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.