After a couple years of ownership and reaching a point where I can drive it, thought now it's time to summarize where I have been and discuss where I'm headed with the ole waggy.
Introducing....... a 1972 Jeep Wagoneer as pictured the first time I laid eyes on it:
The need (obviously not a want) for this jeep arose once I realized the 1995 G30 Van I was using as a quasi work truck just didn't have the cool factor required and was surpassed in towing by a recently acquired 1996 F350. I loved that van and used it to haul big stuff behind and inside, but it had to go. Too many side eyes as I rode past the Middle School right by my house helped.
I knew I wanted an old truck, something with patina, and something that could fit the dog. Extra points if it was something nostalgic. I spent some time in an old scout when I was little, but those are getting $$$ and I was looking for $. My parents had a Wagoneer when I was a kid and one of my first car related memories was being sad and confused why they sold it. Come to find out it was loosing the rust battle and at the time (early 90's) not very desirable to restore, but still!
Enter one of my best friends dad. Part ski bum, part car collector, born and raised in what used to be rural Colorado, 10 years ahead of every collector car trend I swear. I mention that I am after something old, potentially a wagoneer and his imediate response? "Oh I have one of those behind my brother's place in CO, wanna buy it?" Of course he has one.
One side excursion on a ski trip later we made a deal. I debated a fly and drive, but since it hadn't been driven regularly in 10+ years I had it shipped to MI.
From there the real fun started! Most immediate was finding out the real color.... I knew it had been painted "a blue" by the rancher he bought it from, but I thought it was more of a seafoam green? At least something deep in the green-blue family. Turns out:
Very much dark blue under all that dust.
I've always liked their looks but owning one? Dear God.
I'll keep it short but my parents owned one and after it was sold the guy rolled it off a mountain.he then treked down the mountain to light it on fire because it needed to die more
Oh my... that's a sweet Wagoneer! Last time I looked at an example of that vintage around here, they wanted far too much for it and the quarter panels were literally flapping in the breeze. That was before camera phones, otherwise I'd post a GIF of it here! Made for a good laugh anyway. Looks like it's in good shape. Good luck!
These things are bring crazy money in some circles. Good luck with it and have fun!
Lovely blue under there. Gosh I love these old wagons. Classiest way to get single digit mpg.
In reply to Tony Sestito :
Rear quarter has to be one of the most common spots for rust on these. I found a '70 locally that had it, and mine does (spoiler: did).
Post bath lookin mostly dark blue! Getting used to what must be one of its favorite spots.
The white wall tires looked great but were pretty rotted. So I picked up some Goodyear AT's. I like the tread but do miss the class of white walls.
After a few drives I learned the hard way that the alternator was not working, but an easy fix. The pitted windshield was also replaced early on. I always feel having a clear view out the front makes an old car a much nicer experience to drive. The glass shop had it parked next to another old wagon when I picked it up. It did feel more station wagon and less truck when next to the big body wagon.
I've always wanted one of these but could never make a use-case for one when they were cheap. Now that they're expensive I can't justify having one for how little i'd use it LOL.
the early ones like that are really neat and yours has a great look. Good find!
Love these, my Dad had one growing up. The power back window was the coolest thing ever to us.
Wow, kind of surprised to see this, but maybe this place is classier than I thought. More FSJ content is more better. You'd be more than welcome over at ifsja.org as well if you're inclined to share. It's a great community and we'd be happy to have you there.
Placemotorsports said:
Love these, my Dad had one growing up. The power back window was the coolest thing ever to us.
The power back window and tailgate combo is a huge reason I wanted one of these. Only smells a little bit like exhaust when you ride with the back window open. I found with it not quite all the way open the smell is much better and still provides an airy experience.
So the one of my original goals with this truck was a resto-mod of sorts that I could drive and use pretty regularly. Hardware store runs/light towing/hauling larger things, that kind of stuff. I did some practice runs with the ski boat and it seemed to go ok, but the saggy waggy effect was very apparent just moving a car around the shop on a trailer.
Between some napkin math on what it would take to do disk brakes/suspension overhaul/LS and my ever growing guilt of driving my E30 ix on salty Michigan roads I turned to gambling at auction. For way less than I would have to stick into the Jeep I took a chance on another truck that was on my short (its all relative) list of cars I am interested in.
I got what I thought was a pretty good deal on a '98 4 Runner Limited with the locking rear diff. I liked the looks of the '97-'98, the manually activated 4WD (gotta do donuts in the snow), and at 172k miles I figured there was plenty of juice left in the fruit. Shout out to my wife for rolling her eyes but letting me accumulate.
With the 4 runner taking the abuse, the Jeep got to stay a charming old truck. Took it to a car show and got lots more smiles and thumbs up than I was expecting.
After some late summer cruises and a fall ride to the apple orchard it go introduced to some roommates for winter hibernation.
DarkMonohue said:
Wow, kind of surprised to see this, but maybe this place is classier than I thought. More FSJ content is more better. You'd be more than welcome over at ifsja.org as well if you're inclined to share. It's a great community and we'd be happy to have you there.
I had started a thread there initially, I'll have to revive it!
84FSP
UltraDork
12/20/20 4:05 p.m.
A buddy is mid ls swap in his wood tone grand wagoneer. Very interesting old beasts.
We had a member in MI (JakeB maybe?) who LS swapped one of these and backdated it. It ended up pretty cool.
I like the looks of yours and I'm liking all the old truck content on the forum right now.
Love it!
Back in the day I had a 74 with a 401 as a winter beater followed by an 86. Both sweet trucks and way better off road than expected.
Over the winter/early spring I decided the interior was the next area of focus. Since the window seals all rotted out the door cards were pretty nasty. There are some big furniture company outlet stores in my area, so I can get really great deals on some super durable textiles. After sifting through some blues I found one that works with the original seat upholstery. I cut out some 1/8 HDPE panels and wrapped them up. The arm rests got replicated in cedar.
Then I started to wonder how much of the dark blue I could get off....
A friend of mine picked up one of these late last year. It came out of Arizona so mostly rust free.
It was supposed to have a AMC 401 in it but every marking on the engine says it's a 360.
My guess is that the 401 was pulled for use in another application.
jimbbski said:
A friend of mine picked up one of these late last year. It came out of Arizona so mostly rust free.
It was supposed to have a AMC 401 in it but every marking on the engine says it's a 360.
My guess is that the 401 was pulled for use in another application.
That's about how it goes. AMC blocks typically have the displacement indicated right in the casting. A 401 will have 401 in raised letters near the right side motor mount. A 360 will say 360, unless it's a very late block that says 5.9 for some mysterious reason.
I just had to pick up the pressure washer....
super sweet patina'd FSJ.
And you're gonna coat the underside (and inside the frame) of that 4runner with fluid film every 6 months right? Those things are great looking and tough trucks but rust like crazy, body and frame.
Looks like a super fun gentle restoration.
My Dad whe was a used car dealer here in PA sold a 1967 model year Jeep Wagoneer to my uncle who lived in Dearborn and had A second house up on lake Huron.. That was a cool vehicle and It's not very often around here that you ever see one.
Enjoy it.
Greg
I cannot see the pics at work but I love these.
I lived in a '69 for a while. Had dreams of fitting a VW pop-top to it and rocking it around the country.
elhartspeedshop said:
I just had to pick up the pressure washer....
You can't leave us hanging like that!
