Retro Graphics

During the 1970s and ‘80s, Jeep excelled at using increasingly lurid vinyl graphics to mark out its latest creations. Their designs were used with particularly good effect to entice buyers into ordering their Jeeps with an option package or two, but they also served another purpose.

With growing neighbourhood competition and a desire to be seen to be ‘keeping up with the Joneses,’ each model year ushered in a new set of graphics that made it easy to see who’d bought the latest model, and who was stuck driving around with last year’s decals.

Social status may be less important these days, but instead a new trend has emerged. With the launch of the new Gladiator, owners have begun reaching into Jeep’s back catalogue of decal designs to adorn their trucks with a set of retro-graphics. We look back at a few of Jeep’s best vinyl creations.

CJ-5 Super Jeep

Somewhere near the top of the list of Holy Grail Jeeps must be the Super Jeep package of 1973. Available only on the CJ-5, it was marked out by unmissable blue and red stripes on Jet Set Blue or Champagne White paintwork, with matching red and white striped vinyl seats.

Alternatively, orange and white stripes could be added to a Butterscotch Gold, Daisy Yellow, Copper Tan, or Fairway Green painted Jeep, complete with Cinnamon and white seats. All combinations came with white sun visors, white dash pad, chrome front bumper, black fender lip extensions, and whitewall tyres on white wheels. Most were powered by the 4.2-litre straight six, although a few were ordered with the optional 304 V8.

It’s not known how many were made, although it’s likely fewer than 200 left the factory. The decal sets were available to order from a friendly Jeep dealer back in the day, and many a homebrew special has been discovered masquerading as the real deal.

Jeep briefly considered resurrecting the package in 1976, perhaps more to do with America’s bicentennial celebrations than the impending arrival of Christopher Reeve in a pair of red pants. While Jeep eventually decided against it, a handful (perhaps only ten) were built for use on the show circuit. All had a 304 V8, except for one that was purchased by a Jeep employee who talked the factory into installing a 401 V8 instead. They still own it today.

A few years ago a ’76 Super Jeep resurfaced in Texas having spent its entire life on a ranch – the last 15 years outside in the elements – but after a painstaking restoration in 2012 it’s now one of the rarest Jeeps on the planet.

Golden Eagle

Introduced in 1977, the Golden Eagle package was initially available on both CJ-5 and CJ-7 models. Part of AMC’s drive to ensure their line-up always offered something new and exciting, the Golden Eagle package added gold pinstriping to the body and grille, gold wheels with white-letter tyres, black rubber fender lip extensions, a tan Levi’s top, tan bucket seats, brown carpets, and a few niceties that included tachometer, sports steering wheel, and a padded dash panel.

Oh, and a giant golden eagle decal on the hood flanked by black and gold lettering.

A riot of 1970s design perhaps rivalled only by the Pontiac Firebird (think Smokey and the Bandit), it proved surprisingly popular, surviving well into the 1980s and even finding its way on to the Cherokee and J-Series trucks where the sheer hairy-chestedness of it was positively off the chart.

Scrambler

Launched in 1981, the CJ-8 Scrambler was billed as “America’s first small 4x4 pickup.” If that sounds like something of a niche within a niche, you’d be right, and it seems much of America had the same thought. By the time production ended in 1986, fewer than 28,000 had been built, but it has since gone on to become one of the period’s most collectable Jeeps.

Roughly two feet longer and with a 10-inch longer wheelbase than the CJ-7 it was based on, Jeep were keen to draw attention to the added utility it offered with unique graphics that accentuated the body’s length.

Two main option packages were offered, although the SR Sport’s twin stripes (in yellow, blue or red to complement the paintwork) seemed to suit the Scrambler better than the SL Sport’s rather more sombre pinstriping in silver and grey or Nutmeg and Bronze.

Even President Reagan agreed, his wife Nancy having picked out a fetching Slate Blue SR Sport ’82 model.

For ’83, the Scrambler’s graphics adopted a segmented look borrowed largely from the CJ-7 Renegade, while the SL Sport continued to use the pinstriping of the more luxury-minded Laredo CJs.

The SR Sport and SL Sport branding was dropped in ’85, the line-up instead mirroring the choice of Renegade or Laredo of its CJ brother. Only 128 were made for the final 1986 model year, with some evidence to suggest those few were ’85 model Scramblers rechristened as ‘86s.

