Rare Rides: The 1948 Willys-Overland Station Wagon - the First SUV?

Corey Lewis
by Corey Lewis

Rare Rides has featured a classic Jeep previously, with the Kaiser-Jeep-produced Jeepster Commando. While that model was eventually succeeded by the Jeep Cherokee, today’s Rare Ride was predecessor to the Wagoneer.

Let’s learn about a seven-seat SUV from 1948: the Willys Overland Station Wagon.

The Station Wagon was a new type of car for Willys, which found itself operating in a different consumer landscape after the conclusion of World War II. At the time, companies that built car bodies had their hands full with incredible pent up demand. Unfortunately, Willys did not manufacture its own car bodies — and it was relatively low on cash, as well.

Industrial designer Brooks Stevens took all those factors into account when he designed the all-new Jeep family wagon. And he proposed an innovative construction method, too. Using his prior knowledge in the design and production of household appliances, Stevens drew up a wagon body made entirely of steel. The panels were easy to produce by sheet metal companies, and could be built at much lower cost and complexity than typical car bodies.

The all-steel wagon body was a new idea; prior station wagon bodies consisted primarily of wood. Wood bodies were heavier, more complicated to produce, not as sturdy, and required more maintenance than steel. A nod to the tastes of consumers, many Station Wagons were painted to look vaguely as though the body had wood panels.

Other notable advancements included an independent front suspension, a first for Willys. Lead engineer at Willys, Barney Roos, created a transverse leaf spring suspension setup called Planadyne. It was similar in concept to the design Roos created when he worked at Studebaker a decade prior.

At introduction, the only engine available in the Station Wagon was the 2.2-liter inline-four. Nicknamed Go Devil, it produced 105 torques and 60 horsepower. More powerful, larger engines arrived in 1950, 1952, and 1962.

The new Station Wagon entered production in 1946. A subsequent panel van version quickly followed, and the line was expanded by the more luxurious Station Sedan in 1948. Optional four-wheel drive was added to the line in 1949. It was a first for a family-hauling wagon, and a move which many argue created the first-ever SUV.

The Station Wagon remained in production though 1964 in the US, 1970 in Argentina, and 1977 in Brazil. In the U.S. it served its purpose of putting Kaiser Jeep on the map as a provider of off-road family vehicles. Pleased with the initial work, Jeep hired Brooks Stevens to create the Station Wagon’s successor. Introduced for model year 1963, it would become an icon: Wagoneer.

Today’s Rare Ride is for sale in Ohio. It’s been meticulously maintained over the years, and appears to have most of its original trim and interior intact. Notable is the presence of a novel third-row seat — an option not often selected in the Forties. Ask is $37,950.

[Images: seller]

Corey Lewis
Corey Lewis

Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.

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  • Joe This is called a man in the middle attack and has been around for years. You can fall for this in a Starbucks as easily as when you’re charging your car. Nothing new here…
  • AZFelix Hilux technical, preferably with a swivel mount.
  • ToolGuy This is the kind of thing you get when you give people faster internet.
  • ToolGuy North America is already the greatest country on the planet, and I have learned to be careful about what I wish for in terms of making changes. I mean, if Greenland wants to buy JDM vehicles, isn't that for the Danes to decide?
  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)
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