The creator of the first modern SUV: Ford GT40, dies at 92 years old

The creator of the first modern SUV: Ford GT40, dies at 92 years old: American Motors couldn’t offer enough money to subject the original Jeep Cherokee, the first modern SUV - to a traditional durability testing program ahead of its late 1983 launch, but its chief engineer Roy Lunn, who died in 2017, Aug 5^th, at 92 years, steered around the obstacle by securing credentials for the punishing Paris-Dakar Rally.



Lunn's engineering team prepared two Cherokees for the event, not to compete but simply to run the brutal desert course and monitor how the Cherokee's "uni-frame" body would take the constant pounding over the bruising, potholed 6,200-mile course. Only the shock absorbers needed frequent replacement and both vehicles finished the rally in good condition.

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