1980-90 Jeep Cherokee

First gen XJ

Origin: The Jeep Cherokee (XJ) is seen as a revolutionary car in the field of off-road vehicles. This car was not only meant to be for the off-road, but also miraculously killed it when it came to everyday driving. Another this this car is very special for is the fact that it was the first US built SUV ever. The success of this car was so high that it  one of the big 3 manufacturers, Chrysler, bought the company to share its success as well. The Jeep was based off the GM Blazer, but ended up being introduced earlier than the Blazer. 

Current Jeep Cherokee XJ

Purpose: The Cherokee was made to serve as a small Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV). A SUV is basically a vehicle that excels at both on and off road drives. These types of vehicles were not that common in the market at the time as either cars were good at on road or of-road drives, not both. Similarly like many cars at the time, Jeep included a load of models for the customer to buy. There were some the were better at off-road, some better at normal drives, 2-door variants etc. Seeing the huge success of this vehicle, Jeep introduced the Grand Cherokee (ZJ) which was had a much larger chassis rather than the XJ's compact chassis.  According to Robert Cumberford of Automobile magazine, he states that "the Cherokee was a masterpiece of its time." This showed how important the need of SUV's were and the Jeep helped to promote this type of vehicle that we use so often today.

First Gen. Jeep Cherokee ZJ

Value: The Cherokee was seen as a game changing car at the time of its production. It helped open America's eyes to SUV's which are nowadays incredibly useful. The Cherokee was able to add of-road racing to the list as it was a fine and affordable car for the off-road. To Jeep, this was seen as a huge improvement. If you look nowadays at this car, it is said to be the car that saved Chrysler (its owner) after the Recession in 2008.

Current Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ

Limitations: The car fails to tell us anything that was going on during the ending of the Cold war or what the president was doing about it. The Jeep is a car which obviously does not tell us anything about political or militaristic ideas of what was happening in the world. Sure the Jeep was a revolutionary car, but fails to tell us anything about these issues.