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After World War II, Willys-Overland Motors built civilian Jeeps, Jeep Wagons and Jeep Trucks. In 1953, Willys-Overland was sold and became Kaiser-Willys Corp., later called Kaiser Jeep Corp.. Yes, that’s the same Kaiser we’re all familiar with now for health coverage. Almost all the vehicles they built were rugged work trucks and had the military jeep look until 1962. That was the year the luxury SUV was born but not yet named an SUV. It was called Jeep Wagoneer.
The famous industrial designer Brooks Stevens was asked to design a four-wheel-drive vehicle that was stylish, practical, safe and could be a family car without losing the desired jeep characteristics. In addition to the award-winning styling, the revolutionary Jeep Wagoneer offered a number of firsts including the first 4-by-4 with an automatic transmission and an independent front suspension system.
There was 4-by-4 competition from the Chevy Suburban and International Harvester Travelall, but they were bigger and more utilitarian. The Wagoneer offered two- and four-door models with passenger car features like stylish upholstery in a spacious comfortable bench seat interior with roll-down windows. Early models were powered by 3.8-liter, 140-horsepower, overhead camshaft straight-six-cylinder engine teamed with either an automatic or manual transmission. Two and four-wheel models were offered, but the 4-by-4 was the most popular, weighing more than 4,500 pounds.
In 1965, the Super Custom or Super Wagoneer was brought to market aimed at the upscale buyer who wanted ruggedness with comfort. Standard with this Wagoneer was air conditioning, a power tailgate window, power steering, power brakes, a tilt steering wheel, tinted windows, a padded vinyl roof with a chrome roof-rack, full wheel covers, white-wall tires, a 327-cubic-inch V8 engine and Turbo Hydra-Matic automatic transmission. The MSRP of $5,943 (about $48,950 in today’s dollars) was almost double the price of the base Wagoneer.
The Wagoneer was manufactured from 1962 through 1991 with only minor styling changes by four different manufacturers: Willys-Overland, Kaiser Jeep, American Motors Corp. and Chrysler (Fiat-Chrysler). If you think you see a lot of Jeeps around here it’s because more Jeep vehicles are said to be sold in California than anywhere else in the world. Oakland resident Eric Rothenhaus owns this edition’s very unique 1966 Jeep Wagoneer.
“It was a specially ordered Jeep,” the owner stated. “Originally purchased by NASA and Naval Air Station Moffett Field, it spent the majority of its life living at Moffett Field working as a fleet vehicle and still has the Moffett Air Base bumper sticker attached.”
The wiring on this truck is early 1960s jet wiring, probably done by military people with too much time on their hands.
“I believe at one time it had lights all over it which basically said, ‘Come follow me.’ It was also used for VIPs. It had military plates so it wasn’t registered for the road until 1977. The custodian of the Jeep kept meticulous maintenance records from 1967 to 2005.”
That individual ended up purchasing the Jeep when it was decommissioned in about 1978 and owned it until his death in 2005.
“I was looking for one of these,” the owner said. “The reason was when I was a little kid, my mom had a (Jeep) Cherokee.”
About three years ago a friend sent Rothenhaus a picture of this Jeep sitting in a back yard in Southern California. That owner planned on making this Jeep a ‘low rider.’ Rothenhaus said he just couldn’t let that happen, so he and a friend with a truck and trailer went south and ended up buying the Jeep the next day for $3,000. This was a two-wheel drive Jeep that had never been off the road but was always well maintained. Rothenhaus has converted his Jeep to four-wheel drive.
“I learned how to sew and redid the whole interior myself. I’ve tried to make it period-correct. I made a Photoshop rendering, and I posted it on a Jeep network and it was basically as you see it right now. Normally people post stuff and get 30 or 40 ‘likes.’ Mine went to 600 and people said ‘you must build this.’ ” So he did.
“A friend of mine is a vintage sign painter. He spent two days hand painting this whole thing.”
Once done, Rothenhaus rubbed the signage with steel wool, polished it, then kind of scuffed it with sand paper to give it that aged look. He didn’t want to get in trouble with the National Park Service, so the signage says National Trail Service, but most people don’t notice that change.
On the top of the Jeep is a safety box, three bright road lights, a spare tire, ‘jerry cans’ (for gas) and a shovel and axe that add to the park or “trail service” theme. It even has a front and rear trailer hitch. The bottom line is this Jeep Wagoneer looks more like a National Park Service vehicle than a National Park Service vehicle.
Have an interesting vehicle? Contact David Krumboltz at MOBopoly@yahoo.com. To view more photos of this and other issues’ vehicles or to read more of Dave’s columns, visit mercurynews.com/author/david-krumboltz.