Although only seen once, the Wagoneer was the first vehicle we saw MacGyver driving as his own in the show. It was replaced two episodes later with his Jeep Cherokee.
The Wagoneer is considered the forerunner of what would become the SUV class vehicle. Originally built on the frame of Jeep’s Gladiator pickup truck, it was introduced with a station wagon body and options only seen on cars at the time, such as independent front suspension, power steering, automatic transmission,a factory radio and optional air-conditioning which set it apart from anything else on the market at the time.
Distinguished by it’s wood panel paint job, the Wagoneer was initially released with rear wheel drive, but soon released a four-wheel drive version that stayed in production for 29 years with an almost unchanged structure despite a second generation being released along side it in 1983. This second generation, as well as the third, were essentially Cherokees with the Wagoneer’s faux wood panel paint job but still considered a separate model from the Cherokee series.
Chrysler announced in March 2021 that they would release an updated 2022 full-size luxury SUV model based on the Ram 1500 pickup truck as the flagship vehicle of the Jeep franchise.
Note: We do see MacGyver driving a Wagoneer Limited edition in season 5’s ‘Log Jam’ episode, but we’re assuming this was only a rental as we see him arriving in Oregon by small plane at the start of the episode.
| APPEARANCES: Last Stand |
MODEL: Grand Wagoneer (SJ) YEAR: LICENSE PLATE: |
COLORS: Two tone brown and black |
GALLERY:
Typical low quality Jeep interior. All plastic and fake leather with lots of add-ons that don’t quite fit properly and look terrible.
I’m guessing you’ve never been in an actual SJ Wagoneer. Half the dash is metal, genuine leather all around, and the plastic/vinyl is of a quality that Jeep could only dream of today. My 1974 is pretty similar to this and after almost 50 years of heavy use the interior is still immaculate.
Don’t get me wrong, almost everything Jeep has made from 2002 on is plasticy chintzy junk, but FSJs are a completely different animal