Jeepster Commando?

Never seen one before in person, but one passed me on the road today.....I suppose these were the forerunner to AMC owning Jeep and creating the Cherokee/Wagoneer? Back when Kaiser owned the Jeep name?

Very cool. It reminds me of a VW thing with the hard top

Kaiser brought out the original Wagoneer.in 1964.

Gotta love the dashboards. I'll take mine with dual Dana 44's, a 401 and a 4-speed. Every time I went to a certain JY, I'd go visit the one they had there. Fond memories.

It was a sort of Bronco/Scout competitor, remember, the CJ line of Jeeps were a lot smaller than today's Wrangler.

In reply to Kenny_McCormic: And lets not forget the Scout 800! Nice and small as well

You can still see them around out here. We nearly bought one a couple of years ago - they're a bit more civilised to drive than a CJ, still reasonably competent off road but a lot more civilised.

There was a Jeepster before the one you pictured. Made when Willys still owned Jeep. They continued into the Kaiser years.

Shawn

Here's a Willys Jeepster, two wheel drive and pretty much unrelated to the Jeepster Commando.

I never cared much for Commandos when they were plentiful, but I like them a lot more now. I've heard that you can replace the sheet metal from the cowl forward with regular CJ stuff, which would be pretty cool. You could buy them with a removable soft top, short cab (leaving you with a small pickup bed) or the full hard top.

I know a guy who had one as a plow truck for his grandfather's gas station. He said that they put chains on all four wheels and the thing would climb trees.

Here's a beautiful early Commando (C101, 1966-1971) that I saw at a show last month:

The C104 Commando was sold in 72 and 73.

They also made a Hurst Jeepster Commando in 1971:

A C101 was my first car. With it's full wheel covers, white walls and roof rack it was decidedly NOT the cool car to have while in high school. This is what you get when Dad pays for it (he gets what he wants but lets you drive it). A year later I bought a $300 Fiat Spider.

Unlike the CJ I owned later, these drove much more car-like. The longer wheelbase made for a nice ride. Handling wasn't horrible but you had to remind yourself it was a truck. Lots of room inside. Mine had the 225 V-6 with the four speed and it had plenty of power. I owned two Jeeps with the 225 and both suffered inexplicably from damp weather ignition problems in spite of replacing every part we could think of.

What kills these is, of course, rust. Rocker panels would go first, along with the rear floor at the very back. The upper clamshell of the tailgate would rust around the window from the inside out and was impossible to fix. By the time I owned one in 1982 there were no body parts for them anymore.

The original Jeepster was 2wd but the Commandos I believe were all 4x4. They were an attempt to recapture the sportiness of the original but very few were made with the convertible top option. MPC made an excellent model kit of it that I used to own that is probably worth hundreds now.

A friend of mine had a '68 I think. It was slightly modified.

I'm the dolt in the passenger seat holding the transfer case lever in gear.

• Lee

I didn't used to like the Jeepster, but when I saw the Commando, I definitely liked it better because of the hard top.

I also like this one with a custom slide-in camper built for it. I have all sorts of crazy E36 M3 going through my head right now.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: I didn't used to like the Jeepster, but when I saw the Commando, I definitely liked it better because of the hard top. I also like this one with a custom slide-in camper built for it. I have all sorts of crazy E36 M3 going through my head right now.

That is great. It's like a product from an alternate universe, where Blazer Chalet sales set the world on fire. I want one.

Woody wrote: He said that they put chains on all four wheels and the thing would climb trees.

Funny you mention that... when I was but a wee lad, my Dad had one of these... a friend of his was helping him move some things around, and hopped in the Jeepster to move it.

Well, he apparently forgot the lack of clutch interlock switches in those days, bumped the key with it in 1st gear, and the Commando proceeded to take off up a 60 degree bank out the side of the driveway, and climbed itself straight up the giant pine right in front of our house. Sat there on its rear bumper with all four wheels spinning away.

The stump of that tree is still there. The Jeepster lived on for many years, mainly operating as a log skidder! Guess it had a thing for trees.

In HS and first year of college i had a'69 Commando with a 225 and 4 speed. I loved that thing. It was brown with a white top. It took forever to remove the top with about a thousand bolts to remove...so i just left it off year round. Lot's of power and you cleaned the interior with a hose.

It was the first car i bought myself...traded a civil war cannon for it...but that's another story....

The original Jeepster was built on the early Willys Station Wagon chassis. I died when Kaiser boght in.

Interesting fact: The very last Jeepster was built from parts at a dealership. Paid for by a Jeepster fanatic.

Jeepster?

Thought that was a T-Rex tune

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-2eHfmBZ5E