Willys Jeep Station Wagon: the first all-steel wagon

The Willys Jeep Station Wagon was produced by Willys and Kaiser Jeep in the United States from 1946 to 1964, with production in Argentina and Brazil continuing until 1970 and 1977. It was the first mass-market all-steel station wagon designed and built as a passenger vehicle. After four-wheel drive became an option in 1949, two-wheel-drive cars were sold as the Station Wagon and four-wheel-drive models as the Utility Wagon; the four-wheel-drive version is often considered the first production SUV.

Willys Jeep Station Wagon at a glance

Based on the English Wikipedia article; the Brazilian Rural is covered by the same page.

History of the Willys Jeep Station Wagon

After the war Willys-Overland had no modern car ready for the civilian market. Executive vice president and chief engineer Barney Roos telephoned the industrial designer Brooks Stevens and implored him to help, and Stevens responded with a design that expanded the four-wheel-drive platform into a more car-like vehicle. Willys did not stamp bodies itself and had little money, so Stevens designed shapes that could be built by sheet-metal fabricators who normally made household appliances and could draw metal no more than 6 inches deep. The steel body was efficient to mass-produce, easier to maintain and safer than the wood-bodied station wagons of the time; within two years the only comparable American all-steel wagon was the 1947 Crosley.

The first Station Wagon arrived in July 1946 as the 463, with a 10-slot flat grille and the L-134 Go-Devil flathead four. A six-cylinder version followed for 1948, a panel van with no rear side windows in 1947, and a better-finished Station Sedan in 1948. Four-wheel drive became an option in 1949; two-wheel-drive cars kept the Planadyne independent front suspension, a transverse seven-leaf layout devised by Barney Roos and similar in concept to the suspension he had developed for Studebaker. For 1950 the flat grille gave way to a pointed V shape with five horizontal bars, and the Hurricane four and a 161 cu in six were added.

Under Kaiser ownership from 1954 the 6-226 Super Hurricane flathead six arrived and the grille lost two of its horizontal slats. In 1955 Willys withdrew from the passenger car market, renamed the vehicle the Utility Wagon, deleted the seventh seat and overdrive, replaced the Planadyne suspension of the two-wheel-drive cars with a beam axle and made Warn front hubs optional on four-wheel-drive models. The 1958 Maverick was a more luxurious two-wheel-drive wagon with two-tone paint and a standard AM radio, named after the television series Willys sponsored. One-piece windshields came in 1959 for two-wheel-drive cars and in 1960 for four-wheel-drive models and deliveries. American production ended in 1964, while Argentina built the wagon until 1970 and Brazil, as the Rural, until 1977.

Design and features

• All-steel body: the first mass-market station wagon of its kind, cheaper and safer than wood.
• Early SUV: four-wheel drive from 1949 made it a forerunner of the modern sport utility vehicle.
• Planadyne suspension: independent front suspension with a transverse leaf spring on two-wheel-drive cars.
• Two or four-wheel drive: sold as the Station Wagon and the Utility Wagon respectively.
• Panel delivery: a windowless van version from 1947.

Willys Jeep Station Wagon versions

• Station Wagon 463 (1946): rear-wheel drive with the L-134 four and a 10-slot grille.
• Station Sedan (1948): a luxury version with basket-weave side trim.
• Utility Wagon (1949 onwards): the four-wheel-drive model.
• Panel Delivery (1947): a van with one seat and no rear side windows.
• Maverick (1958): a luxury two-wheel-drive wagon with two-tone paint and AM radio.
• Brazilian Rural: the same wagon built in Brazil until 1977.

The wagon shared its platform with the Willys Jeep Truck and the Jeepster, and its four-wheel-drive system came from the Willys MB. More cars are in the Willys collection.

Sources

• Willys Jeep Station Wagon, English Wikipedia: development, year-by-year changes, production