Of all the vehicle pictures I’ve taken over the years, this one is among my favorites. There it stands, rough, tough and proud, still conquering the elements, just as it was intended to do – vinyl woodgrain and all.
You might recall a past article of mine which told the story of a certain ’79 Cherokee. Not wanting to destroy it on Minnesota’s salt-drenched roadways, I sold it off and started looking for another. This was what I ended up buying: an ’86 Grand Wagoneer, made just months before AMC became a part of Chrysler.
What it looked like on the day of purchase – taken at a wayside rest, halfway through
the drive home. Sharp-eyed observers might also recognize the car parked next to it.
I had been scouring the classifieds, craigslist, eBay, junkyards, backyards, you name it. It took several weeks before this one stuck its head out. Sure, it had rust – but it also had a (supposedly) freshly rebuilt 360, four new tires, and was going for a mere $1000. Needless to say, I was all over it.
In talking with the seller, I understood him to be located in River Falls, Wisconsin – about an hour from me. We set an appointment, and I readied my cash, tools, and all the other components that made up my draggin-home-a-new-wreck kit.
But when the day came, something was wrong: there was no street in River Falls with the name he gave me. Another phone call revealed the miscommunication: the Jeep was in Black River Falls, Wisconsin – 3½ hours from home. Yaaaarrrrgh.
Armed with the correct information, I agreed to drive out the rest of the way. He told me that he’d be leaving for work, but that his wife would be home and could complete the deal.
Upon arriving, the Jeep passed what few tests I had for it, and was generally as described. I whipped out the cash and asked the wife for the title. She happily produced the unsigned title, which was in her husband’s name. Yaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrgh!
It took two more trips across the border before the deal was finally done – but I managed to become the Jeep’s new owner before the weekend was out.
I had always wanted a Cherokee or Wagoneer in burnt orange with those ’70s AMC slotted mags. My hope was that this Jeep, with the addition of some bodywork, paint, and various parts from my stockpile, would eventually be molded to fit that image.
But as I sanded away at all the rust, and began doing the math on which panels would need to be reworked or replaced, it quickly became clear that getting this Jeep paint-ready would be unpractical. So I went for Plan B: use it for what it was, and keep it together as long as possible.
Don’t be too disappointed, though. It may not have been a prime body candidate, but it still had a lot going for it.
It was very capable, had a strong drivetrain, was comfortable to drive, and basically did anything I asked it to without complaining. Unplowed road? No problem. Some other vehicle froze in? Grab the tow strap. Panicking customer in the middle of a blizzard? Just so long as I’m getting time-and-a-half to offset the 8 MPG. If I could have afforded to drive it every day, I would have.
Its interior wasn’t going to win any beauty contests, either, but it was still mighty comfy. I swapped in a smattering of junkyard parts to make everything functional (even the back glass).
For my own part, I was willing to suffer along with the ripped front buckets (hey, you can’t see them if you’re sitting in them!). But I felt the backseat passengers deserved better. So I did sacrifice one pristine part from the treasure trove in my attic: this honey leather fold-flat. I decided it was better off being used, than laying in wait for the day when I decided to go all Top Gear on my living room decor.
After owning the Jeep for a few years, its fate changed once again. The business was expanding, so I moved out of the brick office (seen above) and into a new building just outside town. This meant that I now had a parking lot and driveway to clear. Coincidentally, a local junkyard had taken in a ’77 Wagoneer at about the same time which had a complete Western hydro-turn plow setup. I bought it for a couple hundred bucks, rebuilt and repainted each piece, and mounted it on the Jeep.
By my second year in the new building, still more changes were afoot. Plowing needs were being better met by a Farmall with a loader. There were heavy trailers to be towed into and out of snowy situations, so a 3/4 ton 4WD Suburban joined the fleet. And before you knew it, the Jeep was merely a backup; somehow in the shuffle of things I had managed to outgrow it.
One of my new neighbors had been in love with the Jeep at first sight, and even more so once the plow went on. I had declined his past offers to buy it. But with the situation changing, I decided to pass it on rather than let it fall into non-use and disrepair. He got the machine he’d been longing to own, I got a small profit, and the Jeep got to live out its twilight years in an easy state of semi-retirement.
CC effect strikes again!I’ve just seen Sheriff Potter try to run Bobby over in one of these in Sons of Anarchy.Love the snow plough Keith
Great read!
Now consider how many of today’s SUVs or pickups that you are likely to see 26 years from now still on the road with a snow plow on the front . . .
Anything besides 1-ton pickups? Suburban/Yukon/Escalade?
Anybody think the eco-boosted F150s will still be in service?
Perhaps some of the current JK Wranglers will get to enjoy a long semi-retirement as plows. Plenty of aftermarket support.
The ‘Burban/Tahoe/1500 PUs seem to be pretty durable.