Today, the Scrambler’s graphics are the prime choice for many a new Gladiator owner, with the designs of the 1981 original proving the most popular.

Renegade

The Renegade name made its debut as an option package for the CJ-5 in 1970. Based on an earlier performance package that centred around the 155hp Dauntless V6, the Renegade I wore a simple black decal down each side of the bonnet as a contrast to either Plum Purple, Mint Green or Hugger Orange paintwork.

Although only around 250 were sold, it returned the next year as the Renegade II, bringing with it new colours (Baja Yellow, Riverside Orange and Big Bad Orange, joining the carry-over Mint Green) plus five-hole alloy wheels and an additional black centre bonnet stripe.

In 1972, the Renegade became a permanent addition to the range where it would stay until CJ-5 production ended in 1985. Perhaps not surprisingly, Jeep chose to carry this popular package across to the CJ-7 when it arrived in 1976, where again it survived until production ceased in 1986 to make way for the Wrangler YJ.

The Renegade used many graphic designs during its 16 year run, but perhaps our favourite is the simple triple stripe motif of the early Eighties.

Laredo

The Laredo package first appeared in 1980 on both the CJ-5 and CJ-7. There, it represented the top-of-the-line, adding chrome wheels, a chrome grille and bumpers, tinted glass, high-back seats, full instrumentation, leather steering wheel, and various other goodies.

Its copious pinstriping gave the CJ a very different look to the more ruggedly-styled Renegade, and it wasn’t long before the Laredo moniker made its way on to the J-Series trucks and even the Cherokee.

Jeep eventually repurposed the Laredo name, perhaps most famously on the Grand Cherokee where it came to represent an entry-level model with cloth upholstery and hard-wearing unpainted body cladding.

For our money, the best Laredo graphics arrived in 1985 for the CJ-7 with its chunky bonnet-lettering and shark-gill stripes.

Honcho

Jeep had some real fun when it came to designing graphics for its pickup trucks.

In 1971 Jeep dropped the Gladiator name and referred to the range simply as Jeep Pickups or, later, J-10 and J-20. Engine options included a trio of brawny V8s as well as the omnipresent straight-six, ensuring an unrivalled towing ability thanks to a gross vehicle weight of up to 8,400 lbs.

A variety of four-wheel-drive options meant it could keep on trucking when all others faltered, and this unstoppable nature inspired Jeep to coin increasingly macho names for its offerings.

The most popular was the Honcho (meaning boss, or big shot), arriving in 1976. It offered a hard-wearing selection of denim upholstery, chunky off-road tyres, and even chunkier Honcho graphics, often in unmissable gold. Particularly appealing were the striped graphics for the beefed-up Sportside model.

The Golden Eagle package arrived in ’77, a strangely awesome automotive interpretation of ‘medallion man’ with its black and gold stripes and a giant bird literally spread-eagled across the bonnet, the tips of its wings stretching back the full length of the truck.

By contrast, the 10-4 package of 1978 was positively restrained, its name derived from its optional CB radio.

Cherokee Chief

The Cherokee Chief was more than just some appealing graphics. Launched in 1976, the Chief featured wide-track axles and extended fender flares, while its white-painted steel wheels were wrapped in All Terrain tyres with white lettering.

Initially it wore a low-gloss black finish around the glasshouse, across the tailgate and along the bottom of the doors, but by 1981 that had been joined by a black stripe package that complemented its blackout grille and gave the Cherokee a very purposeful look.

When the XJ took over three years later, the Chief’s blackout theme continued with graphics on the bonnet and along the door bottoms.

Comanche

Jeep was already becoming more restrained in its use of graphics by the time the XJ-derived Comanche arrived in 1986. Options included dual-colour pinstripes so thin they were almost lost in the body’s swage lines, but thankfully a Sport Decor Group offered something a little more obvious.

Along with blackout treatments for the front grille, air dam, bumpers, lower bodyside and fender flares, four-wheel-drive models were available with a tri-colour stripe kit that ran from the A-pillar to the tailgate, accentuating the Comanche’s length and its cargo-carrying credentials.

Whether you believe today’s Gladiator is the spiritual successor of the Comanche or the Scrambler, the vinyl heyday of the Seventies and Eighties offers more than enough choice for retro-graphics fans.