This is a 1985 Jeep Grand Wagoneer that benefits from a restoration and a series of upgrades, the most significant of which is the fitment of a modern 5.3 liter Vortec V8, offering a significant power boost and much better fuel economy than the original engine.
The Jeep Grand Wagoneer debuted in 1963 and it stakes a claim to being the world’s first production luxury SUV. It offered sedan levels of comfort in a large four-door, four-wheel drive for the first time, and the American buying public loved it.
Fast Facts – The Jeep Grand Wagoneer
- This 1985 Jeep Grand Wagoneer benefits from a restoration, it’s now powered by a modern 5.3 liter Vortec V8. This upgrade significantly improves power, fuel efficiency, and reliability when compared to the original engine. The vehicle also includes modern comforts such as cruise control, air conditioning, and power-adjustable front seats.
- The Jeep Grand Wagoneer, introduced in 1963, is widely considered the first luxury production SUV. It combined four-wheel drive functionality with sedan-like comfort, offering features such as air conditioning and power steering, which were groundbreaking for the time. It helped popularize the SUV segment in America.
- The Grand Wagoneer faced little competition upon release, as no similar vehicle existed at the time. The first real competition came with the 1969 Chevrolet K5 Blazer, which had a similar design but was only available in a two-door style, making it less family-friendly.
- This upgraded 1985 Jeep Grand Wagoneer is being sold in Spring, Texas, with service records, a clean Carfax report, and a clean Texas title. The vehicle has been extensively updated, including a fresh coat of Almond Beige paint, new upholstery, and the removal of rust from the floorboards.
The Importance Of The Jeep Grand Wagoneer
The Jeep Grand Wagoneer was conceived by a team in the early 1960s at Willys-Overland Motors, which was owned by Kaiser Jeep Corporation at the time. The fundamental concept was to take the pre-existing underpinnings of the Jeep Gladiator (SJ) pickup truck and fit a four-door station wagon body with all the modern conveniences of a sedan.
The sedan-levels of comfort combined with excellent ground clearance and 4×4 made the Wagoneer a popular family vehicle in regions with snowy winters. Image courtesy of American Motors.
Before this time, four-wheel drive vehicles had been utilitarian vehicles with spartan interiors, derived from designs used by the military, or used for agricultural or industrial purposes.
The Jeep Grand Wagoneer would be the first production 4×4 that could really be called an SUV, and it would trigger a slow moving avalanche in the American automotive world that would eventually see SUVs of this type becoming the best-selling vehicles in the nation.
On its debut in 1963 the Jeep Grand Wagoneer offered a series of features almost unheard of in the world of contemporary 4x4s of the era, things like a fully carpeted interior, optional air conditioning, power steering, independent front suspension, an automatic transmission option, and even a factory radio.
The Competition, Or The Lack Thereof
When it was introduced, the Grand Wagoneer had no competition at all, it was the only production vehicle of its kind and competitors like Land Rover’s Range Rover wouldn’t appear for another eight years.
It could be said, perhaps arguably, that the first American-made competition for the Grand Wagoneer wouldn’t appear until the debut of the Chevrolet K5 Blazer in 1969. The K5 Blazer used a similar concept to the Wagoneer, it was based on a pickup truck platform and used a station wagon-type body offering a slew of modern conveniences, but it would only come in a two-door body style, making it less appealing to those with families.
The combination of four-wheel drive and sedan levels of luxury made the Wagoneer a best-seller for almost 30 years. Image courtesy of American Motors.
The Jeep Wagoneer would remain in production for 29 years in total, from 1963 until 1991, the third longest production run of any vehicle in American history.
In 2022 a modern version of the Jeep Wagoneer made its debut, it was larger and more luxurious than its forebear could ever have been and sales have been increasing steadily, with 55,084 examples sold in 2024 – the best year of sales thus far.
The Upgraded Jeep Grand Wagoneer Shown Here
The vehicle you see here is a Jeep Grand Wagoneer from 1985. It now benefits from a wide range of updates including the fitment of a modern 5.3 liter Vortec V8 that’s good for 355 bhp at 5,600 rpm and 383 lb ft of torque at 4,100 rpm.
Power is sent back through a three-speed automatic transmission and a dual-range transfer case to either the rear wheels, or to all four wheels depending on how it’s set.
The vehicle has cruise control, power-adjustable front seats, air conditioning, Dakota Digital instrumentation, an electric rear window, and a fresh coat of Almond Beige paint with faux woodgrain trim.
This 1985 Jeep Grand Wagoneer is now powered by a modern 5.3 liter Vortec V8 that’s good for 355 bhp at 5,600 rpm and 383 lb ft of torque at 4,100 rpm.
It rides on 15″ multi-spoke alloy wheels fitted with 33×10.5″ BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 tires, and it has front disc brakes with rear drums. The seats were reupholstered in tan vinyl in 2023, at this time the door panels were refreshed, the headliner and carpets were replaced, and rust was removed from the floorboards.
This modernized Jeep Grand Wagoneer is now being offered for sale out of Spring, Texas on Bring a Trailer with service records, a clean Carfax report, and a clean Texas title. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
