(first posted 6/25/2012) What do the Studebaker GT Hawk, the Excalibur neo-classic, the original Jeep Wagoneer, and our featured CC, the Willys Jeepster, have in common? Well, they were all attractive vehicles in your author’s opinion, and all were designed by the same man, Brooks Stevens. While not strictly an automobile designer – he did everything from Miller Beer ads to toasters and refrigerators – he had a real knack for car design.
The Milwaukee-based industrial designer was well known in the 1950s and 1960s as a miracle worker, and saved Studebaker’s bacon with fresh styling more than a couple of times in the 1960s. But that came later. The Jeepster was meant to expand Willys-Overland’s Jeep line into more carlike versions as the original Jeep 4×4, while certainly tough, rugged and reliable, had a rather limited market.
The Jeepster was designed by Stevens during WWII. After the manufacture of automobiles resumed after the war, work got underway, and the new Jeep drop-top was readied for production. Willys-Overland introduced it on May 3, 1948.
It joined the Jeep Station Wagon, a more family-oriented Jeep that had debuted in 1946. It, too, was styled by Brooks Stevens. Though the Jeepster may be better remembered today, the Station Wagon sold very well and lasted all the way to 1965. But we’re here to talk about the Jeepster, aren’t we?
W-O clearly had an advantage with the Jeep. It had been proven above and beyond the call of duty during the war, and many returning soldiers swore by them. But at the same time, it was a very basic vehicle and had a limited market for civilian production. The Jeepster and Station Wagon corrected that. These were meant for passengers, and could be driven like a regular car. And it had doors!
The Jeepster was basically a phaeton, with a folding convertible top and snap-in canvas and plexiglass side curtains. There were no roll-up windows. It was meant as a snazzy, fair weather roadster. Interest was pretty good for the first year, and 10,326 were made.
1948 models were powered by an L-head 134.2 CID inline four, essentially the same engine used in the original Willys MB. It produced 63 horsepower at 4000 rpm and utilized a single barrel Carter WA1-613S carburetor. All Jeepsters were rear wheel drive, which was somewhat unusual, considering the Jeep’s heritage. At the time, however, most buyers would probably not have wanted a four wheel drive Jeepster. If you really needed to go off road, there was always the CJ.
All Jeepsters (and Jeep Station Wagons) featured a chrome “waterfall” overlay in the center of the otherwise standard Jeep grille. The most common color combination is the one on our featured CC: yellow and black with a red interior. It was also the colors Brooks Stevens used in his Jeepster proposals to Willys-Overland management, if memory serves.
Since this was primarily a fair weather car, chrome steps were provided for back seat riders who couldn’t wait for the driver and/or passenger to get out and fold the front seat for access.
1949 saw two new Jeepsters added to the line, one with an F-head four with 72 horses. This replaced the L-head four cylinder Jeepster starting in July of 1949. A six-cylinder Jeepster was added at the same time. This was a 148.5 CID, L-head mill that also produced 72 horses, same as the F-head four. We can probably assume that the six had more torque, however.
Despite the new engines, sales dipped sharply, to 3,638. Why this happened is not clear, but part of it may have been due to the lack of glass side windows and the less than passenger car-grade noise, vibrations and harshness. That, and perhaps everyone who wanted one got theirs in 1948. Thanks in no small part to the Jeep Station Wagon and Willys Pickup, Willys-Overland did okay for the year, with 32,928 passenger cars, 31,595 CJs and 18,345 other commercial vehicles built.
1950 Jeepsters (along with the Pickup and Station Wagon) received minor cosmetic changes, the most noticeable item being a new grille. Instead of the standard Jeep slotted grille (with added chrome fillip), it was now V-shaped in plan view and sported five horizontal, chrome trimmed bars. Engines continued much the same as the late ’49s. Jeepster sales were not picking up, however. Although better than 1949, production of 4,066 four cylinder and 1,778 six cylinder Jeepsters was not a huge improvement, and W-O threw in the towel on the model.
Technically, you could still get a Jeepster in 1951, but they were leftover 1950 models. No new Jeepsters were built during 1951 model year production. In all, just 19,808 were built in three model years.
Interestingly, these Jeeps found collector interest fairly early on, so much so that the model was reintroduced by Kaiser-Willys in 1966. While not an exact copy, the early ones looked a lot like the original, right down to the two tone paint treatment. They would last all the way to 1973, although it acquired a botched nose job in 1972, thanks to new owner AMC.
