1988 Jeep Grand Wagoneer

This vehicle, Lot 154, sold for $26,400, including buyer’s premium, at Auctions America’s sale in Fort Lauderdale, FL, on April 1, 2016.

A new class of vehicle

When Jeep introduced the Wagoneer in 1963, nobody would’ve guessed that nearly 30 years and three corporate owners later, this Brooks Stevens-penned people hauler would become the definitive example of a domestic luxury SUV — or in essence create the modern luxury SUV segment.

For the first two decades of production, the Wagoneer wasn’t too different from its competitors, the Chevrolet/GMC Suburban, and until 1975, the International Travelall. When International chose to discontinue its light-truck line in 1975, it wasn’t because the Travelall was dragging it down. Indeed, it was one of the shining stars for IH’s Light Line, as it was highly competitive with the Wagoneer and the Suburban — especially in higher trim levels. Jeep noticed this and started positioning the Wagoneer toward the higher end of the market. The introduction of the Cherokee in 1974 was proof of this, as it was aimed squarely at the lower end of the market.

In 1978, the path for creating the Grand Wagoneer started with the introduction of the Limited package. As the first Jeep product to sell for over $10,000, its standard features included air conditioning, leather seats, plush carpeting, alloy wheels and premium 8-track stereo sound system. From then until 1983, sales of the Limited trim continued to escalate.

Going grand

In 1984, AMC took the leap to make the Wagoneer a top-shelf luxury vehicle, turning the Limited package into the stand-alone model called the Grand Wagoneer. The introduction of the all-new XJ platform Cherokee SUV provided a physical separation from the basic Wagoneer — which moved over to the XJ as its highest trim level. Without a lesser model, the SJ platform Grand Wagoneer was the largest, most dominating AMC product, helping to leverage the luxury vehicle market where “bigger is better” was still the mindset.

With the higher profit margins from the luxury segment, an AMC luxury vehicle was a needed addition to help the company offset the XJ’s expenses and the loss of lucrative government contracts from the sale of AM General.

While Jeep was positioning the Grand Wagoneer at the luxury market, GM took a broader approach to the Suburban’s market. If anything, it focused more on the truck market as everyone’s wagon — from the workman to the CEO. GM had other vehicles — read Cadillac — that it felt addressed the luxury market.

Making a bold statement

From 1984 through 1991, the Grand Wagoneer became an aspirational luxury vehicle, in no small part due to being at the right place at the right time. The U.S. economy was improving, so there was a burgeoning market of luxury-vehicle buyers.

While traditionally they’d have gravitated towards the likes of Lincoln or Cadillac cars, this market entailed a new dynamic. Sure, they wanted vehicles that pampered them, but that definition also included being pampered when the conditions were less than ideal.

For all years of production, the Grand Wagoneer had the customer base with the highest mean income of any American vehicle. This market segment embraced the traditional, conservative styling of the Grand Wagoneer. While it was relatively big, it wasn’t as ponderous as a Suburban, yet it was more practical than a 2-door Blazer or Bronco.

While not a high-volume seller, the Grand Wagoneer was an instant cash machine for AMC when it needed it the most. With tooling paid for even before American Motors bought Jeep, each one sold made a lot of money for AMC. The Grand Wagoneer, as a strong pillar for the Jeep division, certainly helped convince Chrysler to buy out AMC in 1987, although Jeep as a whole is what they really wanted, letting the AMC car division wither away.

While Chrysler generally took a hands-off approach to the Grand Wagoneer, build quality did improve, mostly due to using base/clear paint and streamlining parts content with more Chrysler parts over AMC’s “dog from every town” component sourcing.

End of the icon

Time does march on, and since Chrysler didn’t have a competing product in the Mopar pipeline, AMC’s earlier development of a ZJ platform to replace the SJ platform Grand Wagoneer got the green light. The last SJ Grand Wagoneer was built on June 20, 1991. With a mere 1,560 built, any original owner of a ’91 could request a Final Edition dashboard emblem from Jeep.

After Chrysler took over, Grand Wagoneer enthusiasts saw the writing on the wall and starting saving better examples. With two decades of hindsight, they can now be deemed geniuses, but back then they were considered nuts.

While the new ZJ Grand Cherokee Wagoneer could do everything better and more efficiently, it had a different appeal — wider based, if anything. It appealed to a younger, less affluent market that wasn’t as conservative yet could afford a well-apportioned, no-excuses SUV. It also looked more like a current Jeep product, rather than being from The Land That Time Forgot.

Going back in time

With the current interest in vintage trucks, the SJ Grand Wagoneer has proven to be a hot commodity. One is even featured on a microbrewer’s label.

They are not particularly rare, and yet they are bringing some good coin. It’s certainly not worth cashing out the 401k to invest in them, but even ones that have been around the block a couple of times too many are outpacing similar rough-and-tumble square-box Blazers, Suburbans, F-series-based Broncos and Range Rovers from the 1980s.

If anything, this example was almost a good buy, factoring that most of today’s hot buttons in the market are pushed: below-average mileage, better-than-average original condition for the miles, and a known history since new.

The 72k on the odometer is the closest thing to a negative, but it does show that it has been regularly exercised and shouldn’t have sleeping-beauty issues such as flaky fuel-system components or electrical demons.

If you took the bait back in the 1980s and wanted one — or had one and wished you had yours back despite leaky door seals and a fussy carburetor — this was one worth this price. Call it a market-correct sale today, slightly favoring the buyer — but with the potential to look well bought in the not-too-distant future.

(Introductory description courtesy of Auctions America.)