OVERVIEW

The Jeep Grand Wagoneer is possibly the most fashionable vehicle ever made. Even though it looks incredibly old-fashioned with its chrome window trim, boxy styling and wood panelling, the venerable Jeep Grand Wagoneer became something of an icon. I guarantee you that if you peer in between the glossy pages of no more than three Lands’ End or Tommy Hilfiger catalogs, you’ll find at least one photo of a turtleneck-sweatered model leaning up against a shining Grand Wagoneer.

The lasting legacy of the Wagoneer as a de-rigueur vehicle of country club aristocracy might come as a bit of a shock when you realize that the Wagoneer originally debuted in the time of Moses around 1963. It shared a chassis with the rugged Jeep Gladiator pickup truck and was built more like a steam ship than a passenger car.

The Jeep Grand Wagoneer used archaic front leaf spring suspension and a carburetor in a time when most other manufacturers had long moved on to coil springs and fuel injection. Despite its ancient design, the Grand Wagoneer continued to be sold to very wealthy buyers in strong numbers until 1991. Why was it so popular among wealthy drivers of the 1980s? Because the Wagoneer was the first real luxury SUV.

Margaux Ravis has owned her Cherokee Red 1991 Jeep Grand Wagoneer since 1998 and is only the second owner of the SUV.

“I love the big, beautiful grille and the Jeep hood emblem,” she says. Despite frequent notes left on her windshield, Ravis says she’ll never sell it. She loves that her Jeep contains rugged truck-style features like four-wheel drive, a V8 engine, and a high seating position with luxury features like cushy leather seats and a digital compass.

The idea of a luxury SUV seems so obvious now in a world where Nissan Muranos, Mercedes-Benz GLEs and Cadillac Escalades are as common as oil leaks under an old Lancia, but for a very long time, no such vehicle existed. You had large, luxury cars on one side with coddling, overstuffed leather seats and acres of sound deadening, and on the other side you had sturdy, contractor-grade trucks built to go anywhere in any weather. The Jeep Grand Wagoneer bridged that void and, in doing so, became a cult classic.

And few people subscribe to the Grand Wagoneer cult more religiously than Norbert Buscha of GrandWagoneer.com. Norbert knows Wagoneers like, well, Jeep knows off-roading.

“It was the first time that an off-road capable, four-wheel-drive, full-sized vehicle with high suspension and room for six passengers was also outfitted with luxurious and comfortable electric leather seats, a well-appointed and refined interior, a smooth-shifting automatic transmission, quiet and subdued exhaust, a cushy and smooth suspension, lots of sound insulation, thick carpeting, and all of the state-of-the-art amenities available in luxury cars at the time,” Norbert says.

He says that when Jeep launched the Grand Wagoneer in 1982, it “created a totally new niche in automotive design.” The Grand Wagoneer was made until 1991 and 20,000 units were sold in its most popular year.

But even though they were built like nuclear fallout shelters, even the newest Grand Wagoneers are now 24 years old and the maze of vacuum lines under the hood don’t age as nicely as wine. For those who want a brand new 1991 Jeep Grand Wagoneer, Norbert has a solution.

He calls them Ultra Restorations and they are nothing short of the most perfect Grand Wagoneers in the world. On average, 1,900 hours are spent on each vehicle to refresh every key component while retaining that classic style. Norbert has been restoring Wagoneers for 23 years and, over that time, he has accumulated an impressive collection of parts. Many of these parts haven’t been made for nearly a decade.

Norbert’s restorations go a step beyond recreating classic Wagoneers. He makes them even better. You can order one with modern fuel injection, upgraded brakes, heavy-duty shock absorbers or any variety of interior colours in finer grade leather than when new.

But if you want a truly modern Jeep Grand Wagoneer, you would do well to wait until 2018. Jeep has announced that an all-new Grand Wagoneer is arriving in 2018 to sit above the Grand Cherokee as Jeep’s top luxury offering.

The 2018 Grand Wagoneer will likely be based off of the Maserati Levante SUV and will feature V6 and V8 powerplants. Just like the original, the 2018 model will be a capable SUV with a luxurious interior and a refined driving experience. But some worry that the rugged character that made the original such a classic will be missing.

Norbert worries that “past owners, true aficionados and fans of the original Grand Wagoneer’s styling will not be interested in or fall in love with its modern counterpart.”

Ravis thinks that the “classic” design and “majestic grill” were keys to the Grand Wagoneer’s success and worries that without them, the character of the lovable Grand Wagoneer could be lost.

The days of truly truck-based, boxy SUVs has passed but there’s a definite niche for the 2018 Grand Wagoneer to fill. It’s the luxury SUV genre that its forebearer single-handedly created back in 1982. Though this time around, we doubt there will be wood panelling.