The Jeep Cherokee XJ has been getting lots of love lately on the big screen, showing up in everything from Euphoria to The Last of US. Now the XJ is about to be be more than just a supporting character, it’s going to be the star in a movie called It Ends. As I am an XJ connoisseur, I was curious to know what model-year the Jeep was. Here’s the sleuthing I had to do to find out.
I’m delighted to see that the XJ is getting the love it has always deserved after enduring decades of being the disposable Jeep, often sold for less than $1000, cut up to fit huge tires, and then bashed on endlessly until it ultimately ended up in a scrap heap. Yes, XJ pricing for low-mileage models has been climbing, especially since Bring a Trailer became a thing, but being the star of a movie is a whole new level.
Here’s the official description of It Ends, via the Internet Movie Database (IMDB):
Friends on a late-night food run become trapped on an infinite highway with otherworldly terrors lurking beyond. Confined in their Jeep Cherokee, they must decide whether to accept their fate or attempt escape.
That’s right; the movie has a two sentence description, and half of those sentences mention the Jeep Cherokee. What’s more, check out the movie’s poster:
You get the idea. The XJ is now a star, and it became one by doing what XJs have always done best: Appealing to the cheap bastards among us.
Check out the article titled “‘It Ends’: How a Gen Z Filmmaker Made One of the Year’s Best Movies With $150,000 and a Car” on the entertainment website The Wrap. The XJ’s value was clearly key here:
“It was cheap and it was an SUV. We went and got it and then resold it for a little bit more than we bought it for, which makes no sense. Just like Nolan selling the corn, right?” [Gen Z filmmaker Alex Ullom] said, a nod to how Christopher Nolan planted corn for the cornfields seen in “Interstellar,” then sold the corn for a profit after they were done filming.
That article describes that the XJ (which was meant to “represent a bit of an older generation”) and the endless road are meant to represent the experience of many Gen Z young adults. From that article:
“If it’s not clear in the movie, I had a pretty rough transition into adulthood, at least mentally and emotionally,” Ullom told TheWrap. “When I first wrote the movie when I was, s–t, like 21. I was coming from a lot more of an emotional, physical place, feeling like, Damn, is this the rest of adulthood? Is that what my life is going to be like?”
[…]
“As I got older, I kind of realized that what I was really pulling from was more of a universal experience of not having set tentpoles of structure that used to unite young people forever, whether it was starting a family or buying a home or religion or whatever the f–k,” Ullom said. “I was just more downtrodden from more of a systemic thing than it was specifically my own depressive youth. Or I guess depressive adulthood.”
Anyway, let’s get to the important part: My need to know which model-year this Jeep Cherokee was.
As tempted as I am to make this article much longer than it needs to be by pointing out the Jeep Wrangler JK steel wheels, the fact that his is clearly a pre-1997 since it’s not the facelifted Jeep, the fact that it’s clearly a post-1988 since it doesn’t have the 10-slot grille, and on and on, the reality is that I really only needed to bits of information to narrow down the model-year, and they are both regulatory. First, the CHMSL, the Center High Mounted Stop Lamp, which was mandated starting in 1994. Per the trailer above, the CHMSL appears to be present on this movie-star Jeep XJ:
So we know the Jeep is a 1994 or newer. The second piece of information I needed was what the steering wheel looks like. If it’s a three-spoke without an airbag, we know the Jeep is a pre-1995, since airbags were mandated in 1995 (and the XJ was then outfitted with a two-spoke wheel that had a huge square airbag at its center).
As shown in the trailer, it’s clear there is no giant airbag at the center of the steering wheel:
The CHMSL says it’s post-1994, the steering wheel says it’s pre-1995. Thus, we know this Jeep is a 1994.
After figuring this out, I did a little Sleuthing and found that one of the producers, Evan Barber, confirmed this in one of the Facebook groups I’m in:
So there you have it, folks. For those of you who were being driven mad by not knowing what year this famous XJ is, may peace find you.
I love XJs! They look so good, especially compared to all of the ugly shitboxes of its period. In fact, I have a BeamNG mod for it, lol. Especially with that AMC inline.
This looks too ominous, I don’t want anything to happen to the Jeep.
There needs to be a movie site like that one that warns you if the dog dies, but for cars.
A movie about being on an endless road trip in a ’96 Cherokee? What’s the max range of that thing on a full tank, like 300-ish miles? I think that would be the end of the endless, amirite?
A 96 Cherokee has a 20 gallon fuel tank and a highway fuel economy of about 20 MPG. So about 400 miles, give or take, assuming a full tank run all the way to empty.
About ten years ago I was on a team competing in an Open Source Intelligence Capture The Flag at a hacker conference, and one of the the flags was identifying the car someone had bought a year ago. It was specifically Make, Model, and year.
Their social media had pictures, and it was clearly a Scion tC, but by then they had been in production for almost a decade. For a non-Scion nerd this would have been a hard guess, and you only got three chances to answer before the flag was marked wrong; so you couldn’t just brute force it.
I looked at it for 3 seconds and told my team it was a 2006 Scion tC, and they all started at me insisting I explain how I knew it was a 2006.
First Tell, the headlights changed in 2008, this had the older headlights.
Second tell, in 2007 Toyota switched from passive TPMS, to Active; which changed the valve stem from rubber to metal. This had the rubber Valve Stem so it was either an 05, or 06.