Growing up in NW Ohio in a very rural county there was one family with one of these in these exact colors. It was a classmate of mine whose father was a lawyer in the county seat (10 miles from my little town.) I always had a bit of a 4×4 obsession in those days and I’ve always had a V8 obsession and this vehicle checked both boxes.
I still have much desire for these. I guess because it seems like a vehicle that is so stately, rugged, and masculine that it should have a whiskey decanter and humidor built into the dash and reek of leather and tobacco.
It’s the kind of car you run up against the bumper of a Prius on I-95. And force the weenie to drive faster.
You sure got a purdy prius cityboy!
Probably the best gift I ever got from my in-laws was the ’90 they gave us. Driving it back from Bangor, ME to Montpelier, VA the alternator died around Philadelphia. Rather than get raped by some out of the way shop, I decided to try and get home on the battery alone. In a screaming downpour, with no lights, one swipe of the wipers every mile, and watching the clock wink out as I hit Ashland, VA (15 miles from home). Decided to hit the Chrysler/Jeep dealer in Ashland (where I had bought my new Cherokee) and turned into the shop driveway and made it within ten meters of the service bay when the battery finally gave out.
The Jeep gave me wonderful service for the next three years, my wife loved it for her real estate business (it handled big families better than the Cherokee), but unfortunately the truck had spent 13 years in Maine. And it only took about three years for the rust monster to get ahead of my limited bodywork skills. Ended up letting it go with regret, and still would like to find another today.
Love it. I still have a minor infatuation with these.
Some classic sixties styles still look right today, and this is one of them. Even if a little retro in the ’80s, they sold well for some fairly serious money. The margins AMC got for these was likely a big part of the reason they made it as far as ’86.
The appeal of these has always been amazing. I had a neighbor that had a nice one briefly in the early 2000’s. My wife’s cousin picked up a nice looking one in the late ’90s. He had a fair amount of trouble with it. I’m sure age was a factor, but, it was an AMC product.
What’s the purpose of the aftermarket shifter coming out of the box on the transmission hump? At first I thought it might be for the transfer case but now I’m leaning towards it operating the plow. Thanks.
Plow control. It consisted of two cable linkages and a switch. Left/right was one cable, up/down was another. Moving the stick anywhere but centered closed the switch, which was hooked to a solenoid for the electric hydraulic pump.
Thats about where the auto shifter was in my uncle’s one (82-83), it was easier for the centre passenger to shift. Not sure why they didnt move it or use a column shifter when they did the rhd setup.
Nice car.
+100 for the Packers decal. Or was that from the previous owner? 🙂
Previous owner applied it. Decided I’d be more offended by the leftover adhesive than the insignia of our eastern rivals, so I left it be.
I don’t really get into football, but I know a few people who do. It always threw them for a loop 🙂
Endust. It’s a furniture polish. My wife showed me years ago that it can get the adhesive off after you peel the price sticker off an item. Just used it the other day to get an old State Park sticker off my windshield. Peel up the sticker with a razor blade as needed. Apply the Endust generously to a spot on a paper towel, coat the adhesive with the polish, let sit a minute, wipe up with clean paper towels. Don’t spray the Endust directly, its got an oil base the makes a mess. Do final cleaning with Windex – cuts through the Endust well.
Never heard of using Endust for that. I’ll have to give it a try!
Denatured alcohol has always been my go-to solvent for sticker residue on glass, chrome, etc. But I don’t use it on interior parts.
Likewise, my other favorite sticker removing tool – the heat gun – isn’t always the best bet on plastics.
FWIW, I started keeping denatured alcohol around after buying a early ’90s Skylark for resale, a tan car whose right rear quarter had traded paint with a yellow post. Popped the dent out, used the denatured alcohol to take off the yellow paint, and applied some paste wax to even out the gloss of the clearcoat. Ta-da, just like it never happened!
It also works wonders on junkyard marking paint (still can’t figure out why so many yards write on perfectly good painted body parts!).
Another thing that removes adhesive residue is eucalyptus oil – not sure how easy it is to get in the USA however!
My grandparents bought a freshly used ’80 Wagoneer in 1981 soon after they retired to the Four Corners region. That model had the corner mounted combination tail light/side marker, and had no faux wood paneling. It was regularly maintained (grandpa had run the family moving & storage business until retirement, maintaining the fleet of OLD trucks himself) but intensively used, as they made significant multi state trips 2-3 times a year, and they loved to drive many miles of the backroads and jeep trails of canyon country. By the late 80’s both the 360 mill and the 727 juice box required overhaul work. Grandma died ’90, and grandpa in ’95. Since at that time we had two toddlers, and an ’89 Wrangler as a our family vehicle, the family saw fit to pass it on to me.
We drove our “brown truck” until 2003, where upon the combination of tin worm, leaking trans and worn motor meant it didn’t make the cut for our next cross country move. Its still fondly remembered in our family, and the wife lusts for a well restored restored version. I think they were a nice sized back-country wagon, as opposed to the Suburban competition, and the running gear was simple, but well developed. Unfortunately, build quality was mediocre, and AMC could have put at least little more effort in to updating the body and drive train.
