A recent column examined Jeep's front-end design and history, noting that Ford's stamped redesign of the Willys MB produced the seven-slot grille that later became legally protected and spotlighting the CJ-5-era face.
The column traces the grille's origin to Ford replacing the Willys MB's metal rods with a single stamped sheet-metal face, a manufacturing change that simplified production and set proportions still echoed in later Jeep designs.
It singled out the CJ-5 face used from 1955 to 1983 for its large headlights that intrude into the outermost grille slots, a detail the writer described as giving Jeep a lively, "bug-eyed" appearance and compared to a graphic-design technique.
The piece also referenced recent Jeep culture, citing the Easter Jeep Safari and a rebuilt WWII-era Jeep assembled from eBay parts, with further coverage of that build promised by the site.
This article is based on reporting from The Autopian.
Read the full article at The Autopian.
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