I spotted our featured CC at a combined 70th birthday party for two of our neighbors. One of the attendees was driving this ’50 Jeepster, which activated my Neat Old Car Radar (patent pending).
The owner was very nice and had no problem with my taking some pictures. I even managed to get a ride in this beauty. One interesting thing about the Jeepster is that those wind wings on the side work very well. While driving on the highway at 50-55 mph, there was next to no wind buffeting and we could carry on a conversation with no trouble.
This is a really nice car, but it is not strictly stock. For more trouble free driving, a 2.3 liter Ford four cylinder from a 1980s Mustang replaced the F-head four. It can get up to highway speed with no fuss or muss. In an era without airbags and 500 pounds of safety devices and insulation, it works very well in this car. And you’d never know it was modified to look at it.
Despite its short run, the Jeepster was a classic design, and many have survived. My friend K.V. Dahl has a ’48, and about 15 years ago my Uncle Chris had one too, and they were both the same color combination as this one! That these Jeepsters are desirable collector cars today goes without saying. So thank you, Mr. Stevens, for your enduring designs. The automotive world would have been a little less brighter without cars like these.
I wonder if they-‘d have been better off marketing this as a sort of four-seat MG TD. Tweak the engine and suspension, source a four-speed that can be shifted from the floor,] anp7d you’d7 be set
This comment does not really fit here well but it sorta, kinda does as Jeep was a WWII invention. So, I will just include it as part of the general conversation.
When asked to give credit to the instruments and machines that had allowed the United States to win the war in the Pacific, Admiral William “Bull” Halsey answered, “Submarines first, radars second, planes third and bulldozers fourth.”
Maybe one of the top notch CC contributors can give us something on bulldozers one day.
It’s on my to-do list… I have access to my employers archives. (c:
When asked what he thought was the war winning weapon, Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery stated, “The Studebaker six wheel drive truck.”
I find it funny that so many people are outraged today if Jeep introduces something that wasn’t a four by four; conveniently forgetting that in the 1950’s fully half Jeep’s linup was rear wheel drive (station wagons and Jeepsters). Willys-Overland wasn’t completely committed to Jeep being a rough and tumble off-road company completely. They were also in the business to sell cars – and if customers wouldn’t go for the Aero Willys, they’d be happy to sell them a 2wd station wagon.
So, the FWD Compass and Patriot have historical antecedents. Which makes them real Jeeps.
Yeah, and Lamborghini started out making tractors, but if you say Lamborghini to anyone today, what do they associate it with first and foremost?
I bet most marketing types would kill to have the brand recognition that Jeep has. Is it better to educate the car-buying public that there have always been “less capable” Jeeps that clearly can’t ford a stream nor climb a mountain, or give the customer what they expect?
I have no issue with the Patriot & Compass duo other than that Daimler and now Fiatlser insist on slapping a “Trail Rated” badge on them. To paraphrase the line from Top Gun: Marketing Ego is writing checks the product can’t cash.
I remember when they introduced the “Trail Rated” badging, and my first thought was that this was just a precursor to making non-trail rated models. A smart idea, as long as they don’t then water-down what it takes to qualify a vehicle as “Trail Rated”, which they probably have.
True. It was only with AMC’s takeover that four-wheel-drive was made standard across the product lines; and even then, there was some retreat with the XJ Cherokee in 1984. In the Willys/Kaiser era, the Gladiator pickup, the Wagoneer, even the old Basket-Weave station wagon, could be had with rear-wheel drive. Even the “Universal” CJ-type Jeep; 2WD variants were known as DJs, not CJs.
The only exception was the reincarnated 1966 Jeepster and Jeepster Commando…seemingly to counter the earlier beef that 4WD wasn’t available on the original, it was standard equipment on the resurrected model.
I LOVE Jeepsters! Thanks for the nice treatment of them. Now that you mention it, most of the ones that I have ever seen in my life were this color combo too. But that’s OK, because they look really good painted and trimmed this way.
I would imagine that the lack of roll-up windows is what killed this car. I think that postwar car buyers could put up with some of the Jeep-style crudeness, but buyers learned the lessons about side curtains that their parents learned during the ’20s – avoid them at all costs.
