Car Stuff: Random Sighting #30

This week's find comes from a friend in Kentucky. He spotted this car back in March and took these pictures; for some reason, it only just occurred to me that I could use them.

This is a Willys Station Wagon from around 1951-53. It's mechanically related to the military Jeeps of World War II, and sort of the great-grandfather of today's Jeep Cherokee and, if you want to get nitpicky about it, every other small to medium-sized SUV and crossover.

Before the war there were Willys cars and trucks; after the war those started again, and the company realized that it could use the Jeep's chassis to produce a rugged passenger vehicle, which is how this car came about.

These cars were made from 1946 to 1965, and a two-wheel-drive version was also available for those in warmer climates. I thought a four-door version had been offered at some point, but I must have been imagining it, or conflating it with the Wagoneer, which arrived in 1961 and made this smaller wagon kind of obsolete. And don't forget that the Wagoneer was produced in one form or another for about 30 years; Jeep has always been partial to simple, durable designs.