CJ5
Willy's and Kaiser were put to rest in
1955 so that the company could concentrate on Jeep vehicles full
heartedly. Hence, the CJ5 Jeep was introduced in 1955. It�s pretty
widely accepted that the Jeep CJ5 was what really helped spread the word
about recreational off-road driving. Since its inception, the CJ-5 was
very successful.
In the early 1960's jeep started to have
some competition from IH Scout, Land Rover, Datsun and Toyota. Although
Jeep sales stood up to the new breed of competition, sales were not
growing well. Some people felt this was the case because the Jeep was
the slowest vehicle among the SUV's. This being the case, in 1966 Jeep
offered a V6 in the CJ5. It was a Buick engine knows as the Dauntless
motor. It had a displacement of 225 cubic engines and produced 155 bhp @
4000 rpm. It's nothing to brag about by today's standards, but it gave
Jeep the edge it needed. By 1968 more than 75% of CJ5's sold were
ordered with the buick dauntless motor.
Kaiser built a factory in Toledo, Ohio near its Jeep Universal assembly
plant for the production of the dauntless motor.
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