If you are a car person, and you are in any way aware of classic television, then you know that Jim Rockford, legendary TV detective, drove a gold Pontiac Firebird. The Rockford Files, which ran from 1974 to 1980, followed the life of private investigator Jim Rockford, a charming yet cynical operator who never seemed to catch a break.
Jeep Maverick Special
Jim’s Firebirds are the stuff of legend, in part because they looked fantastic, and in part because actor James Garner, who played Rockford, famously did all his own stunt driving. This is important, as car chases were integral to the show, and the Firebirds looked really good in motion.
Garner famously did an awesome job portraying Rockford, a fact supported by his five Emmy-award nominations for his work on the series, and his one win. But Garner played a stud years before anyone had heard of Jim Rockford.
Almost two decades prior to his first appearance on the Rockford Files, Garner was cast as Bret Makerick, a dapper, professional gambler in the classic Western, Maverick. The show ran from 1957 to 1962, with Garner as part of the cast from 1957 to 1960. (Fun fact: Roger Moore would join the Maverick cast around the time Garner moved on.)
In the early seasons of the program, Garner appeared roughly every other show, as his character’s brother Bart Maverick (played by Jack Kelly), was featured in the other episodes. That said, the show was at its finest when the Maverick boys appeared on-screen together.
And while Maverick–set in the post-Civil War American West, and Midwest–did not feature an automobile, the show’s primary sponsor Willys did.
For 1958, Willy’s (then parent company of Jeep), gently updated its long-running Jeep Station Wagon, and added an upscale variant dubbed “Maverick Special.”
The Maverick Special boasted unique exterior trim as well as upgraded cabin bits. It’s rugged but somewhat sophisticated nature played very well in ads during Maverick, as its lead characters exuded similar qualities.
The “Station Wagon” dated way back to the Forties, and was an attempt by the Willys folks to create a civilian family vehicle using the Jeep bits developed for the war.
The wagon sat on a tidy 104-inch wheelbase, and weighed between 3200 and 3400 pounds. At the advertised prices seen in the ads shared here, the Wagon came with rear-wheel drive, though 4WD was available.
Power came from either Jeep’s 75-horsepower “Hurricane” 4-cylinder engine, or the optional—and much preferred—115-horsepower “Super Hurricane” six.
Base price for the Maverick special was $1895 for 1958, and $1995 for 1959. This at a time when a standard Chevrolet started at around $2000.
Jeep sold about 100,000 vehicles in total between 1958 and 1959, though it is unclear how many of those were Station Wagon, nor how many of those Wagons were Maverick Specials. That said, we suspect the Mavericks were pretty uncommon.
As for James Garner, we do have a picture of him leaning outside the door of a Maverick—on studio grounds—so there’s that.
While the Maverick Special lacks the TV legacy of Rockford’s legendary Firebird, it is a pretty cool callback to the TV show that launched James Garner’s career, and that makes it awesome to us.
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Jeep Maverick Special Pictures
