After the WWII the immensily useful Willys Jeep continued to be in production for civil purposes, but the Willys started to realise that a more upmarket version could appeal those who wanted a sort of luxury workhorse. In a way this can be already considered as SUV-oriented thinking, and the Jeepster VJ model that was introduced in 1948 showed some signs of a cross-over concept. The engine was a 2.2 litre 4 cylinder 63 BHP unit.
Surprisingly for an off-road derived vehicle, the Jeepster initially only had rear wheel drive, which really reduced the appeal to those who needed to do heavy work, but with a bit more comfort. This omission was later rectified, but the car never became the commercial success Willys had hoped for. When production ended in 1950 only 19,132 were made.
Shown is a 1948 VJ model, which participated in one of the supporting events related to the 2006 Concours d’Elegance at Palace Het Loo.
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