Junkyard Gem: 1975 Jeep Wagoneer
The Wagoneer identify came again to life just lately, almost three many years after being used for about ten minutes on a trim-level designation for a woodie-fied first-year Grand Cherokee, however the automobile we’re supposed to think about once we see the phrase Wagoneer is the unique SJ model, which was designed by the legendary Brooks Stevens and constructed from the 1963 by means of 1991 mannequin years. We noticed a 1966 SJ Wagoneer in this collection final yr, and now this is a 1975 SJ in the exact same Denver-area automotive graveyard.
The unique Wagoneer was constructed by Kaiser Jeep by means of 1970, after which the American Motors Company purchased the corporate and continued Wagoneer manufacturing. When the revolutionary XJ Cherokee appeared for the 1984 mannequin yr, the Wagoneer identify was used for that truck’s prime trim degree, whereas the unique SJ Wagoneer grew to become the Grand Wagoneer. When Chrysler purchased AMC in 1987 (principally as a result of Lee Iacocca noticed the worth within the Jeep model), Grand Wagoneers stored coming off the meeting line for an additional 4 years (regardless of being an antiquated early-Nineteen Sixties design), as a result of they simply stored promoting.
The unique Jeep Cherokee was only a two-door SJ Wagoneer, which first hit streets as a 1974 mannequin. Simply to confuse everyone, somebody swapped an SJ Cherokee fender (or possibly simply the fender badges) onto this truck.
The construct tag tells us that this truck was constructed at Toledo Meeting in Ohio, and that its authentic engine was an AMC 360-cubic-inch (5.8-liter) V8. Simply to make life hell for parts-counter employees for many years after Chrysler purchased AMC, this engine is totally unrelated to Chrysler’s 360-cubic-inch V8.
There’s nonetheless an AMC V8 with two-barrel carburetor in right here, so it could be the unique plant. If that’s the case, it was rated at 175 horsepower and 285 pound-feet.
Do you discover fashionable automotive HVAC controls to be excessively sophisticated? If that’s the case, you will love those on this truck.
The radio, which appears to be like like a dealer-installed unit, picked up each AM and FM!
This truck can be thought of hilariously primitive by 2024 SUV requirements (and even early-Nineteen Nineties requirements) and gasoline economic system was horrible for the gas-line period, however it was sturdy and easy.
It is battered, pale and a bit rusty, however nonetheless appears a bit too good to have ended up right here.
Here is what occurs when time-traveling Korean Struggle troopers encounter the ’76 Jeep line within the California desert.
