How An All-New Big Wagoneer In 1987 Could Have Saved The Nameplate Today

You simply can’t disappear for thirty years and expect to come back to the same world you left behind. Let’s say a rock star that quits at the top of the charts and then reappears on the scene decades later, thinking they’ll immediately rule the industry again; it’s unlikely that this will transpire. That’s especially true with cars.

Now, I’m not referring to nostalgia pieces like the New Beetle. That resurrected car didn’t return to occupy the same space as the original VW Bug, which was now filled by things like the Polo and Golf. I’m talking about rare cases where legendary nameplates are resurrected with the expectation that they’ll immediately find the same audience they had all of those years ago in the category that they created, yet they fail to do so.

The best example of this kind of vehicle today might be the Jeep Wagoneer, a revival with such high hopes that Stellantis initially relaunched it as a separate brand to attract high-end SUV customers. That hasn’t happened, and I think I know why. I’d like to imagine what would happen if we went back thirty years and didn’t end the Wagoneer’s long run. Might that have positioned it better for success in a market Jeep probably never dreamed would one day be so lucrative?

By 1987 It Was Like Buying A Restomod

Few products can be described with the word “iconic” and “groundbreaking” as accurately as Jeeps. Next to the open 1941 World War II, possibly the next most pioneering Jeep product would be the Willys station wagon and the updated 1963 Brooks Stevens-designed version on the new SJ platform called the Wagoneer.

Arguably the first true sport utility wagons that could realistically be used as on-road transportation, the Wagoneer and later Cherokee models featured a clean, angular appearance that I doubt even Stevens thought would still be in production rather unchanged nearly thirty years later.

In 1978, Jeep upped the ante by introducing what they called the Wagoneer Limited. With a fancy leather interior and power accessories, it made the Jeep SUV popular with the horse-breeding types that was a cut above the mere country-club set long before the Range Rover offered such posh fittings and ten years before the British firm even sold their wares here.

When the XJ Cherokee debuted in 1984, Jeep put the Wagoneer name onto a fancied-up version of the new small SUV.

Reportedly, Jeep was planning on killing the old SJ, but sales (and profits) were so strong that they chose to sell the old warhorse as the “Grand Wagoneer” alongside that XJ Wagoneer. As you might imagine, by the early 1990s the old SJ Grand Wagoneer was practically medieval. With live axles on leaf springs front and rear, it was also likely one of the last carbureted cars you could even buy when the final ones left Jeep lots in 1991.

It was ostensibly replaced by the Larry Shinoda-designed 1994 ZJ Grand Cherokee; Jeep even offered those early Grand Cherokees with optional woodgrain side panels. Still, it was a smaller SUV and appealed to a larger cross-section of the population. While that’s generally a good thing, the George H.W. Bushes of the world that had bought old SJ Grand Wagoneers were not going to accept such a proletarian thing. It’s likely that many of these one-percenters moved on to Land Cruisers or even those Range Rovers the old SJ Wagoneer in some ways begat. What’s worse is that a few years later, Cadillac and Lincoln started to sell upmarket versions of Chevy and Ford SUVs that proved to be immensely popular (not to mention the Lexus LX). Suddenly Jeep was getting left behind by the large, super-upmarket sector they had in some ways created in 1978.

Despite the onslaught of profitable luxury SUVs, it took Stellantis thirty years to bring the Wagoneer back to claim its rightful place as the king of the fancy off-road wagons. Launched in 2022, it’s hit the market with a rather resounding thud. What went wrong?

Too Much Of A RAM-O-Neer

Rebooting an icon three decades can’t be an easy task for anyone. Still, the direction that Stellantis took seems to be too little too late. Offered in two different lengths the new Wagoneer (and longer Grand Wagoneer) is not a ground-up off-road Jeep creation.

They’re based on RAM truck chassis, so the thing sort of reeks of a cash grab big luxury SUV that really should have just been sold under the RAM brand itself as a Tahoe competitor, which Stellantis also needs, and which I drew up a little while back.

