Don’t worry, it isn’t a giant cascading flow of Jeep Wrangler crashing down a 100 foot cliff…it is pretty cool though. Check it out - a waterfall machine Chrysler and Jeep commissioned for tradeshows that is able to embed pictures into the falling water using thousands of very precisely controlled water jets - kind of like a bubble jet printer. Very cool!
Image via WikipediaWow - who knew there was such a thing as a Jeep Forward Control FC170 or an entire product line called the ‘Forward Control’! Here is a great shot found on Jalopnik.com taken by Akier in Oakland California - SWEET!
Essentially a standard ‘cab-over-engine‘ design, the Jeep Forward Control series was a design produced from 1956 to 1965 and was manufactured as much (or actually more) internationally as it was domestically in the United States.
Three civilian models were produced, the FC-150, FC-170 and the FC-170DRW as well as several military versions; the M676, M677, M678, M679. Total production in nine years was just over 30,000 units.
Jeep Forward Control FC models were produced in India and Spain with the Indian manufacture of the Mahindra FC-160 pickup truck only ended in the summer of 1999!
This is a beauty, I will definitely be lurking Craigslist looking for one in my neighborhood!
This is what it is all about! Camp Jeep 2007 Oak Ridge Estate VA. Nice Jeep commercial too - makes you want to get out there with your friends and family!
Beijing Auto Works is still at it, launching another civilian ‘Jeep’ off road SUV - the BAW B40. In my humble opinion, they are doing a pretty fabulous job of it - they are definitely ‘blending styles’ and pulling in visual references from some of the better designs out there - I see bits of FJ Cruiser, LandRover and Jeep. As far as performance goes, the real ‘proof is in the pudding’ though and it remains to be seen how they perform. That being said they are sure to last if they are based on the military vehicles that BAW has been making for over 50 years! You can’t make vehicles that long and not learn a thing or two) - photos from http://www.thetycho.com
All they needed to do was put seven bars into the front grille and you could be excused for thinking that this was a ‘new look’ for a Chrysler built Jeep!
The looks of the front end from this view are similar to that of the LandRover…
The extra wide D-Pillar, tail-lights and even the bumpers are highly reminiscent of the FJ Cruiser from Toyota!
Rumored to hit the market around $12,000 (wow, imagine how many they would sell in North America at that price!) , it is expected to start production in only a few months although it is officially still a concept vehicle. According to thetycho.com the BAW B40 SportJeep is a 4 wheel drive, 2.8L, 4 cylinder gasonline engine with a top speed of 145 km an hour.
BAW seem to have wound up the press and public in North America. Countless negative comments about ‘cheap knockoffs’ etc abound on the message boards for example, how about this doozy (posted by a reader on AutoBlog.com):
“this {BAW B40} is a joke and makes me sick. chrysler has a good thing with the Jeep and this chinese crap does nothing other than taint real off-road prowess. how can this even be gaining coverage? or the Fiesta rip-off for that matter?”
nonsense.
Interesting however is that there seem to be just as many folks praising BAW and other chinese manufacturers:
“Not bad, styling wise. If the grille actually had seven slots and you showed me this, I’d think it was a possible update. The rear borrows a lot from the FJCruiser (fat D-Pillar, tail-lights, bumpers). The hood-line is as much WJ as it is Rover-esque. Since it is Beijing Auto, Ill guess that it’s the same company as what was once Beijing Jeep….”
If you are interested, you can find more info about Beijing Auto Works at the following links:
References from
http://www.petrol-head.com/2008/04/beijing-2008-16.html
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/22/beijing-2008-land-wrangler-its-the-beijing-b40
http://www.thetycho.com/news_beijingauto3.htm
This is a great commercial from Jeep for the Patriot. It is the first ‘wolf’ commercial they did and also one of the first times (the first?) they did the “I squish your little head” thing in a Jeep commercial (you know what I am talking about….pretending that you can pick something up, pinching it between your thumb and finger by holding them really close to your eye). This commercial is an outdoor lifestyle commercial for the Jeep Patriot that demonstrates people outside having fun as a group - following a more current positioning theme from Jeep.
