The Definitive Guide to Famous Jeeps

Scott Carline • October 8, 2020

Last month, to celebrate Jeep’s 80th anniversary, we dove into the illustrious history of the Jeep. This month, we want to highlight some of the most famous Jeeps — with owners that include authors and presidents, and cameos in iconic films and TV shows. Here are our top picks.

The good news? You don’t need to be a celebrity or major movie producer to get your hands on a Jeep that people remember. Our team lives the Jeep lifestyle and will work with you to customize your vehicle so that it’s worthy of its time in the spotlight. We lead the way when it comes to high-quality custom Jeep modifications, 4×4 modifications, and upgrades. Schedule a consultation to learn more about popular upgrades from a leading expert.

 

The Author

Although J.D. Salinger is best known for his novel The Catcher in the Rye released in 1951, what you may not have known is that he was also a storied and devoted Jeep owner. His love of the brand began during World War II when he was drafted to fight in the Army, and it’s said that he would keep a portable typewriter in the back of his Jeep to work on his writing. After Salinger became famous for his writing — much of which drew on his wartime experience — he headed to New Hampshire, where he was often spotted cruising around in his curtained Jeep.

 

The President

Ronald Reagan was a household name long before he became the 40th president of the US. He was working as an actor when he put his career on pause in 1942 to enter the Army Reserve, where he became a captain and drove Jeeps as a part of his daily duties. Over 30 years later, as the Governor of California, he would roam around his nearly 700-acre ranch in a blue 1983 CJ-8 Scrambler (a gift from wife Nancy) bearing the “GIPPER” license plate. It was the same vehicle that was used to show Mikhail Gorbachev around the ranch, and today the Jeep is on display at a public museum in Santa Barbara, California.

 

The Moonshiners’ Cousin

There’s no shortage of iconic cars that appeared in the TV Series The Dukes of Hazzard, but one that sticks out to us the most is Daisy’s 1980 Jeep CJ-7 Golden Eagle nicknamed Dixie. Several of the same models were used throughout the filming of the show, and there was little continuity with the design or even the transmission over the years — but that didn’t stop Dixie (and Daisy) from being burned into the memories of viewers. Fun fact: the Jeeps used in filming were leased by American Motors Corporation with the repayment being a closing-credits mention.

 

The Time Traveler

Great Scott! Not one, but two Back to the Future films featured Jeeps. The first time the vehicle appeared was in the flagship film released in 1985 when Marty McFly held on to the back of a CJ-7. Four years later, the sequel predicted a new method of off-roading when a 1988 Wrangler YJ took off flying in what was supposed to be the year 2015. While Jeeps may have come a long way between then and now, we’re not quite ready to take flight in our YJs (unless you count getting air on sweet jumps).

 

The Dino-Park Rangers

When you look at the 1992 Jeep Wrangler YJ Sahara, you can almost hear the Jurassic Park theme song. It’s almost instantly recognizable as the Jeep that ran to and from prehistoric creatures roaming the sprawling amusement park gone very wrong. We can’t say for certain that Jeeps helped make the movie franchise a blockbuster success, with additional flicks adding to the long-running popularity of the original and the sequels — but it’s safe to say that there isn’t any other vehicle out there that could stand up to a T-Rex the way that Sahara did.

 

The Zombie Hunters

Since The Walking Dead started in 2010, the immensely popular zombie apocalypse show has featured a range of Jeeps including Cherokees and Wranglers alike. From the 1979 Cherokee used in the early seasons to the Wranglers with rugged tires that are used to run away from and destroy zombies, it seems like Jeep makes an appearance in nearly every episode of the series — but you better catch a glimpse before the show ends its run in 2022.

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Axleboy Custom Jeep Gladiator: TeraFlex Control Arms and Falcon Shocks