The other point is that the postwar seller’s market was starting to subside by 1949. There may have been quite a few 1948 Jeepster buyers who took one because it was the first new car available to them. The first few years after the war was all about waiting lists (and bribes). When someone called you and said that your new car was in, you ran down and bought it no matter what it was.
I look forward to Carmine working his alternate-captioning magic on the scene with two women in a Commando facing a sea of turkeys.
The Willys-Overland logo looks a lot like a VW logo from a distance. At first glance I thought the owner had put VW hubcaps on it and was trying to fool people into thinking it was a Thing.
There’s a nicely restored Jeepster near my house in red, similar to one in the ad near the top of the page.
Beautiful cars and great weekend toys, can’t see putting up with one as a daily driver. As a kid (born 1977) I only ever saw these in local parades. And I even grew up just a two hour drive from the Jeep Factory in Toledo.
Nice; I think the Jeepster suffered a bit of an identity crisis. Was it a sporty Jeep, or practical convertible, or sports car, or? The lack of a more powerful six form the beginning probably didn’t help much either, as well as the side curtains.
FWIW, the neo-Jeepster was equally unsuccessful. An idea looking for a market niche.
Those were, really, two different cars in two different eras. The original Jeepster was, as you say, a car in search of a market. The story I read was, Willys, after the war, was so cash-poor it couldn’t afford new stamping equipment or tooling to make cars in the then-fashionable “bathtub” mode. Charles Sorensen, late of Ford, was head of Willys; and bought stamping presses from a defunct washing-machine plant. The presses couldn’t stamp deeper than half an inch or so; and it was out of that that the “basket-weave” design of the steel Willys Jeep station wagon emerged.
The Jeepster came to be because it was an easy adaptation of an existing line…the Willys Jeep wagon. And because the returning servicemen, which were most young men between 17 and 40 or so, remembered fondly their military jeeps (my old man was one of those). And because America was starved for new cars. It was all Willys had; it just wasn’t enough and wasn’t focused clearly enough.
The Kaiser Darrin was a similar failure; from a parallel company about to be merged with Willys. Out-of-this-world styling; and underneath, not enough power or performance to get out of its own way. Like the Jeepster, it was made with off-the-shelf parts; and with the same poor result.
As to the reincarnated Jeepster Commando…it looked similar; with the same size and even the same base engine (upgraded to an F-head); but it had the actual underpinnings of the CJ-6 and standard four wheel drive. It wasn’t unfocused; it was actually a dead-on hit on a market that didn’t yet exist.
It was a first, too-early attempt at a “sport” SUV. And it hit all the high marks: Jeep styling cues; power up the ying-yang with the Buick V6; automatic transmission, which was a novelty in trucks at the time; and Mustang-like bucket seats and consoles. Just the thing for the young, well-off rake who liked to hunt bucks and birds as well as chicks.
It was, alas, ten years or so too early. Timing is everything; and once again Kaiser-Willys got it wrong. If they could have tried it ten years later…exact same rig…it would have done fantastically.
I don’t agree with you about the neo-jeepster. In the seventies, young people re-discovered the Jeep, and sales took off. Even the Commando still benefited from that. The jeepster was to fem and self conscious. The rugged authentic looks is what made the Jeep CJ-5 and CJ-7 popular; the Jeepster didn’t have it. It was a dud both times, and would have been again.
Well…let’s explore that. I believe the market changed as much as the cars offered had changed, in fact more so.
Proof: the Wagoneer, conceived as a utility car, only came into its own as a “luxury utility” in 1974, with a gussied-up interior, Quadra-Trac, and the 401 V8 as (for a short time) standard equipment.
The Super Wagoneer and Tuxedo Park variants didn’t sell in the 1960s; but by 1978, folks couldn’t get enough of the woodie-Wagoneer.
The CJ-5, too. It was a big seller…with gas stations. The Tuxedo Park version, and Renegade I, were completely unnoticed. In the mid-70s, the Renegade and Levis variants were sold before delivery.
And, of course, the CJ-7. Notice the similarity to the Jeepster Commando? Similar styling cues…door cutouts; the rear window (although the CJ-7 was vertical instead of the slanted Commando). The Commando wouldn’t sell; the 7 broke records.
Finally…”fem” appearance? That WAS the YJ Wrangler, with its square headlights, step-angled grille, lowered frame. Yet it, too, sold like gangbusters.
