1946-1965 (Jeep) Willys Wagon HD

When the Jeep station wagon appeared in 1946 it was the first all-steel bodied station wagon sold as a non-commercial vehicle. The post-war boom made contracting with automotive stamping suppliers difficult for low volume producers like Willys-Overland. Company president Charles Sorenson, therefore, gave young Brooks Stevens the task of designing a station wagon body that could be made by suppliers who supplied refrigerator stampings. The stamping size, amount of curvature and the depth were thereby limited. Stevens’ resulting design, featuring shallow panel sections that suggested wood, stayed in production until 1962. Only available with two-wheel drive in 1946, four-wheel drive was added in 1949.