Willys Jeep Station Wagon

The Jeep Wagon was designed in the mid-1940s by industrial designer Brooks Stevens. Willys did not make their own bodies, car bodies were in high demand, and Willys was known to have limited finances. Brooks therefore designed bodies that could be built by sheet metal fabricators who normally made parts for household appliances and could draw sheet metal no more than . The steel body was efficient to mass-produce, easier to maintain and safer than the real wood-bodied station wagon versions at the time. Within the first two years of the Jeep Wagon's production, the only manufacturer in the United States with a station wagon that was comparable in price was Crosley, which introduced an all-steel wagon in 1947. The Jeep Wagon was the first Willys product with independent front suspension. Barney Roos, Willys' chief engineer, developed a system based on a transverse seven-leaf spring. The system, called "Planadyne" by Willys, was similar in concept to the "planar" suspension Roos had developed for Studebaker in the mid-1930s. In 1953 the U.S. military included the 4x4 station wagon models 463 and 473 as non (standard) classified 1/4-ton trucks under Standard Nomenclature List number G-740 in Technical Manual edition TM9-2800-1. == Production timeline ==

United States • 1946: introduced as the 463 with 10 slot flat grille in July 1946, powered by the L-134 Go-Devil flathead inline-four engine. • 1947: a panel van introduced with one seat, a pair of doors instead of the wagon's tailgate, and no side windows behind the front doors. 663 model introduced late in year, powered by the L-148 Lightning straight-six engine, 50 built. • 1948: A luxury version, the Station Sedan, had solid body colors with basket-weave trim on the sides and was better finished than the wagon throughout. • 1949: four-wheel drive became an option. • 1950: the flat 10 slot grille was replaced by a pointed v-shape design with five horizontal bars across the vertical ones. New 1950 model introduced April 16, leftover 1949 models continued into March. File:1951 - Turner Motors - 8 Feb MC - Allentown PA.jpg|1951 Advertisement for the Willys Station Wagon File:IKA Estanciera.JPG|Willys Jeep "Estanciera" made by IKA in Argentina. File:Ford Rural F75.jpg|Brazilian-built Willys Rural (later renamed as the Ford Rural) File:Willys-jeep-station-wagon.jpg|Willys Jeep Station Wagon used as taxi in Cuba Argentina The Jeep Wagon was produced as the IKA Estanciera by Industrias Kaiser Argentina from 1957 to 1970. Brazil In the 1950s, a version based on the 1946 US version was introduced. A truck version, the Pickup, was introduced in 1961. Ford Brazil bought the Willys factory in 1967 and the Rural Jeep wagon was renamed Ford Rural, and the truck was later named the Ford F-75 in 1972. Both models were offered with an inline-six engine, which was the first gasoline engine manufactured in Brazil. They were available in RWD or 4X4 configuration. The Rural was discontinued in 1977 and the F-75 in 1981. == Notes ==