I saw a Jeep Comanche pickup a little over a year ago and it was so unusual and fun to see one in public. It was in a parking ramp and the owner must have thought that I was a stalker as I almost rushed up to him as he got into it and started asking him questions about it. It was nice but it wasn’t as nice as this 1988 Jeep Comanche Pioneer looks. This beauty is listed here on eBay in Stevenson, Alabama. The buyer has a $9,500 buy it now price listed or you can make an offer.
This truck looks fantastic from what I can tell in the photos. There is a bit of surface rust but how could there not be unless it was kept in the owner’s living room for the last 31 years. The Comanche came in both rear-wheel-drive and 4×4 versions and this is the 4×4.
The interior almost makes me openly weep it’s so nice. The one thing that I would have liked, personally, is a 4 or 5-speed manual, but an automatic isn’t a deal-breaker on a truck like this. This one only has 43,000 miles on it and I don’t know if a person can find a nicer one, and it’s priced at the top of the market so it’ll take a dedicated Jeep fan to pay nine-grand for any Comanche, perfect or not.
This Jeep is loaded with an AMC 4.0L inline-six with around 175 hp and it runs like new, according to the owner. As a side note and a plug for a couple of hometown boys, the Archer Brothers raced Jeep Comanches among other assorted vehicles and while I wouldn’t necessarily recommend turning this beautiful Jeep into a track monster, it would be fun to own one like this someday. Have any of you owned a Jeep Comanche?
Unusual thing, I didn’t know these existed.
Looks great!
They were unibody construction not full frame but they were built very solid, I worked for Jeep Corp for 35 years and now retired. The XJ’s were the first Jeeps built using robot’s in 1981.
Had a 92, 4×4, 5 speed, straight 6, off-road pkg ( think it was called Trail Rated or somesuch). Went over 260,000 miles. Ran another 10k for a guy in my neighborhood. Very reliable, great truck.
My wife had a Cherokee “Limited” edition back before we were married. Burgundy with gold wheels and pinstripe that ran down the sides. I’ve always wanted a Jeep pickup truck. This is, I would have to put the Limited stuff on it. I just have to be different.
Had one of the Comanche Eliminators with the 6 cylinder/5 speed/2wd drivetrain in it. Stout, reliable, good looking but very “truck like” (similar to the same vintage Cherokees) with stiff ride, cramped interior, heavy shifting gearbox, etc.. These in 4wd have become one of the darlings of the off-road crowd because it’s a full frame vehicle, the motors are just about indestructible, and suspension/drivetrain upgrades are cheap and easy to come by. I can’t see $9k for this one even in it’s condition but the market will let him know if it’s too high.
Actually the XJ Cherokee was the first ever unibody SUV. The Comanche /truck version of the XJ however was an oddball with a regular Cherokee – unibody in the front, but a body-on-frame design underneath the truck bed.
My dad ordered a new 1986 and got one of the earliest ones. It arrived an Dec 31 1985.
It had a 4 cyl automatic. Gold color with cloth seats, long box. Towing mirrors, no radio. It was rear wheel drive. It went over 200,000 miles nearly 300,000. My cousin ended up with it and destroyed it. Best little truck ever.
Nice truck, only drawback is the longbox, this is one vehicle that when its on it’s own at the debutante ball is a hit until it’s short box sibling sashays in then it becomes the redheaded step sister with a lisp, gammy walk, mustache and buckteeth.
Check on YouTube for early Jeep Comanche racing, epical, and will leave you with a smile.
This is a great truck, owned a Cherokee for years and the drivetrains are indestructible until the engine overheats, keep an eye on thermostats and regular flushes/water pumps and you’ll be fine.
My father had ordered a grey 1990 Comanche Eliminator 4×4 4 liter 5 speed short box brand new with all the options including bucket seats, skid plates, (cant recall what else). He still has it with 113 000 original kilometers, it is like 99%rust free it still has original paint, rims, radio, etc… It has not been modified or messed with but does have an aftermarket push bar, window louvers, tonneau cover and bed rails that were all installed when the truck was new.
I’d like to have this rig. I don’t really have a use for 4 wheel drive, I don’t drive off road anymore and it seldom snows or ices to the point where 4 wheel drive is needed here in Houston. Yet this pickup does get my attention. Just not 9k worth of attention.
God bless America
I worked a a Jeep store when these came out. We were at the “new vehicle intro” for dealers in Sacramento. They had a little dirt track set up behind the hosting hotel where you could climb over a couple of dirt mounds. It was very lame and boring. Our dealer GM was getting bored also and put up $50 to the fastest time. ( much to the chigrin of the AMC folks) I won with a lap that did not catch someone and “landed” off the dirt mound at the “Finnish” line. (Not a huge jump, maybe 4 or 5 feet is all) I got my $50 and AMC collected all the keys. (They had very little sense of humor!)
I always liked these.
I had one a while back. I picked up an 87 Sportruck off Ebay. Seller was great! He had a collection including a Javelin and I also bought some rear seats for my AMX off of him.
I was hoping to use the truck as a DD, but once I pulled the carpet back, found only some of the floor pans. I bought 1/2 a parts truck as well, but even that had bad floors. I couldn’t afford to fix it so I sold onto someone else as a father/daughter project and cut up and sold off the parts truck pieces.
Someone still managed to put the grille in upside down