Times Five

We tend to think that the crossover SUV segment started in the 1990s, but there were a few that went there much earlier. Here are five, writes Damien O’Carroll.

Willys-Overland Jeepster

While the Jeepster doesn’t quite conform to the modern definition of a Crossover, it does do the one thing that Crossovers do – combine elements of an SUV and a passenger car – it just does them the other way around to modern Crossovers.

The Jeepster appeared in 1948 and was Willys-Overland’s attempt to bridge the gap between their utilitarian SUVs and trucks and the passenger car segment that they desperately wanted to get into.

As such, the Jeepster was based on Willys’ truck chassis, but featured a roadster style body and was RWD only, making it pretty much the complete opposite of a modern Crossover.

GAZ-M72

The case could be made that the Soviets invented the first ‘‘proper’’ Crossover back in 1955 when the GAZ-M72 made its first awkwardly shaped appearance.

Based on the GAZ-M20 ‘‘Pobeda’’, the oddly humpy M72 jammed the 4WD drivetrain from the GAZ-M69 light military truck into the traditional four-door passenger car to create the world’s first mass-produced monocoque all-wheel drive vehicle. Pretty much the definition of a Crossover.

More than 4500 examples of the M72 were built until production ended in 1958 and the Crossover would be forgotten to history again.

Neorion Chicago

In 1974 Greek manufacturer of weird small cars, Neorion, went utterly outside its comfort zone with the wonderfully bizarre Chicago.

Conceived as an ‘‘uncompromising luxury limousine’’ with off-road ability, the whole thing came crashing badly into reality when the original (apparently elegant) design had to be wildly compromised to fit on the chassis and running gear from a Jeep Wagoneer (Jeeps later, a closer attempt at a Crossover, albeit one that was pretty much a traditional SUV with a more station wagon-styled body).

It didn’t work, no-one wanted it and only two were ever finished.

Matra-Simca Rancho

French engineering group Matra and car maker Simca arguably perfected the Crossover recipe in 1977 when they collaborated to launch the Rancho.

Based on a stretched version of the small Simca 1100 sedan’s platform, the Rancho certainly looked the business, with its plastic body cladding and distinctive stepped roof (that Land Rover would blatantly lift for the Discovery 12 years later), but it was sadly all talk and no trousers – much like a lot of modern Crossovers, it was FWD only.

Interesting French car fact: the vehicle Matra designed to be the Rancho’s replacement eventually became the Renault Espace, the vehicle that is largely considered the first MPV!

AMC Eagle

Essentially a modern – and distinctly American – refinement of the Soviet GAZ-M72’s concept of a passenger car with 4WD SUV running gear, the AMC Eagle was just all kinds of awesome.

The only AWD passenger car produced in the United States at the time of its arrival, the Eagle was also the first mass-produced passenger car to feature a fulltime AWD system – admittedly it used the Ferguson Formula system that had first appeared in the Jensen FF 13 years earlier, but with only 320 ever made, it can’t be considered ‘‘mass produced’’.

The Eagle was, however, and it was built in wagon, sedan, hatchback, coupe and even convertible forms before its production ended in 1987.