A Willys, three FSJs, two CJs, an XJ, a ZJ, and no BRCs: How Jeep decided to celebrate its 75th anniversary

All photos courtesy FCA.

Pretty much as we predicted last year, FCA waited until this year to celebrate Jeep’s 75th anniversary, only going so far back as the Willys Quad and MA prototypes of 1941 in its official history of the brand.

On the one hand, one would expect that from a multi-national corporation. After all, Bantam never became part of Chrysler like Willys (eventually) did, and corporations don’t increase profits by pointing out the exploits of non-related companies. So instead, FCA created some 75th anniversary appearance packages for the 2016 Jeep lineup and issued some press materials that highlighted the Jeep brand history while carefully refraining from boasting that Jeep pioneered the segment.

On the other hand, by not mentioning Bantam, FCA appears to be writing the BRC out of existence and rewriting history to suit its needs. At least there are dedicated groups of people who haven’t forgotten the contributions Bantam made to the Jeep legacy.

All that said, the photographs of a select bunch of Jeeps that FCA trotted out to celebrate the anniversary – a 1944 Willys MB, a 1945 Jeep CJ-2A, a 1949 Willys Station Wagon, a 1973 CJ-5, a 1977 Cherokee Chief, a 1983 Wagoneer, a 1984 Cherokee, a 1991 Grand Wagoneer and a 1994 Grand Cherokee – are still worth reposting. Enjoy.