Rising to the top of my personal desirability chart, this 1967 Jeep Gladiator J-3000 4×4 Townside pickup would be my top choice for a vintage pickup if I were in the market for one. The seller refers to this one as a Montana barn find and it looks rock solid. They have it listed here on eBay in Nashua, Montana where there is an opening bid of $5,000. Thanks to T.J. for sending in this tip!
This grille gets me every time. Jeep offered two different steel beds for the J-series pickups in this era, the Thriftside – what might be called a stepside – and this Townside “wide” bed. There was also a stake bed version or no bed at all if a buyer needed a cab and bare chassis. Hagerty is at $6,800 for a #4 fair condition truck and $16,000 for a #3 good condition truck, just as a reference point.
The seller provided a good variety of photos other than not showing the back of this pickup at all, not even a tiny glimpse of the tailgate or the inside of the bed. At least it appears that there is a tailgate in the two front 3/4 photos so that’s good. The Gladiator was based on the full-frame Wagoneer and they were introduced for the 1963 model year. The Gladiator name would disappear in the next version that came after 1971.
As if this truck needed anything to make it more desirable, it has a four-speed manual transmission. The interior looks much nicer than I expected and that may be due to the fact that this Jeep has been stored since 1983, according to the seller. The J-3000 pickups had a 126-inch wheelbase and the J-2000 trucks had a 120-inch wheelbase, just for some Jeep Gladiator trivia.
It gets even better under the hood as this J-3000 has an AMC-sourced “Vigilante” 327 cubic-inch V8 which would have been factory-rated at 250 horsepower. It doesn’t appear to have the optional power steering so you’ll get a workout. The engine turns over and fires so I have a feeling that it’ll run once again, and I would sure love to have this one. Have any of you had a Jeep pickup from this era?
I like the comment about getting a workout steering this truck. I would like to add driving this 3000 series will give you a whole body workout. Those with a weak bladder might as well stay away from this one. There is a similar truck local to me that was formerly a fire department vehicle. I eye that up every time I pass it. Love the early gladiator styling. To me this is the real gladiator not the new fluffy Jeep on the market. I would love to own one. Maybe I will stop and see the fellow who owns the red one. Might need a air ride seat thou.
I need to work out more than I do (which is none) so maybe I should get this one and consider it a way to get in shape!
May be cheaper than a gym membership that goes unused!
If you really like the truck you could stock up on some Depends undergarments!
I like the air ride seat idea.
Whatever you do, leave that CB right there! …good buddy…
Good eye, I forgot to mention the CB!
That’s a negatory, the cell phone all but killed the CB radio, and just for the record, the term “good buddy” was used to identify, um, shall we say, men that weren’t quite men?
No, “good buddy” was a general term for anyone you became friendly with. I was into the CB thing in high school and with my underdeveloped vocal chords the worst thing I was ever called was “little beaver” having been mistaken for a young girl.
Sorry, pal, I’ve spent more time on the CB than most, and I can tell you, from the onset of the fad, say mid-70’s, the term “Good Buddy” was always a derogatory word for someone who was gay. Not to derail this post with that tripe, most of it was just good ol’ fun, but that was before you could hide behind the screen, and you were careful what you said. By signal strength, you could usually figure out where it was coming from. I’ve seen plenty of fights over what was said on the CB radio.
I remember seeing an AMC/Jeep dealer sign
when I was in Martinsdale,Montana a few years back.
I thought it was really cool that it was still there.
Having lived through the Kaiser/AMC schpiel( 1970), I can say, this is no “J20” series pickup. They may look similar, but the Kaiser Gladiator was military grade, AMC cheapened them up considerable. This is yet another of those vehicles that was accepted the way it was, not to sound redundant, but it’s going to be a handful. It is a truck and ALL trucks were a challenge to drive due to the nature of their duties. Trucks just didn’t have P/S, it’s how trucks were steered. If you couldn’t handle the “Armstrong” steering, you didn’t drive a truck. But as more women bought trucks, trucks had to become cushier. I can’t think of a more important option that allowed all drivers to drive all vehicles, was P/S. Sorry gals, just not many women drove 1967 J3000 Gladiator pickups. The upside to the AMC takeover, is Jeeps did become more user friendly. Nice find, and be advised by the way, P/S today will run you probably $1,000 bucks, and good luck finding an original unit. Aftermarket P/S will assuredly require some cobbling. I’m fully confident, most people have forgotten what manual steering is like. My neighbor has an older F150 without P/S, and she’s afraid to drive it, because she can’t turn the wheel.
Military is M-715, don’t think the called them Gladiators, could me wrong.
Having owned a few J Trucks and 1 Gladiator I can agree that these old Kaiser era trucks are more “business” than the AMC era ones, tough as *they* were.
