Seeing the Dodge Durango SRT’s all-wheel-drive burnout video got me thinking: when it comes to sport-utilities, there really isn’t much you can do to make them exciting when you introduce them, is there? Early on, manufacturers would tout how tough and rugged such classics like the original Blazer, Jimmy, Ramcharger and Bronco were by showing them romping on trails and towing whatever they could. That shifted when the smaller sport-utilities appeared in the 1980s and buyers started snapping them up to replace the out-of-fashion station wagon. That changed the narrative of the sales pitch: the four-wheel-drive was now a safety item, not so much a useful option, and emphasis was placed on styling and practicality. When the SUV boom really took off in the early 1990s, all you had to do was say, “New SUV over here” and you sold volumes. Why bother with advertising when they sell themselves?

For FCA to showcase a Durango doing a balls-out, chained down all-wheel-drive tire fire, we are impressed, because that kind of blatant, aggressive display of grunt is pretty much the polar opposite of what most of the buying public wants in an SUV these days. But Chrysler, historically, has done a stunt in a similar vein once before in memory. The Jeep Grand Cherokee’s 1992 introduction was a big deal for Chrysler…after getting what had been the “XJC” project handed to them after their 1987 acquisition of American Motors, Chrysler knew they had something special on their hands. While the design team wanted a late 1980s release, the XJC project actually got delayed so that the minivans could recieve a refresh…a move that actually might have played into Chrysler’s favor, because that allowed the Ford Explorer to hit the scene and to ignite the fever for sport-utes. So what do you do when you have a new platform on a historically important nameplate like Jeep ready to show? You make it a hell of a show…in this case, that would be done by having Bob Lutz drive Coleman Young, the mayor of Detroit at the time, in a bright red ZJ from the Jefferson North Assembly Plant with police escort and live camera footage, to Cobo Hall. Once at the home of the North American International Auto Show, with journalists crowding for a view, Lutz drove the Jeep up the steps and through plate glass to the waiting crowd. It was a bit staged…watch the slow-motion bit and you’ll see the glass shatter before the ZJ’s bumper actually makes impact…but the Grand Cherokee’s fate as a strong seller for Chrysler was sealed, one of the first big products that spurned on Chrysler’s 1990s boom period.