SUV Pioneer Roy Lund Dies at 92

Roy Lund, the American Motor Co. designer whose four-door Jeep Cherokee in 1983 became the industry’s first modern SUV, died earlier this month at age 92, Automotive News reports.

Lund combined elements of a traditional body-on-frame design with the relatively new unitized body construction for passenger cars to produce an SUV that was strong but considerably lighter than rival SUVs of the era.

He also helped create the AMC Eagle, a four-wheel-drive wagon that could be considered a forerunner to today’s crossover vehicles. Lund was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame last year.

British by birth, Lund joined Ford Motor Co. in 1953 and was a contributor to the company’s popular Anglia small sedan. By the late 1950s he was at Ford headquarters in Dearborn, Mich., as head of advanced vehicle development. His group penned the Mustang I concept in 1962, which became the production Mustang sport coupe two years later.

Lund also worked on Ford’s GT40, the race car that ended Ferrari’s six-year winning streak at the 24 Hours of Le Mans by finishing 1-2-3. Variants of the car also won the race in 1967-1969.