I had a 1977 Cherokee, 360, Turbo 400, Q-track, Motorcrap 4-bbl carb. It would get 17+ mpg on the road.
Carb was somewhat bitchy when cold. I sold it to a buddy who had a Q-jet put on. It went right to 10-12 mpg.
How’s GWagoneers’ 4WD system compare to the current stuff? Say comparing a ’80s GW (2 solid axles) vs ’13 suburban (IFS+solid rear) vs ’13 GCherokee (IFS+IRS)?
Just say 80% on pavements, 20% off road.
I’ve come across a few of these GW over the years but never pulled the trigger for different reasons. But now that you say 8 MPG any desire I had has vanished.
That would be in the worst-case scenario… front axle locked in, trying to make time, going through deep wet snow. 12-14 was more typical. It had the Motorcrap 2bbl. Was always tempted to throw on my “extra” 4bbl intake and a Qjet, but decided I couldn’t afford to! 🙂
The 727 was stout enough, but highway speeds left you craving overdrive in a big way. I’ve often wondered how much of a hell-project it would have been to swap in a 4L80E or similar.
Surprised no one has mentioned the (in)famous AMC vacuum controlled 4WD actuator setup. Suffice it to say that, until I got everything straightened out, they weren’t all happy memories with this Jeep!
Or, while we’re on the topic of nightmares and Motorcraft parts, who else carried a spare ignition module for emergencies? Mine is still kicking around here somewhere.
I have never carried one but I have been in a couple of situations were a spare would have come in handy. A couple of months after we got married my wife and I bought an ’86 T-Bird Turbo Coupe. One spring day we decided to blow off work and drive to a state park a few hours away to have a picnic. We had a good time, it was chilly and we nearly had the park to ourselves. On the way back home we had just pulled onto I-65 when my wife (who was driving) said that the motor just quit; sure enough the motor had died and we coasted to a stop on the shoulder. It would not start, in fact turning the key had no effect at all. We were sitting there wondering what to do next (no cell phones then) when an Indiana State Trooper pulled up. He used his CB radio to call a wrecker for us, and let us sit in the patrol car until the wrecker arrived. The wrecker towed us back to Columbus and took us to the Ford dealer. By this time it was 30 minutes or so until they closed and they wanted us to leave the car so they could fix it on the next day. After 10 minutes of pleading by the wife (there may have been some tears involved), they agreed to take an ECM module off a car on their sales lot and put it in our car. They swapped out that module in record time and everything was fine.
The other time it happened it was on my ’88 Mustang GT. I came out after work and got nothing when I turned the key. This time there was much less drama involved as I was able to call my wife to come and get me. The next morning we stopped by the parts department on the way to work and got a new ECM, which I swapped out. The only real problem was that the Mustang was out of warranty by then so I had to pay for it.
A good friend of mine always wanted a GW and eventually bought one that was still in decent condition. In 2007 he figured he’d have to get rid of it because the floor had rotted out. I told him to bring it over and we’d weld a new floor in it.
The slightly mangled grille is from someone cutting him off. I didn’t see it, but he said that the grille caught the other person’s door handle opening and tore a big gash down the side of their vehicle.
When he saw how bad the floor was, he was still worried that it was too far gone. I wasn’t worried though.
Looks like the floor of my F100. Too bad you live so far away 🙂 I’m going to need to find someone to fix it before I put my foot through it.
Out with the bad….
In with the good. The skin from a spare Chrysler hood provided the sheetmetal. I’ve only shown the front passenger side, but both front footwells were gone, as well as a couple places in the back.
Driver’s side
We had a few of these in the UK back in the 70s ,2dr ,RHD. How did any body afford 8mpg?..Twice as bad as a Jag 4.2!.
Whats the add on black “shift lever”. DIY transfer shift?.
These old Wagoneers have become quite the darling weekender of the “old money” set. There are several restoration companies commanding $50K+ for like new Wagoneers. Not a bad investment
I do like these rather a lot. Pretty rare here – the only one I’ve seen lately is a drop-dead gorgeous ’68 which has just received a NZ$160K (!!) resto (approx US$133K). It’s now for sale at only (!) NZ$85K (US$70K): http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/jeep/grand/auction-637920449.htm
Anyway, I have questions for you Keith (or any other CCers who know!): do you know why AMC fitted the glovebox in the centre of the dash instead of in front of the passenger like normal? Is there something behind the dash-panel in front of the passenger where the glovebox would normally be? How big is the centre glovebox?
Keith,
I shared your first photo and a link to your full story via a FB page I maintain. Here’s hoping you feel the Wag love:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=605931719468224&set=a.318561614871904.75357.315634821831250&type=1&theater
Sincerely,
Katie Sullivan