CJ-8 Scrambler and the export CJ-10.
Is it worth your time
Yes, if you want to see one body style carried across four decades and several owners. It ended officially after 1986 with more than 1.5 million CJs built, and in 1987 the first Jeep Wrangler replaced the CJ-7, keeping its look, its wheelbase and its leaf springs.
