The Ford Bronco was one of the first three mass-produced SUVs to be built in America, along with the International Harvester Scout and the Jeep CJ-5. The genre that the three 4x4s pioneered has gone on to become one of the most popular and lucrative in automotive history – now catered to by dozens of…
The Willys M38 Jeep was the revised and updated version of the civilian-specification CJ-3A, which itself was an update of the venerable WWII era Willys Jeep MB. Willys developed the M38 to supply the US military for the Korean War, although by the end of the conflict most of the Jeeps that had been used…
Many Land Rover historians consider the Series IIA to be the best of the Series models, it exists in a Goldilocks zone between refinement and simplicity – before the crack-prone plastic dashboards of the Series III but after some engine and transmission improvements over the Series II. Land Rover used the Series IIA as a transitional model…
The Range Rover Classic was initially released to the public in 1970 as a relatively unique concept – it was a 4×4 with less of a utilitarian focus, and much more attention paid to comfort and on-road drivability. The improved on-road manners possessed by the first Range Rovers was largely thanks to their coil spring suspension,…
The Porsche 597 Jagdwagen is a 4×4 developed by the German marque in 1953 as a prototype for tender to the German Army, as a vehicle comparable to the Jeep, Land Rover, Kübelwagen, and to a lesser degree, the Unimog. The contract would eventually go to the DKW Munga, as there was no feasible way…
The new International Scout Encyclopedia was co-written by longtime journalist and four-wheel drive historian Jim Allen and globally respected collector and Scout expert John Glancy. They managed to dig up many never-before-seen images and some new details about the Scout, as well as all the detailed information you would expect. The IH Scout is a…
It’s said that almost three quarters of all the Land Rovers ever built are still operational, and anyone who’s ever spent time with one will know why – they’re essentially four-wheel drive Meccano sets, and their aluminium bodies don’t rust. Although to be fair, the same can’t be said for their bulkheads or chassis. The Series…
The Toyota FJ55 Land Cruiser was the first station wagon 4×4 built by the Japanese marque offering seating for up to 7 adults depending on internal configuration. The original prototype for Toyota’s first 4×4 came thanks to a Willys Jeep that the Japanese found in the Philippines during WWII. The vehicle was sent back to Japan, shortly…
In 1970 the Rover Company rolled out a new two-door 4×4 called the Range Rover. It’s not known if they had any inkling how important this new model would be, or if they had any realistic idea just how popular a road-friendly luxury 4×4 would be both in Britain and around the world. It’s possible…
The original Ford Bronco hasn’t quite piqued the interest of historic 4×4 collectors in the same way as the two-door Range Rover Classic or Toyota FJ40, this is likely due to the fact that they’re not seen as being particularly exotic or rare – although their numbers have certainly dwindled significantly since their initial production…
Twin Spark is a small printshop based in Bandung, Indonesia – and this is their first run of posters. The theme is off road icons, and it includes 4 silkscreened prints in total, including 2 Land Rovers, a Toyota FJ40, and a VW Thing. Each print costs $15 USD, they’re printed on Canson Montval paper (300…
Toyota released its first 4×4 for public sale in 1951, it was essentially a clone of the American Jeep but over the decades that followed the Japanese honed the design into something unique – and much loved around the world. Today the FJ40 stands as probably the most famous of the early Japanese 4x4s, and…
