From the movie “Clueless” to the reminiscences of World War II correspondent Ernie Pyle, the sport-utility vehicle has a special place in automotive history.
To Pyle, the Army’s four-wheel-drive Jeep, the precursor of the sport-utes that crowd mall parking lots, was “as faithful as a dog, as strong as a mule and as agile as a goat.” To historian Robert C. Ackerson, America’s first low-cost, mass-produced four-wheel-drive vehicle began life as “one of the most significant weapons of the war.”
To Alicia Silverstone and friends in “Clueless,” a fancy white Jeep Wrangler, the modern equivalent of the WW II workhorse, was the vehicle of choice among affluent California teens. They turned Jeep into a verb and made “Jeeping” a sly reference to vehicular sex.
In between WWII and “Clueless” are years when four-wheel-drive vehicles, from Ford Explorers to Toyota Land Cruisers, have become the image vehicle of the suburbs.
A 1944 ad that stated “The Sun Never Sets on the Mighty Jeep,” as part of a campaign to attract farmers to the wartime vehicle, rings eerily true even now.
“Sport-utes are important from a cultural perspective,” said Peter Gareffa, co-author of “Car Crazy: The Official Motor City High-Octane, Turbocharged, Chrome-Plated, Back Road Book of Car Culture.” “We grew up with parents who drove station wagons, so station wagons are uncool. They brand you as a total nerd. But something had to take its place–and that’s where the sport-ute came in. If you’re image-conscious, a sport-ute is a cool mini-van or station wagon.”
Gareffa, 43, said even he’s not immune to the sport-ute trend.
“I can’t wait to get into the Honda CR-V,” he said, referring to the mini sport-ute due in January from the Japanese automaker.
Today, buyers can choose from at least 32 sport-utes, ranging from the $13,500 for the Suzuki X-90 to the $47,500 Lexus LX450 with leather seats and CD changer.
At least 10 new sport-utes will enter the market in the coming year, from the Mercedes-Benz AAV (for All-Activity Vehicle), which is likely to be the first sport-ute with side air bags, to Honda’s Civic-based CR-V, which features rear seats that turn into beds and a cargo floor that doubles as a picnic table.
Some auto experts even predict that sport-utes may overtake passenger cars as a preferred mode of transportation.
“People have become reluctant to buy cars because cars have grown smaller, more expensive and less versatile,” according to the 1996 Delphi VIII Study released by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. “Sport-utilities have amassed a growing following among traditional car buyers. They tend to be bigger and roomier than cars . . . and they offer an image of independence and ruggedness.”
Sport-utes were restyled and repositioned to capture a more mainstream share of the U.S. auto market in the mid-1960s. The first modern-day sport-ute probably was the 1965 Jeep Super Wagoneer, which combined comfort and amenities such as air conditioning, power steering and brakes, V-8 engine, electric clock, tinted glass, push-button transistor radio and power tailgate, with the practicality of four-wheel-drive.
The Super Wagoneer’s ancestor was the Willys-Overland Jeep from WW II, which John L. Wright, curator at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Mich., calls one of the most important post-war vehicles. Willys became Kaiser Jeep in 1963, and American Motors bought Kaiser a few years later.
“There really was no auto design going on during the war and then when the Jeep debuted as a civilian vehicle, it had a tremendous impact,” Wright said. “A utility vehicle had finally acquired an image of ruggedness and sportiness.”
In 1951, the Jeep’s special status in automotive history was recognized by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The museum picked the most significant examples of automotive styling. In between the sophisticated and high-powered marques such as Lincoln and Mercedes-Benz was a Jeep CJ.
But sport-utes were around long before WW II.
The first working sport-utility vehicle was exhibited at the 1903 Paris Motor Show by Dutch manufacturer Spijker. Designed to give maximum traction on the slippery roads of the Dutch East Indies, the car had a massive 8.7-liter engine and was the first to have four-wheel brakes. But it never made it into production.
Despite that vehicle’s failure, the potential value of an all-wheel-drive vehicle for navigating rough terrain was not lost on the U.S. military.
The FWD Corp. of Clintonville, Wis., successfully showed off a four-wheel-drive “scout car” at an Army trial in 1911, and the Nash Quad, a four-wheel-drive truck, was used to boost Allied efforts at the end of World War I. In 1923, Ford Motor Co. stripped down a Model T and fitted it with four-wheel-drive and oversized balloon tires as part of a military experiment.
Just before WW II, the army took delivery of a batch of 1 1/2-ton Dodge trucks that permitted the driver to select two- or four-wheel-drive, but soldiers complained that they were too large and unwieldy.
The Japanese had the most success in downsizing four-wheel-drive vehicles. In 1935, they put into production a light scout car called the Kurogane, which represented a huge step in the evolution of four-wheel-drive vehicles because it was a car, not a truck.
But Willys-Overland made automotive history when it won the U.S. Army contract to build the Jeep. Nearly 360,000 vehicles were built by Willys between 1941 and 1945.
In Britain, civilian models were unavailable after the war, but there were plenty of army surplus models that were snapped up by farmers. One of them was bought by Maurice Wilks, chief engineer of the Rover Car Co., for use on his estate in Anglesey, North Wales.
Eventually, the idea that Rover should build a four-wheel-drive light-utility vehicle along the lines of the Jeep occurred to Wilks. The first production Land Rovers were sold as basic open pickups in two shades of green.
“All came without the slightest concession to creature comforts,” wrote James Taylor in “The Land-Rover.” “The company charged extra for doors, the passenger seat, even the spare tire.”
In contrast, its 1996 cousin, the Range Rover 4.6 HSE, illustrates just how far sport-utes have come in nearly a half century.
“On the inside, the HSE is fitted with an ash black leather interior with ample use of burled walnut on the fascia, doors and center console,” purrs the Range Rover press release. “Passengers will be cosseted in dual memory front power seats with lumbar support and have separate environment controls and dual lighted vanity mirrors.”
Alicia Silverstone would probably love it, but what would Ernie Pyle think?
