Jeeps like these were a fixture at many ranches and farms from the 1960s through the 1990s. Jeep obliged by hardly changing the basic vehicle structure throughout its entire run (1962-1991). This survivor wearing its original paint is said to have covered only 16,214 miles from new and is listed for sale here on eBay. Bidding has been heavy but has only reached $9,100 so far and any reserve has been met. The Wagoneer is located in Campbell, California.
The seller makes no claim to perfection regarding the Jeep, and you can see some rust on the rear bumper here as well as some dents on the rocker panels. I’m also pretty sure there were at least center caps for the wheels when it was new, and most of these I’ve seen have the full wheel covers (here’s a set of four for $28.00!)
The seller tells us they purchased the SUV from the original owner’s grandson, who in turn told them that his grandfather used the Jeep mainly for trips to and from his favorite fishing spot and that it lived most of its life in a barn. So you can genuinely call this Jeep a barn find!
While I’m sure the interior was dirty, it has cleaned up nicely, especially for a vehicle that’s almost as old as I am!
The seller points out that the original spare keys are “still” wired near the data plate. Anyone know if they usually came that way, or was that just a “make sure I get home when I drop my keys in the lake” back up plan?
You won’t be lacking for low-end grunt with a 327 cubic inch, 250 horsepower “Vigilante” V8 engine, and someone has fitted an additional 11-gallon fuel tank to supplement the original one to make sure you get to where you are going. It makes me wonder exactly how far away Grandpa’s fishing hole was from home! I think this old Wagoneer is pretty darned cool and I suspect the bidding will go up a lot in the coming days. Will you be one of the bidders?
By now, I’m sure many of you know where I’m going to go with this,,no way, gramps. Nice try. Not only are these folks inflating the prices, they are trying to tell us, apparently doofus non-California residents, this vehicle has 16K miles. 16K miles, this thing would have the plastic on the seats and window sticker, not rusty exhaust manifolds, and a wasted underbody. And btw, that’s an aftermarket gas pedal cover, and quite possibly a new brake pad( got to admit, they’re clever) so going by the pedal condition for low mileage, is not always cut and dry. I don’t want to be the only one calling these folks out, but am I off base here, or got a point? 16K miles,,,come on.
On a lighter note, is that grass growing in the back seat floor?
Metal will rust whether the vehicle is being driven or not. Often, it’s worse when not being driven.
Maybe Gramps “fishing hole” was in Las Vegas and he hated to stop for gas?
@Howard A has my full agreement on this fairy tale. Maybe that price will come back to Earth…
16K does seem hard to believe , but these are prone to rust (especially in the northeast !) They didn’t undercoat cars well , if at all back then ,so the rust on the frame is believable to me. Looking at the door panels , dash pad and the rest of the interior I would say its definitely a low mileage car . Maybe the barn it was a little damp and the latches and unpainted areas got rusty ; if it was a black Jeep it wouldn’t show those rust stains as much.
More sellers seem to be making low-mileage claims these days on older cars with nothing to back up the claims other than comments like: “and it could be correct!” or “as far as I know” or “so I was told.”
No vehicle gets this ratty in 16,000 miles. Oh, it’s not bad, but with 16K it ought to look a lot, lot better than it does. And if the mileage is honest, then this is a very disappointing vehicle and I’d never buy it for the odometer reading.
Why is there white paint all over the tailgate weatherstripping?
That’s a Rambler 327 V8 under the hood, complete with AMC-spec Motorola alternator and separate solid-state regulator. (You can see the regulator just behind the battery with a blue Motorola label on it.)
Early on these were available with a funky split-axle, torsion-bar independent front suspension but I think that option was gone by the time this example was built.
Yikes. 9400 w/ 4 days to go…
I dont know. While I think HoA has a bloodhounds nose based on experience, the totality of the engine condition indicates not a lot of miles to me at least.
The rust etc………meh. But even the seller says its hard to believe. But stil,.so what if it is 116 K?
I’ll bet Jamie Palmer has as much rust :)
Campbell is or was wet in the winter in Silicon Valley east of San Francisco Maybe Grandpa drove out to San Francisco a lot………it can get pretty damp there.
Still and all I find the early Wagoneers more attractive for their relative simplicity and unless the seller redid the upholstery, doesnt look like grandpa hauled a lot of pals to the fishing hole.
But yeah….yikes!
Anyone besides me notice the ‘Easy rider rifle rack’ ?