Jeep CJ

The Jeep CJ models are a series and a range of small, open-bodied off-road vehicles and compact pickup trucks, built and sold by several successive incarnations of the Jeep automobile marque from 1945 through 1986. The 1945 Willys "Universal Jeep" was the world's first mass-produced civilian four-wheel drive car.

In 1944, Willys-Overland, the primary manufacturer of the World War II military Jeep, built prototypes for a commercial version – the CJ, short for "civilian Jeep". The design was a direct evolution from the wartime Jeep, but the most obvious change was adding a tailgate, and relocating the spare wheel to the side. Also, besides adding basic civilian amenities and options and legally-compliant lighting, the CJ required a sturdier drivetrain than the wartime model, because the targeted rural buyers would expect years of durability, instead of mere weeks as during WWII.

From then on, all CJ Jeeps consistently had a separate body and frame, rigid live axles with leaf springs both front and rear, a tapering nose design with flared fenders, and a fold-flat windshield, and could be driven without doors. Also, with few exceptions, they had part-time four-wheel drive systems, with the choice of high and low gearing, and open bodies with removable hard or soft tops. A few stand-out changes during 42 model years were the introductions of round-fendered vs. flat-fendered bodies (1955 CJ-5), straight-6 and V8 engines, automatic gearboxes, and different 4-wheel drive systems. The 1976 CJ-7 stretched the wheelbase by 10 inches (25 cm), and made doors and a removable hardtop common items.

After remaining in production through a range of model numbers and several corporate parents, the Jeep CJ line was officially ended after 1986. More than 1.5 million CJ Jeeps were built, having continued the same basic body style for 45 years since the Jeep first appeared. Widely regarded as "America's workhorse", the CJs have been described as "probably the most successful utility vehicle ever made." American Motors VP Joseph E. Cappy said the end of "CJ production will signal an end of a very important era in Jeep history." In 1987, the Jeep CJ-7 was replaced by the first-generation Jeep Wrangler. Looking very similar and riding on the same wheelbase as the CJ-7, it carried over some important components, including its use of leaf springs.

A similar model, the DJ "Dispatcher", was introduced in 1956 as a two-wheel drive version with open, fabric, or a closed steel body in both left- and right-hand drives for hotel, resort, police, and later United States Postal Service markets.

In 1942, the US Department of Agriculture tested the MB. By 1944, the Allies were confident the war would be won, and wartime production looked to be winding down. This allowed Willys to consider designing a Jeep for the postwar civilian market. Documentation is scarce, but in early 1944, Willys seemed to have found time to start drawing up plans, and one or two prototypes dubbed CJ(-1), for "Civilian Jeep", were running by May of that year. The first CJs had apparently been created by quick modification of the regular military MB, adding a tailgate, lower gearing, a drawbar, and a civilian-style canvas top. The first CJ served as a quick proof-of-concept test, and when a further design evolution materialized, it probably became the CJ-1 by default. They were manufactured until the CJ-2s appeared, and they were the first Jeeps built from the ground up for civilian use.

No CJ-1s built have survived, and how many were made is unknown.

Although at least 40 were built, the Willys-Overland CJ-2 was not available for retail sale. The CJ-2s, also known as "AgriJeeps", were the second-generation prototypes for the first production civilian Jeep, and were used solely for testing purposes. Although their design was directly based on the military Willys MB, using the same Willys Go Devil engine, they were not only stripped of all military features, particularly the blackout lighting, but also the CJ-2s had many significant differences in body features and construction versus the military Jeep. They had tailgates, power take-offs, engine governors ($28.65), column-shift T90 manual transmissions, 5.38 gears, 2.43:1 low-range transfer cases, and driver's-side tool indentations. Rear wheelwells were redesigned so that seats could be enlarged, improved, and moved rearward, and new, more weather-tight top designs were tried. A canvas half-top with roll-down doors was one of several top designs tried before production. The CJ-2 Go-Devil L-head engine was largely the same as the wartime Jeep, but used a different carburetor and ignition system.