Sorry, Paul…as a longtime Jeep observer, I gotta disagree with you on this.
One final word on the Commando: As the market was defining, with the Blazer and, soon, Ramcharger…Dick Teague had a bad-hair day when he got orders to redo the Jeepster on a shoestring. The results were worse than ghastly, as anyone who’s seen one knows.
That was the misstep that killed Jeepster II for good. Had they done the smart AND cheap thing, and taken those “wings” off the grill, leaving only the CJ grille…and then used the same longer hood and fenders the 1972 CJs got…they’d have had a late-arriving winner.
As it happened, as horrible as the nose-job was, killing it in 1973 was an act of mercy. But obviously Teague and his stylists didn’t understand yet what was the signature of the Jeep line, the upright, barred grille. Later Chrysler did, as they trademarked the entire grille…but AMC was just as happy to kill it off, replace the bars with full-width egg-crate cross-patterns.
The glam-rock group T-Rex, of “Bang a Gong” fame, did a song called “Jeepster” in 1971, which went to #2 on the British charts.
Unfortunately from a CC perspective, the song is not really about Jeepsters. Singer Marc Bolan never cared much about the appropriateness of the metaphors in his lyrics; his comparisons and analogies were all pretty random (and usually sexual). So the refrain “Girl, I’m just a Jeepster for your love” means (I suppose) that he’d like to climb all over her terrain the way a Jeepster can scramble hills. Or something.
So, just as long as you’re not expecting too much about W-O products (or any other vehicles for that matter), you can have a listen to this funky and damnably catchy bit of nonsense from the Jeepster II era:
The song is also used on the soundtrack on Tarantino’s Deathproof, a movie that does have something to do with cars (although not much to do with reality or recognizable human behavior).
Ha this song was running through my mind as I was reading this!
Interesting vehicle…but the styling makes me think of something you’d see on a circus carousel ride. A little bit cartoony, but then again the yellow probably isn’t helping there.
“Holy Toledo! What a car!” I remember that slogan from ages ago. Saw a Jeepster Commando in a supermarket lot a couple of years ago. The owner had just bought it and was showing it to a guy he knew. I walked over to look at it, also. It seemed mostly original, with a blueish green paint and white canvas roof. The owner said it was a 66. Not in the greatest condition, but nice.
Never seen one in the metal but did see the remains of one for sale on TM last week so somebody in NZ bought one.
Saw that too. It’s a ’48, still on TM, not surprise really as at $10K, it’s way too much for no motor or box. Interesting looking vehicles though – but the lack of side glass would put me off.
There is one around that seems to be slightly different every year. First time a 3.8L V6 went in. Then lifted a bit and after that a full 4×4 conversion.
I owned a 1968 Jeepster Commando C-101 for a total of 7 months in 1975…
For that I sold my beautiful 1972 Nova? Clearly I wasn’t thinking clearly. What did I buy when I sold it? My never-regreted-selling-1976 Chevy C-20 truck. I wasn’t known for rationality in those days. It took my bride and marraige to straighten me out…
The Jeepster was cool, though.
One of my professors at college had a 1949 Jeepster. Red w/black accents. Quite nice. This was also 1975.
Would be interesting as a hot rod body, as a change from the usual suspects
My dad was in high school when the original Jeepster was introduced. Did he want one? You betcha. Could he afford one? Of course not. He could afford a beater ’32 Ford that he bought for $50 and repainted in his driveway using some sort of kit in those pre-Earl Scheib days. I think that was part of the problem with the Jeepster, and it has happened since then with other cars aimed exclusively at the youth market.
My Dad bought a 1950 Jeepster during the 70’s as a restoration project. The engine (4 cylinder) was badly frozen, but we finally got it running. We never did get the overdrive freed up, although I doubt the car could have maintained speed in overdrive. It was terribly under powered. None the less, I got to drive it around the farm before getting my drivers license. It was a lot of fun as a fair weather car. We sold it when I left for college without completing the restoration. I should follow up what happened to it…
I my neck of the woods this was the official Shriners parade car, painted bright yellow, red and green.
Oh, no!!! TURKEYS!!!!!!
I checked out a red Jeepster in downtown Toronto a few years ago. It had a non-stock steering wheel and a column-shift automatic with modern gauges…obviously not the original drivetrain or dash. It looked like GM stock…maybe a 3800 under the hood?
