Car manufacturers can agree on one thing: there’s only so much you can do to ensure a car becomes popular once you have it out there in the market. Sure, you can make the best car, with the most exciting specifications but you can never really control whether the market loves it or not. That is entirely a decision made by the consumers. However, as everyone knows, if something is rare, it becomes highly prized since demand outweighs supply. Consumers like that which is hard to get, well in some cases at least. Which is why some car manufacturers will only release a small batch of a certain car, and in the process heighten demand and intrigue. And that is exactly what happened with the CJ-5 Super Jeep. Perhaps the most interesting bit in its history is that it stemmed from a mistake. Well, a rather wonderful mistake when you look at it in retrospect.
What Happened?
This is what happened: in the seventies, the American Motors Corporation sold the CJ-5 with alloy wheels. However, there arose complications with the supplier of the wheels, and this led to a temporary shortage. With or without the supplier, the production of the cars had to go on. Plan B was to use different wheels. The good news was that during this period there was a surplus of steel wheels that could be used. The downside of steel wheels was that they were ‘lesser’ wheels compared to the alloy wheels. What the manufacturers need to do was incentivize the buyers to go for this model regardless of the steel wheels-and hence an idea was born to offer unique paint jobs with matching interiors.
AMC was able to manufacture only 300 of the CJ-5 before a new shipment of the alloy for the wheels came in. That meant there were only 300 available ‘special edition’ jeeps that jeep lovers could buy. And as earlier mentioned, rarity breeds desire for possession. Out of the 300 Super Jeeps, very few are left today. And you can bet that most of those left are not really in immaculate condition. If you want one in immaculate condition, make your way to the Jeep Collection at Omix-ADA headquarters in Georgia. This is just north of Atlanta.
Important Factors
There are three things that stand out when you come face to face with a Super Jeep. First is the paint job. As earlier mentioned, this was meant to be an incentive to buyers, and it is easy to see why this worked. The metallic sheen with flowing streams of red and blue do an incredible job of being inspiring and putting a smile on your face.
Next is the character of the car. The Super Jeep is as involved in a drive as a motorcycle is in a ride. It is almost as if you are dancing on the road with the car.
Lastly, the throttle. For the Super Jeep, you need to be patient as you ease into the throttle. There is a need for quiet calm build up, and not just a stomp on the gas. But make no mistake, once you have worked it up, expect peak performance.
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