THE 1945 CJ-2A LIVES
ON IN THE 2019
JEEP WRANGLER
RUBICON
WORDS ALISA PRIDDLE PHOTOGRAPHS BRANDON LIMNOW&
THEN
farmers, ranchers, hunters, even meter
maids. The automaker added a tailgate, a
side-mounted spare tire, and an optional
canvas top. The grille changed from nine
slots to seven. Over the years the number
of slots ranged from 0 to 22. In 1996 Jeep
made the historic seven-slot grille its
trademark.
The first CJ-2A, also known as the
Universal Jeep because it could do
anything, rolled off the line in Toledo on
July 17, 1945. This museum piece is No. 33,
resplendent in Harvest Tan with Sunset
Red wheels, one of only two color choices
at the time. The Jeep name is stamped
in cursive letters into the base of the
passenger seat, a real rarity; since then, the
name Jeep, which Willys eventually copy-
righted, only appears in block letters.
This SUV is also rare for its three-on-
the-tree column shifter, which was only
installed for the first month before Willys
switched to a floor-mounted three-speed.
Shifting can be tricky: The stalk goes down
for first, up and over a bit for second, then
back down for third. Reverse requires
you to pull the stalk forward and then up.
Stalling is common, and power surges
make it hard to maintain a slow speed.
During our time with it, we lost all the
gears a couple times. But Rosenbusch
tinkered with it until it was drivable
again. Sort of. He did have to make the
half-mile trek back to the garage at FCA’s
Chelsea Proving Grounds in reverse. He
has the neck kink to prove it.
The CJ-2A has a lot of military bones.
It kept the same 65-hp engine with a top
speed of 35–40 mph. The toe start pedal
is to the right of the accelerator and needs
a pretty strong stomp once the clutch is
in. There’s a choke button to start a cold
engine and a hand throttle to run the
power takeoff in back at high speeds to
run saws, drills, and farm equipment. Two
short levers on the floor manually engage
the front axle and set the transfer box to
high or low. There’s also a hand brake. No
doors or rollover protection. “You sat on
the gas tank and smoked,” Mark Allen,
head of Jeep design, says.
Fast-forward to 2019, and this
fourth-generation Wrangler brings back
a four-cylinder engine—but now it’s a
270-hp 2.0-liter turbocharged I-4 with
a mild hybrid assist, auto stop/start, and
eight-speed automatic transmission.SEPTEMBER 2019 MOTORTREND.COM 67