The original SUV. Long before they were labelled SVUs.
Several old Greek movies feature a mysterious Jeepster / Jeep mixup. The front is more like a pickup truck, the side is sort of like a military Jeep, but the size is more like Jeepster. These are fairly common in movies from the ’60s, so I’m guessing they were built in Greece around that time. Maybe a Greek Willys division? Maybe an unauthorized dealer-customizer??? I haven’t been able to find any more info.
The movies also show a Station Wagon that looks standard to me except that it has the same turn-type door handles as this car, instead of the standard trigger-type.
I’m guessing it was an ex-military Jeep MB dressed up a bit for civilian resale, or something like that. It’s clearly sitting on the short MB chassis, and the hood and windshield are all MB (or CJ2). The Jeepster-like grille is shoehorned under the hood a bit crudely, and it has a modified body with doors and rear section. A mini-Jeepster.
Oops, forgot the picture.
About a year ago I was driving around rural north Florida when I passed a storage warehouse that had 3 of these Jeepsters (in different colors) out front with For Sale signs on them. I can’t be sure but I think at least 1 or 2 of them were the later model Jeepster.
As a kid (in the 50s) I remember a couple of the station wagons in our small town in Pa. I had no idea, until recently, that they were NOT 4wd. 1 had that “woody look” paint treatment while the other was a dark green.
I’m surprised that JEEP hasn’t tried an Audi-like sedan….Chrysler has tried re-bodies on several JEEP platforms (like the Liberty-Nitro and the Commander-Aspen) so taking an AWD Chrysler 300/Dodge Charger or Magnum and throwing some JEEP design cues on it must have been considered.
Nice ~
I’ve always liked the looks of these .
The front suspension had trunnions so they rode like pickup trucks and handled like wagons but still and all….
My late Step Mother bought a new one in 1948 as her College car , her dad sold it in a few years , she loved it so much Pops bought her one in 1969 , it was given to me when it was dead and had no title so couldn’t be scrapped in California (thanks Pop) .
I drove it a few months but it sucked gasoline like mad so off it went .
-Nate
I had the chance to briefly drive one of these sweethearts; docile, fun, just the kind of collector car, four cylinder with overdrive, delightful to tool along country roads on warm summer days.
My ’72 Commando was the version with the electric shaver meets ice cube tray grille. It was a fun ride… on smooth terrain. The pot holes on Route 9w next to the Hudson River easily overwhelmed the suspension, and the shock waves that pummeled my spine, I’ll not soon forget.
Spotted an early Willys Jeepster in traffic recently, top down and all. A couple guys on motorcycles (riding side-by-side) were shouting back and forth to each other, speculating about what kind of car it was. They both agreed that it was a Volkswagen Thing. Of course, the Thing was a shoddy imitation of the Jeepster, and not nearly as good looking.
My parents owned an original Jeepster in the early 1950’s as their daily driver, only car. Our was purchased used. It was red with a black interior. First, the side curtains weren’t Plexiglass. They were a softer and more bendable (foldable really) plastic, probably the same thing as convertible rear windows of the time. They scratched very easily and discolored from sun exposure much faster than Plexiglass does. When we got rid of ours at age five or six, you could hardly see out of its side curtains at all.
If memory serves me correctly, the one pictured here has an upgraded, non-stock interior. I don’t remember tuck and roll, I believe the seats were flat, and I think the door panels were also flat. It goes without saying that none of them came with stereo speakers in the rear side panels.
Of course, the exposed metal frames on the seats would never be acceptable from a safety standpoint today. Even by the standards of that time, it was a very basic vehicle. It was, as others have said, under-powered. It was also extremely drafty and cold in the winter. What amazed me most about ours is that in the two or three years we owned it, my parents never once put the top down.
As a car of my youth, it doesn’t hold much nostalgia for me. They replaced it with a new ’55 Dodge Coronet. Liked that car much better.
The Jeepster was too expensive for what it was. Could have had a new Ford for less money. Owned a 1973 Commando that I got for nothing. Seriously rusted. Was looking to get maybe a fiberglass replacement body that are available for other Jeeps. My brother used the Commando to pull a large stump. The stump finally came out. That was the end of my Jeep though. Thing drove like a truck anyway and very noisy.