Book Review: Wagoneer, Gladiator, Comanche, and Scrambler

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Pablo
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Book Review: Wagoneer, Gladiator, Comanche, and Scrambler

Post by Pablo »

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https://www.amazon.com/Wagoneer-Gladiat ... 1583883614

A book came out in 2020 that the FSJ world missed with all the turmoil going on in the world. I recently discovered the tome: "Wagoneer, Gladiator, Comanche, and Scrambler -- an illustrated history of Jeep's tough go-anywhere wagons and pickups". The book in question is written by David A. Zatz, of allpar.com fame. In weighs in at 144 pages in a slick paged color photo book in a 8.5 x 11 format. The first thing I noticed is that pages 27 to 104 are exclusively FSJ content. That is the most I have seen in any Jeep book to date.

The Chapter breakdown is as follows:
  • Introduction
  • Chapter 1: Creating Jeep
  • Chapter 2: The First Jeep as we know it
  • Chapter 3: Willys Jeep Wagons and Pickups 1947-62
  • Chapter 4: The Pioneering Wagoneer
  • Chapter 5: Gladiator/J-Series: The Innovative Jeep Pickup 1962-88
  • Chapter 6: Jeep Scrambler 81-85
  • Chapter 7: Comanche: Economical Off-road pickups 1986-92
  • Chapter 8: Jeep Concepts and the Gladiator Reborn

I will focus the rest of the short review on chapters four and five, which encompasses 78 pages of *SJ* dedicated content.

Unlike most coffee table picture books, the content on these pages is loaded with historical and mechanical details. In addition to the prose content, tons of original pictures from brochures, advertisement insets and some pictures from owner rigs are included. It is nice seeing the original ad art as well as vehicle specifications taken from the period advertisements.

Chapter four focuses primarily on the Wagoneer. It begins by focusing on some of the history about the inception of the SJ platform. It then dives into the Wagoneer's mechanicals, its innovations and the market reception through the years. Insets that give particular facts about mechanical innovations and options are frequent. Toward the center of the chapter, the Cherokee is also included and a few pages highlight and focus on it. Towards the end of Chapter 4, the successor XJ and ZJ platforms are covered briefly and the new WS Wagoneer platform is also briefly mentioned.

Chapter five is dedicated almost entirely to the J-Truck/Gladiator. The chapter starts with a brief history of the SJ truck predecessors-- the Jeep Wagon/Truck and the Forward Control. After that brief introduction, the J-Truck is delved into with the same attention that Chapter 4 gave to the Wagoneer. Chapter 5 concludes with a discussion of reasons for the end of the J-Truck run which provides a nice segway with chapter's 6/7.

I am sure the book isn't perfect on details and I found a few typo's. I don't think it tries to be the end-all-be-all resource for these vehicles-- but it is very informative in its own right. The author is very adept at putting lots of technical information into small spaces without the reading becoming tedious and this shines through. The book is a bit odd in what it covers. It is a bit of everything about the "other utility Jeep's" that are not mainstream Wranglers/CJ's. This means it really cannot focus on a particular platform. In particular, the Cherokee coverage is a bit sparse. Perhaps the only real nit-pick is that the original reference sources to the facts and quotes in the book are not given or available online. Despite these minor issues, I haven't seen a published printed resource that is more informative on the subject to date. Please let me know what you guys who have read the book think.
  • 64 FSJ Wagoneer, under the knife
  • 67 FSJ Wagoneer, peacefully taking a break
  • 94 XJ, long-armed on 33's. Bolt on ghetto fab fantastic
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Formerly: 06 KJ CRD (Constantly Repair Diesel)
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Stuka
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Re: Book Review: Wagoneer, Gladiator, Comanche, and Scrambler

Post by Stuka »

Thanks for the review, I may pick this one up!
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Pevious Jeeps: 1981 J10, 1975 Cherokee, 2008 JK, 2005 KJ, 1989 XJ
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Yeller
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Re: Book Review: Wagoneer, Gladiator, Comanche, and Scrambler

Post by Yeller »

Thanks for the review! I need this to go with “Ford Bronco: history of the legend” by Todd Zuercher. Which is a coffee table quality hardback. I get this is a paper back but still cool.
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