Into this crowded luxury SUV market, Jeep set the pricing for the highest-end Wagoneer models at over $100,000; a rarified air that many felt the new Wagoneer had no right to be in. Stellantis initially even gave the thing its own brand, though it was still sold in the same dealerships as other Jeeps, so you didn’t get the perks of a Lexus or Range Rover store. Ultimately, Jeep has dropped the whole alternate brand situation.

Besides a lack of off-road Jeep-exclusive cred, the styling is also a bit of an issue. From the front, the Wagoneer doesn’t really look any different from the lower-end unibody Grand Cherokee, and the things aft the firewall that do actually make it look different, like the super thick window pillars that aren’t admired by many.

According to statements from Stellantis, they consciously did not make the new Grand Wagoneer visually recall the old SJ Wagoneer or even offer a woodgrain side panel option, not wanting the new model to be a throwback design. Instead, they wanted the Wagoneer to be seen as a contemporary competitor to other high-end SUVs to be evaluated on its own terms. That’s understandable, but it’s something that the new Wagoneer isn’t doing a great job of.

Honestly, the lower-end Grand Cherokee looks more like a successor to the old SJ Cherokee/Wagoneer than the current Wagoneers. Even the rear roofline seems to be a bit of an SJ Cherokee/Wagoneer tribute in the comparison below:

Truth be told, Stellantis- or more accurately AMC and Chrysler- ruined the future of the big Wagoneer forty years ago when they could have started the thing on a path to staying contemporary and keeping continuity with the line. That’s something I touched on a while back, and we can explore more deeply now.

They Should Redo The Wagoneer Every 25 Years Whether It Needs It Or Not

Nobody can deny the legendary status of the 1963-91 Jeep SJ series of two and four-door wagons, plus the pickup trucks similar to our own founder David Tracy’s beloved old J-10.

These were full-sized trucks that offered true off-roading ruggedness that arguably the Big Three could not. Still, even our David finds these things to be a bit clunky to drive now, and while charming, you can imagine how hopelessly dated these things must have seemed by the mid-eighties.

That’s why I propose an alternative universe where AMC created a new-from-the-ground-up full-sized truck platform called the SJX, introduced in 1987. Tipping the scales at about 400 pounds less than the old SJ, the SJX would have featured updated motors, new exterior styling similar to the XJ, an upgraded interior, and even the magic of independent front suspension to move the full-sized Wagoneer and Honcho pickup two decades forward to be a modern competitor of Ford and Chevy trucks, albeit with more off-road prowess. Admitted, it would also have been more modern than the RAM D-Series, which would have been a problem had the Chrysler purchase of AMC still gone through.

My earlier post describes the lineup:

No matter if you were looking for a forest service-basic pickup or a something to upstage a Range Rover, Jeep had you covered:

The SJX series started with short and long wheelbase Honcho pickups and then moved up to the Chief range of four door wagons, including a long wheelbase 3 row version and even sport editions with floor shifts. AMC tooled up for a four door pickup- the Crew Chief- but didn’t have enough cash left to make longer doors for a two door Chief.

In my article from a few years back, I even suggested an ASC-modified version of a short wheelbase 360 V8-powered SJX Honcho with an electric sliding targa roof called the OffRoadster. Excuse the rather poor condition of the rusty example in the image below, since my story called for a current-day David Tracy buying a beat-up example of this OffRoadster (it’s a strange post, I’m warning you).

In the alternate reality that I dreamed up, I didn’t expound much on an SJX Wagoneer. Instead, I “found” the sportiest model of SJX possible since I knew that David wouldn’t have wanted an automatic-transmissioned luxury station wagon. He barely kept the semi-derelict real-world Grand Wagoneers he owned for very long in the past. That didn’t stop me from at least developing some sales literature with small snippets of what, in retrospect, might have been the most significant of Jeep’s all-new full-sized vehicles.

I was imagining that in 1987, the archaic SJ Grand Wagoneer and silly gussied-up XJ Wagoneer pretender both going away and being replaced by these all-new big SUVs. Here’s how I described it in my earlier post:

Top of the top of the heap was the $34,700 (in 1987 dollars) eight-passenger Grand Wagoneer to keep at the Aspen mansion. The Wagoneer had a chrome grille insert, body colored bumpers, and quad headlamps to set you apart from the unwashed masses in two headlight, grey bumpered lower level models. Inside, Wagoneers featured wood trim, digital gauges, and a metal-finish analog Rolex clock to make it upper-crust friendly.