By Scott Carline • April 7, 2025
So we're back inside at Axleboy Offroad. We've got our 2020 Jeep Gladiator Sport S. This is still bone stock. I haven't made any modifications to it yet. We have ordered and been receiving a lot of the components from our supplier partner. They're going to end up on this Jeep Gladiator. One thing that's going to be probably the most dramatic cosmetically and performance and everything else from the outside, is the lift kit, and the wheels, and the suspension. Yeah. So right now behind us is bone stock. Let's talk about suspension first. Why don't you tell us what we have here from TeraFlex? Sure. So from TeraFlex, we're doing the adjustable alpine IR arms. IR stands for independent rotation. Now this is a really new product and it's amazing in the fact that it uses the bushing, so we're going to retain the same sound dampening and the same ride quality as we would when we're stock. But the inner sleeve that the bolt actually goes on... Okay. This is actually on a bearing. Okay. And it's a sealed bearing and unlike standard bushings where once the bolt clamps down, it's captive in the rubber and the rubber has to flex in order for this arm to move through its travel. The independent rotation allows free movement, no binding whatsoever, and this is huge in terms of ride quality, in terms of flex when you're off road or when you're on the RTI ramp at a Jeep show, or whatever it may be. We get the best of both worlds. We get the reliability of a good rubber bushing. We get the flexibility of a flex joint, but we don't have the parts that wear out or they get loose and make noise like the flex joints do. So it's kind of the best of both worlds. We expect that these bushings are going to last the vehicle's lifetime. This is a new product, this independent rotation bushing, been in testing and development for quite a while. We expect these to do amazing. What does installing an adjustable control arm do? What's the benefit for me as the Gladiator? Yeah, that's a great question. So we're going to lift it and we're going to raise the suspension. And the way that the geometry works, as we raise, this control arm is going to drop down further away. Now if you notice when this control arm swings down, it moves back. We actually lose some wheelbase when we lift it and it's just the nature of basic geometry. There's nothing we can do about that unless we put in an adjustable control arm. In this case, we can extend the length of this. We can recover our wheelbase, we can recover our alignment angles and our pinion angles as needed. So this gives us the ability to affectively adjust the front axle forward and backward. So we can make sure that the front axle is exactly where we want it. Exactly where we want it with the correct angle and the correct rotation. This is going to make the vehicle drive amazing. We're going to be able to keep caster where we want it, which is important because as we lift it caster drops out. Caster is the alignment angle that gives us stability going down the highway. We can roll it back in. Terrific. What else do we have here from TeraFlex? Well, we also have the new Falcon series three shocks. These are the brand new SP two shocks. Now I know in the past you and I have talked about how nice the Falcon shocks are because we have the quick adjust knobs. So we can turn this knob and we can go from soft ride to firm ride or tow, or if you're particularly picky like I know you are, you can go into setting number two, which gives you micro adjust on the small knob. You can literally dial in the ride as you drive. Now the SP two adds a new feature to it. Okay? It allows us to control the dampening, so this isn't as quick adjust or as easy, but what we can do, if you come in and say, "Dude, I am going to run down a gravel road and I'm going to run this thing hard." You can take the shock off and you can twist it, turn the bottom, and it goes into performance mode. Now this isn't going to be something you're changing in and out of every day. It's something you're probably going to do on install, but it gives you the ability to take the entire shock range and move it to more of a performance setting or to move it more to a comfort setting. Okay. So it just adds one more layer of adjustability to these shocks. These shocks are made up in Utah at the TeraFlex plant in the Falcon plant, handmade up there. Everything is amazing. We've been up on this line. It's the most spotless incredible thing you've ever seen. They've put a lot of time and development into this and these are definitely the best riding shock out there for the JK, and JL, and Gladiators. And it's going to look really cool. Oh yeah. How do you go wrong with all the big, all the billet, all the anodizing, the badging? They cut no corners on this thing at all. So I'm going to guess we've got a front and a back. Yeah. Yeah. So this will be the back. And so the importance with the back is... So it's a gladiator, right? So we're probably going to load it up with stuff, right? I mean, bicycles, kayaks, tent. So we're going to be taking weight in and out of it all the time. And that's really where the quick adjust knob is going to come in for us. So as you add that weight, all your shock dampening needs to change. It's easy now. Reach in there through the wheel-well, make a flip, and go. Going down the road or as a daily driver, what setting would I want to put it on? Well, I'll let you have it as far as a personal preference, but I know when I'm going down the road, just genuinely driving down the highway, I like a softer setting. I don't need to really feel the road. When we go to the firm settings, you're going to feel more input from the road. Now that's going to be great in certain situations. So if you're particularly driving sporty or driving heavy, you're going to want to have that road feel where you can feel the bumps and know what the vehicle is doing. With that, we're going to get a lot of roll control. So the vehicle is going to corner better and it will be able to handle the washboard gravel roads. Because I know like when you're out camping, you're driving down the- Gravel road. Yeah, yeah. You know how it is. You hit the bump and you bounce off the road, not with these, you move it to a firm setting and yeah, it's going to feel like you're zipping across the desert in a Baja race there. So really good stuff. Very adjustable, tunable to how you want it. So typically when you're off road or you're driving in let's say a spirited fashion, if you will, we're going to put them on firm. That's great. Well, thanks a lot to TeraFlex and to Axleboy Offroad. To learn more, you go to teraflex.com or visit us at axleboy.com.

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