# Jeep Van? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 30, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeep-van/191969 "2003-07-30T19:37:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeep-van/191969/1 "2003-07-30T19:37:49Z")
Back in the AMC days of Jeep, there was a full size 4-door SUV called the Wagoneer/Grand Wagoneer, plus a 2-door variant called the Cherokee. They also had a pick-up derived from the SUV called the Gladiator, I believe. Why didn’t AMC engineer and market a full size van, to compete fully with GM, Ford and Chrysler? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeep-van/191969/2 "2003-07-30T20:50:49Z")
[It looks as if they’d thought about it](http://jeepfc.www5.50megs.com/commuter/commuter.htm). (Not AMC, but Willys/Willys-Kaiser.) I don’t know why Willys never persued the van variant of the FC-150/170, but the Forward Control trucks were not their most popular product. (Which is not to say they were unpopular – they were built from 1956-1965.) I’d have to look it up, but IIRC AMC was in financial trouble in the 1970s and it ended up being half-owned by Renault. It coule be that they just didn’t want to spend the resources on a Jeep van. Or more likely, they knew a good thing when they had it and decided to concentrate on the CJ-5/6/7/8 and Wagoneer line. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeep-van/191969/3 "2003-07-30T21:11:19Z")
[It looks as if they’d thought about it](http://jeepfc.www5.50megs.com/commuter/commuter.htm). (Not AMC, but Willys/Willys-Kaiser.) I don’t know why Willys never persued the van variant of the FC-150/170, but the Forward Control trucks were not their most popular product. (Which is not to say they were unpopular – they were built from 1956-1965.) I’d have to look it up, but IIRC AMC was in financial trouble in the 1970s and it ended up being half-owned by Renault. It coule be that they just didn’t want to spend the resources on a Jeep van. Or more likely, they knew a good thing when they had it and decided to concentrate on the CJ-5/6/7/8 and Wagoneer line. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeep-van/191969/4 "2003-07-30T21:13:52Z")
Server error caused the double post. ---
**Author:** ![stockton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@stockton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stockton)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2003, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeep-van/191969/5 "2003-07-31T03:01:49Z")
What the heck? They even made a CORVAIR van, with a ramp on the side so you could roll your lawnmower or motorcycle into the cargo bay. You can search ‘corvair rampside’ on google, or see the ugliest specimen I could find (flames and all): [http://www.cars-on-line.com/61corvair3188.html](http://www.cars-on-line.com/61corvair3188.html)