Jeep is one of the car hobby’s favorite 4-letter words.
Jeep may even rank above some popular ‘expletives deleted’ deftly used by car guys whenever they are knee-deep in a difficult build or repair.
Jim Sutherland
We at MyStarCollectorCar are big Jeep (and ‘expletives deleted’ when they apply to injured body parts during build or repair misadventures) fans, but we decided to concentrate on our five of our favorite retro Jeep models. Also, we will not provide a list of our five favorite swear words.
Our first choice is the first Jeep because it was a huge part of the war effort during the Second World War. The original military Jeep was so important that two companies (Ford and Willy-Overland) built them for the Allied forces, primarily the United States. The Willys-Overland MB versions were built in greater abundance (363,000) than Ford GPW models (280,000) and are most associated with the Jeep brand because Willys-Overland built civilian models after the end of the war.
Which brings us to our second Jeep choice, namely the original Jeepster models built between 1948 and 1951. The Jeepster was a bold decision by Willy-Overland because the company built a Jeep model for pleasure and not armed conflicts.
Jeepsters were designed for the open road and not war zones. They were more comfortable than a conventional Jeep model and were more car-like in style. The Jeepster models were also rear-drive-only vehicles and were a big departure from the military-style Jeeps sold to civilians after the war because they were truly a unique Jeep model during their production run.
The third addition to our list is the Jeep FC (Forward Control) model, arguably one of the most unusual vintage Jeep models on our list because of its cab-over, flat-nosed truck style.
The Jeep FC was built between 1957-66 and could be identified as a Jeep because of its trademark front grille, but the bets were off after that similarity and the Jeep 4×4 truck has become a curiosity piece because of its rarity in 2025.
The fourth addition to MyStarCollectorCar’s cool Jeep list is the J-Series Gladiator models built between 1963 and 1987.
The first Jeep Gladiators were full-sized pickup trucks built to compete against the Big Three pickups in terms of sales. The Gladiator pickups had a clean but rugged style that celebrated its Jeep heritage in a big way.
The fifth and final Jeep model on MyStarCollectorCar’s esteemed list is the Jeep Super Wagoneer built between 1966 and 1969. Jeep already had a long post-war history with its station wagon models but the earliest versions were very Jeep-like in performance and comfort, so the 1946 Jeep station wagon’s biggest claim to fame was it was made entirely of steel during the last days of Detroit’s woody wagons.
By the 1960s, Jeep had evolved its Jeep Wagoneer models into solid choices for families seeking a rugged station wagon in 1963. However, Jeep elevated its game by a large margin in 1966 with its Super Wagoneer models built until 1969.
A Super Wagoneer was the ultimate Jeep luxury vehicle in 1966 because it had power, luxury and enough creature comforts to be considered a pioneer in the sport utility vehicle market.
Even better, the Super Wagoneers were the coolest station wagons on the street during that long roof era in our opinion here at MyStarCollectorCar.
Jim Sutherland
Y: Jim Sutherland
Jim Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer whose work has been published by many major print and online publications. The list includes Calgary Herald, The Truth About Cars, Red Deer Advocate, RPM Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Vancouver Province, and Post Media Wheels Section.
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