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Origins
The 1948 Jeepster was Willys-Overland's attempt to translate wartime glory into peacetime fun: an open four-seat phaeton styled by Brooks Stevens on Jeep underpinnings, with cut-down doors, jaunty rear-wheel spats and side curtains instead of wind-up windows. It was aimed at returning servicemen who remembered the MB fondly but wanted something for Saturday nights rather than shell craters — America's first crossover of spirit, if not of substance, since it remained rear-wheel drive. The four- and six-cylinder engines gave modest urge, the price sat awkwardly above real utility and below real luxury, and around 19,000 sold before production ended in 1950. Rediscovered decades later, the Jeepster's charm has outrun its sales: the name returned on later Jeeps, and originals are now cheerful collector pieces.
1948 Willys Jeepster · Stephen Foskett · CC BY-SA 3.0
