‘It is such a classic look. And that is just a part of the Jeep Grand Wagoneer’s great sense of romance – not forgetting the genius of its original concept from Willys-Overland Motors. One of the great vehicles of the USA, the Grand Wagoneer was a development of the jeep employed extensively by the U.S. Army during World War II.

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‘Although the term ‘jeep’ had been U.S. Army slang for new recruits or vehicles, the name of the vehicle took on a formal meaning after it went into production in 1941. Used by both the U.S. Army and its allies, the spartan Jeep became the number one light four-wheel drive vehicle of the conflict. Essentially it was the very first popular example of the SUV, the precursor of the Humvee and inspiration for the original Series 1 Land Rover: the roots of the perennially popular SUV truck, omnipresent on our streets and highways, are all traceable back to the humble Jeep.

‘In its user-friendly concept – essentially that of a high-end station wagon – the Jeep Wagoneer was more like a car than anything else available. Thought up at a time when Willys-Overland Motors was owned by Kaiser Jeep corporation, it was a successor to the Willys Jeep Station Wagon that had been available since 1946, on the market just one year after World War II had ended. The Jeep Wagoneer’s suspension tuning ensured the enjoyability of the ride. The fact that it had at first been developed as a truck meant it could tow as readily as required.

‘A final edition of The Grand Wagoneer was produced between 1984 and 1991; it was a vehicle in which luxury items came as standard as in its competitor, the newly popular Range Rover. Power came from an assortment of V8 engines, sending thrust to all four wheels.

‘It is also a lasting tribute to Brooks Stevens, its designer, who had learned drawing while bedridden following a polio diagnosis. After studying architecture, in 1934 Stevens set up Brooks Stevens, Inc, a home-furnishings design firm in Allenton, Wisconsin.

‘It was Brooks Stevens who, in 1944, along with nine other significant players, founded the Industrial Designers Society of America. ‘A major force in industrial design’ was the New York Times’ definition of him upon his 1995 death.

‘In 1962, on a tiny, strapped-for-cash budget, he gave a facelift to the Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk, giving it a European appearance, rescuing it from the Fifties’ styling of previous models.

‘Almost as though he was consciously showing he did not take life too seriously, Stevens also designed that American pop-culture icon, the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

‘He would defend this by claiming he simply wanted to always give the consumer something new – that he was against devising inadequate commodities which would therefore have a limited shelf-life.

‘Clearly there is no shelf-life problem with the 1987 Jeep Grand Wagoneer that Beverly Hills Car Club has for sale. Like great wine, these fabulous vehicles, only improve, it seems, with age.

‘The first luxury 4X4 was in production, with only the tiniest of changes, for 28 years. The Jeep Grand Wagoneer was released in 1984 as the top-of-the-line Wagoneer model, defined as the ‘the gold standard of the SUV market’. It stayed in production until the 1991 model year.

-Alex Manos, Owner