In my part of the country, car show entries of classic SUVs seem to be growing. I often see Broncos, Blazers/Jimmies, and even the occasional Scout. But if you want to stand out in the classic SUV crowd, a Jeep SJ may be your best bet. This 1979 Jeep Cherokee was sent in by a Barn Finds reader who found it here on eBay in Broadview Heights, Ohio. With 24 bids tendered, the current high bid is $8,100, but the reserve has not been met. If you don’t want to play the bidding game, there is a buy-it-now price of $22,000.
Jeep introduced the Cherokee model in 1974 as a sort of 2-door counterpart to the Wagoneer. A four-door version was introduced in 1977 with the original 1974 design (mostly) lasting until 1983 when the scaled-down XJ Cherokee came to market. SJ Cherokee production totaled a little more than 197k from 1974 to 1983. 1979 was the second-highest production year with 39,183 built.
The seller tells us this Cherokee is free of “structural rust, rotting or anything of that sort.” The outside presents nicely save for the passenger door which appears to be a slight paint mismatch to the Ensign Blue. The white side stripe is classic and serves as a nice complement to the white wheels with dog dish caps. All 4 tires are new.
The interior of the Cherokee isn’t as spartan as one may anticipate. Black vinyl bucket seats are in front of a black vinyl 2nd-row bench seat. Black carpet covers the floor from front to back with some exposed painted side surfaces. I’d call the cabin simple as there isn’t any more than you’d need – a center-mounted speedometer (and odometer – currently reading 83,385 miles) is flanked by a same-size fuel/temp gauge to the left with an oil/amp gauge to the right. I like to have a tachometer when rowing my own gears, but that’s absent here. The 4×4 shifter is mounted starboard – so much so that it looks like engaging 4-wheel drive is a job best left to the passenger.
A 258-cubic inch straight 6-cylinder powers this classic SUV. You’ll shift the 4-speed manual transmission via a floor-mounted shifter. The seller states this Cherokee has “fresh fluids.”
This 1979 Jeep Cherokee looks VERY much like one that sold at Mecum Denver in 2016. Considering that one’s hammer price then vs. this one’s buy-it-now price now and the growing interest in classic SUVs, maybe an advertisement for the 1981 Jeep Cherokee was a bit prognosticative: “If you’re as serious about 4-wheel trucking as we are, you owe it to yourself to get behind the wheel of a genuine Jeep Cherokee.”
Is that a shifter or a crutch?
Both depending…My 78 was like that
The right door has been painted, the paint mismatch is horrendous. The left side looks like the door and quarter panel have been painted as they are mismatched also. Being it from here in N E Ohio it doesn’t surprise me.
No expert but think it’s a 1978 because of the round headlamps.Thought Jeep used rectangular lamps in 1979.My 78 had round lamps
Correct. The “Razor” grille went away in 1979, in favor of something that lost all connecting themes to the Jeep slotted-grille. That and 200mm rectangular sealed beams – the worst manifestation of sealed beams, ever to curse American cars.
Nonetheless, it’s a find. Unfortunately, too rich for my blood…
I wonder how the owner kept it so clean. I grew up in that general area – the worst of both worlds. Snowy weather but warmer temperatures, which had the freeze-thaw going on all winter. And the salt trucks…back in the day, it seemed they wanted to pave the streets with salt. It didn’t help that the area gets considerable snow, from the winds going across Lake Erie.
The shifter: That, you of the younger generations, is what a truck shifter used to look like. That’s an old-school four-speed…three speeds plus a Granny Gear, a low-low that you never use except off-road or when stuck.
The Squarebody Chevrolet trucks used to have those, also, if ordered with a four-speed. The carlike short-throw four-speed, and later, five-speed, transmissions, came to Jeep with the XJ. The Wagoneer had, IIRC, automatic standard by then. What the J-Series trucks had, I don’t know.
So few of them were made, I doubt even former AMC or Jeep people remember.
The one piece bumpers came out in 1979 and the steering wheel and switches look like what you see in ‘80s era Jeeps. I’d guess the PO backdated the grill which improves the look a lot over the ‘79 grill.
Agrred with the shifter as well as “granny low”, my ’84 GMC K2500 High Sierra Suburban had the same shifter as well as the M465 trans (“granny low”). Ironically enough, if you put larger tires on – “granny low” becomes usable! (Mine had 4:10 gears & I put 35’s or 36’s on it). It was a rusted out piece of crap, but man was it fun! I still miss that truck!
Ha ha that’s exactly right. My Scout has a B-W T19W, which means I almost never use first gear: a 6-1 granny. I’m so used to taking off in second, I do the same thing in my Honda. I wonder what this transmission is.
If it only had one of the V8s especially the 360!
I have a 1979 J20 with that transmission and tcase. Love the granny low
While I stumble upon a 4door Wagoneer now and then I can’t recall the last time I spotted a 2door Cherokee without extensive rust… The 258 may not sound powerful but it’s a torquey beast, will work extremely well with that 4spd and will have this Cherokee chug along just fine on mountain roads on your way to your holiday retreat which is where these vehicles work best.
The 258 would later evolve into the 242 – better known as Jeep’s 4.0L – an engine which hardly needs further introduction… IMO I’d keep this Cherokee just as it sits