Now that I’ve stepped into the Grand Cherokee world with my first non-Wrangler Jeep (and only my second Jeep, despite the constant noise I make about them), I’ve started wondering about its plastic cladding.
Everyone keeps warning me I’m going to have to pay close attention to it to keep it looking good, but the question I haven’t been able to answer: what was the first example?
While many manufacturers today seem to throw it onto random CUVs to make them look more rugged, Jeep started using cladding on its SUVs several decades ago when they were undisputedly rugged.
So far, the oldest example I’ve found is a 1980 Jeep Cherokee Chief:
Here’s a Cherokee Chief from just two years prior, and it certainly doesn’t appear that it ever had cladding, but rather just black paint along the bottom.
This 1981 AMC Eagle looks like it has plastic cladding.
So we have at least two early candidates, both from AMC. Anyone know where it actually started?
Update: if indeed, as others are saying, the two early 80s examples above are not in fact examples, then this 1988 XJ is the earliest I’ve found:
P.S. While I was searching for an answer to this question, this older Oppo piece popped up. I wish, I wish, I wish GMG would leave Oppo online in read-only mode rather than throw away the years of automotive trivia/history collected here.)
P.P.S. Is it just me, or are the early Ford Explorer and Escape dead ringers for the Cherokee and Grand Cherokee?