05, being the first model year had very few deliveries; so it was obviously a 2006 Scion tC. We were the only team to get it right on the first submission. 😀
I did not understand the premise of this movie. Is this some snowflake thing where he couldn’t handle being an adult,like paying bills and working? I am sorry,but yeah,that is basically what we do.
Ooooooor you could look at the date molded into the taillights.
By doing the bare minimum to meet the safety requirements each year, Jeep made each year a little bit more memorable and differentiated.
> Friends on a late-night food run become trapped on an infinite highway with otherworldly terrors lurking beyond. Confined in their Jeep Cherokee, they must decide whether to accept their fate or attempt escape.
They’re trapped because the Jeep’s engine failed.
Starring David Tracy as the otherworldly terror.
I have rewatched the Bosch series a couple of times. Problem is, every time I see him driving his XJ (98 to 01) I end up in the Marketplace rabbit hole, looking at all the used ones that I have to talk myself out of buying. I really miss my XJ.
Right there with you. Sold my ’93 XJ after my oldest was born and still, 20+ years later, still wish I had it.
Editor-for-free here:
One extra point I caught was in the following sentences:
“…So we know the Jeep is a 1994 or newer. The second piece of information I needed was what the steering wheel looks like. If it’s a three-spoke without an airbag, we know the Jeep is a pre-1996, since airbags were mandated in 1995 (and the XJ was then outfitted with a two-spoke wheel that had a huge square airbag at its center).”
By the logic you wrote, it could be a 1995. I think since the steering wheel doesn’t have an airbag, the second bolded part should read “we know the Jeep is pre-1995”
(emphasis mine for clarity)
Keep up the great articles!
I wonder what other specs can be determined from the pictures? Looks like a Chrysler 8.25 rear axle, so that would also mean no ABS? Looks like a 4.0L badge on the rear hatch? Rear wiper means it’s probably not a base model like the 1992 I grew up with? I’m also guessing it’s not a stick shift, to make it easier to film?
Auto, 8.25, no ABS, 4.0, crank windows. Clean rockers.
Sadly, it appears to be 4×2!
so the lack of 4×4 would explain why they got stuck on the road in the first place, instead of offroading away. Silly kids.
Basing a horror movie around an XJ, and we’re going with liminal spaces over claustrophobia? Just seems like a missed opportunity.
This was a good movie. I saw it last week at a mystery movie showing. I think the car was perfect casting against many of the others in the movie. The way you know a 4.0 would just keep running.
I did not like it. Zero plot resolution or explanation.
It’s a Jeep thing, you wouldn’t understand.
I think that is the point. It’s a movie that asks the viewer to decide what the ending means. I don’t want to spoil it for others, but I thought the end had a good resolution and worked for me, but I think the interpretation will vary depending on the age and outlook of the viewer. I’m not the age of the film maker, but I think I understand their meaning, but I also think the ambiguity of the end allows to more meaning to be taken outside of the original intent. I think wanting an explanation for the events of the movie and not getting one is part of the meaning of the film as well.
This is content you can only get on The Autopian
Keep up the great job!
Pedantry alert.
First, the CHMSL, the Center High Mounted Stop Lamp, which was mandated starting in 1994.
It was mandated for 1985 model year.
The CHMSL says it’s post-1995, the steering wheel says it’s pre-1995. Thus, we know this Jeep is a 1994.
This makes no sense. It can’t be post and pre 95 at the same time.
I believe the CHMSL implementation date for light trucks was 1994. That was the first year it showed up on the Nissan Truck, looking like an afterthought or a prop from “War of the Worlds”. The 1995 model purchased had it more cleanly integrated.
It was actually mandated on SUVs in 1994! (As for the other thing: Good catch on the 1994/5 typo there).
Saying “The Jeep Cherokee XJ has been getting lots of love lately on the big screen” then lists two small screen examples.
This is why we love ya, David Tracy
He could have an 85″ tv?
EXACTLY!
I was thinking David doesn’t strike me as the TV type of guy. How do you build a Jeep in your backyard and keep up with your shows?
Then I thought (stream of consciousness) how much I would like to see David (and The Autopian team) participate in Junkyard Wars, if it was still on.
David’s leading the charge, Torch is doing a Torch Doodle for the final design, Adrian is complaining about being in a scrap heap, SWG is looking for a K-Car base, etc. Ratings gold.
Easy: put the television in line with a large house window and leave the curtains open. Operate the remote as normal, and Robert’s your father’s brother.
Dave’s 2000″ TV? That XJ’s CHMSL is ten feet wide!
The kind of resolution needed to identify Bluey’s dad’s SUV. If you don’t know already, you will soon.
I was all excited to get to adulthood and then realized it wasn’t all that grand. Bills, divorces, career drudgery. On the plus side, I can buy what I want within reason and don’t have to ever eat vegetables. Screw you Lima beans!
I remember when I left college and got a house to live in. I bought a packet of bacon, spread each piece onto a cookie sheet, slapped that into the oven, and ate the whole thing.
It was glorious.
That’s the arc of single adulthood, from all the bacon to shower spaghetti.
Did you eat it in the shower?
I did the same kind of thing, except it was a tube of that premade cookie dough I ate raw for lunch one day. It remains one of two times in my life when my sweet tooth has been overwhelmed.
I get just a bit of teensy extra delight when I know an ultimately useless factoid and can answer a very specific question unflinchingly with 100% confidence, in lieu of knowing more applicable to real life and useful facts.
Congrats David and revel in your moment, sir.
Well I’ll be damned, I haven’t heard of this movie. David Tracy is officially more up to date on pop culture than I am.