The Jeep CJ models are a series and a range of small, open-bodied off-road vehiclesand compact pickup trucks, built and sold by several successive incarnations of the Jeep automobile marque from 1945 through 1986. The 1945 Willys "Universal Jeep" was the world's first mass-produced civilian four-wheel drive car.

In 1944, Willys-Overland, the primary manufacturer of the World War II military Jeep, built prototypes for a commercial version – the CJ, short for "civilian Jeep".[3] The design was a direct evolution from the wartime Jeep, but the most obvious change was adding a tailgate, and relocating the spare wheel to the side. Also, besides adding basic civilian amenities and options and legally-compliant lighting, the CJ required a sturdier drivetrain than the wartime model, because the targeted rural buyers would expect years of durability, instead of mere weeks as during WWII.