Wow, that sounds like just the ticket for success back in 1987. Think about it: this was before Ford even had a full-sized factory four-door competitor for the Suburban, and GM didn’t even have a smaller Tahoe-sized product to combat the regular-wheelbase SJX Wagoneer. There were no US G-Wagens, and the Range Rover had barely been introduced in America then, so a more modern Wagoneer could have been exactly what the Gordon Gekkos of the time might have chosen.

Here’s the rendering of the SJX Wagoneer, complete with the gotta-have-it wood side trim, parked in front of that Aspen mansion I’d mentioned (listed for $25,500,000 but I bet you could knock a few bucks off):

This is one of the vehicles that looks exactly like you’d expect it to; in my alternate reality, AMC design chief Dick Teague would have upsized the XJ Cherokee and kept the same design language. There’s a family resemblance capitalized on in the same way high-end car makers from BMW to Range Rover do themselves, and it’s only in retrospect today that we realize just how outstanding and iconic that revolutionary XJ design really was.

In back, I’d like to add a three-way “magic tailgate” that opens sideways but still allows for the mandatory fold-down mode for polo matches (and replace the only-fold-down gate of the original SJ). Taillights mimic the old SJ Wagoneer, and reflectors under the bumper can house rear fog lights that would be mandatory to sell this thing overseas.

Mechanically, the SJX-platform Wagoneer would still have been body-on-frame, but just like the OffRoadster that I had imaginary David Tracy buy, it would feature independent front suspension; something that the Range Rover did not have then, and the Jeep only had for a very, very brief time in the early sixties. Mandatory for any 1987 SJX Wagoneer would have been push-button all-wheel drive with a transfer case and a four-speed column-shift automatic. The engine options might have included a straight six for Honcho models, but all Wagoneers would receive V8s, particularly that “Techforce” 360 proposed earlier with dual throttle body fuel injection.

Inside, you would have gotten the leather-and-wood elegance expected from the old SJ Grand Wagoneer. The new Wagoneer would have had just a single row of rear seats, while the longer Grand Wagoneer’s third row could have made it an Escalade ESV before the Escalade even existed. You’ll note the rear seat HVAC vents, the fold-down armrest, headrests, Cerwin Vega ten-speaker audio system, and even an ashtray and lighter atop each door.

Up front, everything would have been updated to 1987 standards with the above-mentioned electronic instruments, including a schematic of the drive system with the prominent controls to switch through modes. Notice that the central A/C vents flanked by the key locks (ignition on the left, glove box on the right) make it look like the front of a Jeep.

I’d love to have seen a lower-level woodgrain-free Honcho version of the Wagoneer with the dash from the OffRoadster and a stickshift, wouldn’t you?

Remember, there was no Tahoe during this time, and the only way to get a four-door Bronco in 1987 would have been through an outside supplier. Jeep’s alternate timeline full-sized SJX could have been a game changer, and the idea of such a vehicle developed from scratch and from the ground up by Jeep themselves would have given it credibility that none of the Big Three could have matched then, or now.

Sadly, in the real 1987 timeline, American Motors had no money to do this kind of thing; so much so that they were swallowed up by Chrysler. Mopar never really understood this super-high-end off-roader market and ignored it for decades, until recently. Of course, now it’s way too late.

Wasp-O-Neer

The car market moves on; past glories are great, but nostalgia only goes so far. You could never launch a Duesenberg or Auburn, or Packard today and expect anyone to see it as something to choose over a Bentley.  In that same way, it’s no surprise that buyers have by and large not embraced the new Wagoneer as a valid alternative to an Escalade or Lexus LX, much less a Range Rover. It isn’t a better product than those options, but even if it were, the ultra-exclusive legendary Jeep name has been gone so long that most people wouldn’t care.

Could this all-new-for-1987 alternate timeline SJX Wagoneer have kept the successful and profitable full-sized Grand Wagoneer at the top of the heap then, and possibly still today? I think it’s quite possible, but we’ll never know.