(Motor Authority) — Performance SUVs are common today, but in the late 1960s there was only the Jerrari.
This unique combination of a 1969 Jeep Wagoneer and Ferrari 365 GT 2+2 was decades ahead of its time. Now the one-off SUV is for sale through Classic Driver Market.
The Jerrari was built for casino magnate and car collector Bill Harrah. According to Classic Driver Market, Harrah’s mechanic crashed his 365 GT, which gave Harrah the idea to commission a four-wheel drive Ferrari, with the utility of a station wagon to boot.
Harrah brought his idea directly to Enzo Ferrari, who immediately rejected it. So Harrah had his damaged 365 GT combined with a brand-new Jeep Wagoneer, and the Jerrari was born.
The completed vehicle had the front end of the Ferrari grafted onto the body of the Jeep, and used both the Ferrari’s V-12 engine and the Jeep’s 3-speed transmission and four-wheel-drive system. It even got a custom badge, featuring Eugene the Jeep (the Popeye comic-strip character that allegedly inspired the Jeep name) in place of Ferrari’s Prancing Horse.
The Jerrari was originally white, but was later repainted into its current dark green. Harrah also swapped the Ferrari V-12 into another Wagoneer—dubbed Jerrari 2—and put a 5.9-liter Chevrolet engine in the original Jerrari, according to Classic Driver Market.
The original Jerrari has since been restored, and now shows about 9,000 miles on the odometer, according to the listing.
A lot has changed since the Jerrari was built. The vehicle Harrah originally pitched to Enzo Ferrari sounds an awful lot like the all-wheel drive Ferrari FF, and Ferrari is expected to reveal its first true SUV, likely called Purosangue, in 2022.
