If you want to put an iconic vehicle in your garage, it’s hard to go wrong with a classic Cherokee. And if you want it to be a model that will always find a following among fellow square body enthusiasts, make it a two-door Cherokee Chief. And if you really want to own a rare bird, make it all those things and throw in the Levi’s interior. That’s what we have here with this clean 1978 Jeep Cherokee Chief, a single-owner vehicle until 2020 when the current seller snagged it with under 100,000 miles and living in the nirvana of classic vehicles, Washington State. Find the Jeep here on eBay with bidding up to $10,100 and the reserve unmet.
The Cherokee Chief is claimed to be largely original, right down its factory paint that still retains the faded remains of the factory stripe and decal kit. While it may look slightly tired, this is as good of a sign as any that the truck hasn’t been painted anytime recently. The colors are great, Golden Ginger over the white rally-style wheels, and you have to love the fender flares – easily my favorite feature of the Chief package. But there’s way more going for this Cherokee than the Chief decor: the seller points out it’s the final year of the 401 engine, and it’s a factory Wide-Track with the Levi’s interior.
I always like to think about the individual who went to the Jeep dealer to order a truck like this. They basically threw caution to the wind and asked their (lucky) salesperson to check every box going down the list. Imagine the day this puppy rolls off the truck and that first owner takes it all in – how could you not be smiling? While there are all manners of vehicles that come loaded and some random consumer just buys it because it’s the most expensive offering, I feel a truck like this had an individual behind it who wanted these exact specs. The Wide-Track. The Levi’s interior. A Cherokee Chief, chief.
The 401 looks to be in good order based on these photos and the seller reports no smoke, leaks, or noises. He has rebuilt the carburetor and installed new plugs, cap, rotor, wires, fuel pump, fuel lines, and changed the oil. Some of the gauges are flaky but the speedometer and amp gauge work. Based on the description, it seems likely the seller hasn’t had the truck very long, as the sixteen-year-old tires are said to need replacing, but at least he did some work under the hood. The only reported deviation from stock is that the factory Quadratrac has been converted to manual front hubs, and otherwise, this Cherokee two-door remains very authentic to its first day of ownership. Would you order yours with the Levi’s interior?
With a good inspection, this may be a good one. If taken care of these will run forever. This kind of money is a lot, but what is a decent 4×4 gonna run ya these days? An added plus is these are easy as pie to work on, most folks with a working brain can figure out how to diagnose and repair most all of the problems.
Gosh I want this one.
8k in body work and paint would make it a real charmer. Wonder how bad the ubercarrage really is?
Orrr, it looks great as it is and is worth more as a survivor than just another car with new paint? If it’s always been in WA the ubercarriage would look just like the body- spotless.
Alright, I’m inserting my foot in mouth. I’m always the one annoyed at people that don’t actually look at ads before commenting. Sorry. The rest of the undercarriage probably just has surface rust like they show, but yeah it def needs bodywork. Since those areas are black and the black is worn and faded anyway; could probably get away with just fixing the rot there and re-shoot all the black.
What happened to the edit feature on here anyway?
were these 401 Buick motors?
No
Gosh the name thing is a tough one. Not being an American Indian guess I can’t say what it feels like. I knew a ton of them as a young person though.
There is political correctness and there is bs. Sometimes it seems they are one and the same…
So if I was an Indian, Cherokee would be very cool with me.
Maybe a geographical name would be a better choice since the already have used Moab, for example.
Anyone else got thoughts on this?
Oh yeah, a very nice car, best to seller.
As far as? What are you saying…?
Hopefully not. I don’t think the anti-semites have enough wind at their back to go after the name Levi, at least not yet anyways. We’ll see, maybe if OPEC, whose two members with the most “swing capacity” Russia and Saudi Arabia, get enough power they will ask for a purge of anything they don’t like before increasing production.
Steve R
Some think the Cherokee name is wrong.
Those people should be ignored. Not every squeaky wheel needs to be greased.
Steve R
Budge as far as cancel it? Is that what you are saying? Because it might ‘offend’ someone?
budge?
AMC 401! Pricey these days.
This is definitely the one to have, in my book anyway. If equipped with a 401, could they also get a manual transmission?
I had one that looked identical to this one but had the smaller V8. I used it to haul my sail boards up to Hood River for a couple of summers. Very comfortable, exceptionally light steering, horrible gas mileage, impossible to keep the tailgate window operational, finicky 4wd system with incredibly expensive lubricant for it. Even though I would describe it as a “TANK”, I have never owned a vehicle with thinner bodywork. When I was putting sailboards on the gutter mounted roof racks, you couldn’t lean on the roof at all or it would dent. Mine also had the black paint vanishing like this on and that was 30 years ago.
Wow, you totally brought back a ton of great/bad memories! I moved to San Diego for college and stayed a good 16 years. Putting our boards on the racks of my 78 Wagoneer quickly started rust all the way around the gutters. And that dam back window! Driving with it down because it wouldn’t stay up, I’m surprised we didn’t die from the exhaust fumes it sucked in. But although it sounds awful, it ran beautifully and dependably, and I still love that truck and wish I still had it. Great times! This one would be a ton of fun, although I know better now what precautions to take!
It seems to me that sometime in the past I’ve seen a photo with AMC executives and representatives of the Cherokee tribe, where permission was given to AMC/Jeep to use the Cherokee name.
I don’t think this is a Levis edition. The Levis edition had buttons saying Levi Straus and Co. This upholstery has plain buttons.
Indeed about WA and the PNW in general being nirvana for survivors.
Haha A Great Play on words! Everything survived but Nirvana.
My truck! Though mine had a 1980 body on it without the levi’s package, and a 360 as opposed to a 401 under the hood. But mine also had a shifting transfer case from a J-10 pickup, no quadra-trak thank you, and Warn lockout hubs for the highway. Man I loved that truck. A true monster of the road.
There must have been a good reason for selling it … can’t think of it though.