The Jeep Grand Wagoneer’s design virtually never changed, making it one of the few automobiles that connected entire generations of people.
Kelly and I fell in love with the classic lines of the Grand Wagoneer years before we ever owned one. The familiarity and legacy of the car is renowned; the Wagoneer is often credited as the original luxury SUV. It competed with Range Rovers, offering finer appointments to a truck-based platform more often associated with rugged austerity. In the 1980s, Wagoneers became a staple of WASP culture, the preppy automobile of choice for lawyers and doctors and their private school kids.
These days, the cars are symbols of a vintage lifestyle. Put a Christmas tree on the roof rack and a wreath on the front grill, and you have enough Lands End kitsch that you can probably leave the kids out of your holiday card photo. As a kid, and even as an adult, I always wondered about who drives these things and what kinds of lifestyles they might lead.
So when we spotted an old, woody Wagoneer around town, it was interesting to see not just the car but who was behind the wheel.