This is a good ol’ ranchin’ truck with no power steering or brakes so better beef up if you want to drive it on the roads, especially today’s city roads filled with stop-on-a-dime cars
It’s in amazing condition though. Problem areas like the flares and the bed seams look clean as a whistle as do the front corners where the valance meets the front fender. Shows that this old guy probably didn’t see much in the way of paved road driving. Love it. Reserve is probably north of 15K…sounds like the seller knows what he has there
AMC used thinner sheet-metal stock, ran the line faster (apparently, given build quality) and were more patchy on paint and corrosion resistance.
What it showed was the difference in philosophy between the two companies. Kaiser-Jeep was the remnant of Kaiser-Frazer, Henry Kaiser’s pet organization. He SO wanted to break into auto manufacturing, and do it right.
The crazy situation in the 1950s, with annual style changes, demand for V8s, and more buyers than inventory, left Kaiser in the lurch. Side note: The AMC 327 was an updated version of the original AMC V8, engineered by David Potter. Potter was let go from Kaiser-Frazer after they decided to exit passenger vehicles and instead purchased Willys-Overland. So that 327, was essentially the stillborn Kaiser V8 coming home.
But, to the original: Henry Kaiser always tried to go first class. The J-Series vehicles (later, SJ series) were done with a don’t-spare-the-whipped-cream budget. The Wagoneer and Gladiator came off well; the Kaiser OHC six, not so much.
But when automatics began appearing in trucks, Henry Kaiser sourced, not a Powerglide or Ford-O-Matic, but a TurboHydraMatic – the all-new GM transmission, otherwise only available in Buicks and Cadillacs. GM trucks of the time only had PowerGlide as an option.
The truck and wagon were no-frills, but tough as nails.
AMC got control (that story could make a book; had to do with Kaiser’s death and estate taxes, as well as his unfinished scheme to bring AMC into Kaiser Industries) and AMC was short of money. They needed their purchase to pay, pronto. So, corners were cut, and Jeep had some loss of reputation. The J trucks, unnamed, by AMC, never built on the earlier Gladiator success. The Wagoneer prospered, only because it was the only game in town – the only leather-seated 4×4 wagon on the market, in the 1970s.
FWIW, I believe you could get (Saginaw Variable-Ratio) power steering in the Gladiator. My old man did have it in his Wagoneer. If that thing was Armstrong Steering, it was because that’s how the buyer wanted it.
You probably could get PS as an option but I bet this old rancher didn’t want to spend the extra on this guy. Mine was a ’68 and it had the Dauntless 350 with the TH and I can tell you the 350 was way torquier than the AMC 360 that came later in the J series trucks.
Looking at the pictures (yeah I’ve been back to the listing 3 times lol) I believe the 68k mileage showing on the odo. It’s dusty and patina’d but super clean top and bottom. That interior is also clean with the dash pad and instrument knobs looking very fresh. Plus the engine looks old but it’s clean too without gobs of road crud or oil build up. Also that wrap around rear bumper is money. This truck probably racked up most of those miles hauling hay out to the pastures and mending fences
OMG !!! I had this exact truck , even same color , as Tonka
toy truck as a kid. Anybody else remember ?
Big Al have the Tonka with yellow dump bed red cab and duel rear wheels, was at a antique story it’s mint except no box, they wanted 40 dollars couple years ago I wanted bad, but to much for me,went back couple weeks later in the half off bin,on top of refrigerator ever since.
Rw ……That’s awesome !!!
You lucked out. Glad you went back.
Those Tonka trucks were built tough. 😊
I personally own a 1971 shortbed Gladiator for just over 20 years now. It’s an interesting year as on the vin tag there is no Kaiser or AMC logos. It was made in the change over between the 2 companies. I picked it up for $600, with a sbc 350 conversion already in place. I love it. Done alot of mods but still has the original look. This truck would be a great score if it wasn’t so far from me.
It does not look like a repaint, so why would the floorboards beneath the mats be painted red?
Primer perhaps, or rustproofing?
I had a 65 half ton with the overhead cam Typhoon 6. It was a really great truck for the era. It got me through some tough Wisconsin winters in the 70’s. 500 lbs of ballast in the back for traction turned it into an almost snowmobile. It one of the ones that I should have kept. Oh well, to soon old, to late smart.
There is considerable difficulty in driving a vintage vehicle without the ‘luxury’ combo of power steering or power and/or disc brakes in today’s traffic flows where drivers consistently drive too fast, too close and make risky last minute traffic maneuvers. ( I won’t even mention distracted drivers). I have a 1964 Studebaker without either the benefit of modern steering or braking. I find myself carefully planning out less-travelled routes and driving very cautiously to my destinations – usually shows and cruise nights.
Of course trucks of that era are even more disadvantaged.
My Brother had one of these but he hated the steering. He drove it until a wheel came off on a twisty mtn road, I had to bring my trusty F-350 out to rescue him. He sold that jeep for twice what he bought it for. It was a very nice looking Jeep.
Ah love these old trucks, pretty much any truck of that vintage with manual steering manual brakes manual transmission bias ply tires driving is liken too wrestling a bull. That said I still like them and if I had the cash and it were closer it would be in my driveway.
Correction, it was a Tornado 6 not Typhoon. I must have been in the wrong hemisphere when I typed that.