Rubicon Ready

Elusive Elaine would have felt quite at home on this wind-blasted Welsh mountaintop, because the scenes of destruction left by the chainsaw-wielding forestry workers who'd recently stripped the heights of its crop of pine trees wouldn't have looked much different from a shell-blasted forest in parts of war-torn 1940s Europe. Elaine - that's Chrysler UK's Willys Jeep - was in North Wales representing the roots of one of the world's most remarkable automotive brands. The Jeep was created as a light utility for the American army, but it made such a worldwide impact during and after the Second World War that the name Jeep became one of the most memorable brand names of all time. Though created to serve the military the Jeep legend lived on long after that conflict and quickly found favour not only as an agricultural workhorse but as a recreational vehicle. By the mid-1950s the recreational appeal of the Jeep was such that the manufacturer produced the CJ-5 variant of the M38-A military Jeep to meet popular demand for a high-fun four-wheel drive fun car. More than 50 years on from that key development, the recreational Jeep lives on in the form of the Wrangler, a thoroughly modern car in many ways, but one that retains not only many of the key styling cues of the original - the slotted grille, the extended wheelarches, the round headlamps - but is every bit as capable off-road as any of its forebears. Truly Rubicon Ready, every one of them...for the full story, check forthcoming issues of 4x4 Magazine where these three will feature in a unique head-to-head comparison test. The cars - Elaine, magazine editor John's own CJ5 and the magazine's long-term test Wrangler - were assembled at a Welsh off-road site by the 4x4 Magazine team who proved their hardy allegiance to the off-road lifestyle by camping out in spite of the wet and windy Autumn weather; Chris did a great job barbequeing burgers, steaks , sausages and lamb cutlets over a marvellous fire pit. The only downside for Yours Truly was that the tent I took with me wasn't mine; I'd accidentally packed the one used by the teenagers when they camped out at the last Glastonbury festival, so the interior stank of stale beer (and worse). After suffering that for a wet and windy night, I couldn't wait to get out for a breath of fresh mountain air on the morning after...