I’m a bit confused at the seller’s line about this 1973 Jeep Commando never having seen snow, since it literally has a snow plow on the front of it. A snow plow that isn’t shown in any of the photos, sadly, but they say it has a working snow plow so I’m assuming it’s included. This 4×4 plow truck is listed here on eBay in Vail, Arizona, southeast of Tucson, so the plow won’t do much good there. They’re asking $15,500 or best offer.
They say, “This was used to plow a private drive in Colorado. Never seen snow. Zero rust. Couple areas of superficial surface rust it had were lightly sprayed by original owner to keep them from rusting out.” So it was used to plow snow but has never seen snow, and it has zero rust but has surface rust. The last part about rust makes sense. I say that a lot, as most of us do, not equating surface rust with rust holes. But the snow part is… different. Not to mention that there’s a lot of spray paint of some sort on the lower parts, and the seller says the previous owner sprayed them to cover up superficial surface rust. I’d need to see this one in person before making an offer, but I’d love a trip to southern Arizona right now anyway.
Another unusual part of the listing is that I think these photos are from when this Jeep was in Colorado, maybe the ones the current seller looked at when they bought it? The background sure looks Colorado-like to me. They say that they used some of the previous photos and that the rear bumper “got tweaked” when they got it, but they don’t show it because they used old photos. There are all sorts of things here that cause me to raise an eyebrow and wonder what’s going on.
All of those weird things being said, and the unfortunate overspray on the driver’s door jamb on the data plate that we don’t get to see a closeup of, this Commando looks pretty good to me. The seller or someone provided an underside photo and it has heavy surface rust as expected. There’s a crack on the top of the padded dash, but the seats look pretty good both front and rear. They mention black texture grip spray on the driver’s floor and I don’t want to guess what that’s for; I would have gotten some floor mats but that’s just me.
The engine is an AMC 304-cu.in. OHV V8 with 150 horsepower and 245 lb-ft of torque. It’s backed by a three-speed manual floor shifter and transfer case sending power to all four wheels when needed. This was the last year for what had been known as the Jeepster Commando and was the Jeep Commando by this point. The seller says it works great and is a fun driver. Any thoughts about this confusing listing?
It couldn’t be April 1 because my Christmas lights are up and I almost always have them down by the middle of March.
I think he meant to say “Never seen salt”, which makes sense for a truck that was only used to plow a private road.
I bet you’re right, Bob, that’s a good point!
If you compare what a similarly equipped, same vintage Bronco goes for, this is quite a bargain. AMC V8’s were good reliable mills. It’s not as pretty as a Bronco especially with the 5 mile an hour bumper and ugly grill though.
Vail is only about a half hour from Mt. Lemon which sometimes gets a significant amount of snow; actually the first ski resort in AZ was on the mountain. But as it appears, this is a recent transplant to the desert and as such probably isn’t snow bound anytime soon.
Thanks for that info, PaulG. I guess I need to spend a decade or two in that area, not that I’d complain about that.
Scotty, the desert southwest is amazing, but like a LOT of western America there seems to be no end to the influx of people. Moved to Phoenix from Rustate NY almost 50 years ago, population has doubled every 20 years. Moved to central AZ 18 years ago and now it’s been “discovered”. Still have a son in Phoenix, a daughter in Tucson, and another daughter in Flagstaff. I see a lot of the state!
But can understand wanting to be here, just never imagined it would grow so exponentially.
PaulG, I’ve been dreaming about Tucson since going there for the first time in January of 1998. It was 10 degrees in Minnesota and 72 in Tucson, I’ve been hooked ever since. I try to get there once a year if I can, even in the hottest part of summer.
I almost got stuck in the snow on Mt. Lemmon on a day that the weather in Tucson was quite pleasant.
I’ve always wanted one of these ugly Commando’s with the 304 and a 3 speed. This one appears really unmolested and actually quite rust free in the photos. Factory seats, radio, and (2) wheel covers. The floor doesn’t look like it has any rust pitting. It actually looks really good! I’d be interested if it were on the east side of the Mississippi and for sale for around $5 or $6k. That’s about all I can afford for a play vehicle at the moment (in other words, I don’t get to play). If I was the seller, I’d take off the snow plow and maybe paint the top, but I like to tinker. Seems like it would bring more money if no one knew it once had a snow plow on it, but that’s just my thinking.
Some nice ski country ⛷️ in AZ.
I used to have a ’73 Commando. Mine had the 258 straight six coupled to a TurboHydramatic 400 tranny. Lots of rust though.
Wow a KY Jelly pop up ad just appeared on my screen as I was starting to comment about this mystical creature.
Guess enough said…
Vail, Arizona? I’ve never heard of such a place. I’ve heard of Vail, Colorado.
Vail is in Pima County, Arizona. It is 24 miles southeast of Tucson.
Seriously, in all my years with my nose pressed against a window these were very prevalent throughout the rural upper latitude states being used as USPS delivery vehicles.
I’ve seen them with the right hand driver option. Obviously this one wasn’t one of those due to the condition and by the underside photos and transmission. With my cheap sunglasses and a grain of salt I read the ebay listing again. Bringing me to my final thoughts. It’s a little over priced and desperately in need of some quality detail and service time.
I kinda dig it.
Merry Christmas ya’all!
This vehicle must rattle very loudly when driving down the road, no insulation on the floors or mats for that matter. Here is another seller who couldn’t even clean the tire marks off the rear seats before taking photos. The seller wants top money but won’t put any effort into taking good clean photos of the Jeep.