A lot of us dream about opening a garage door and finding a dusty vehicle that looks as good as this 1978 Jeep J-10 pickup does. This hidden 4×4 can be found here on eBay in Eden, Idaho with bids reaching $4,600 and there is no reserve so it’ll be going to a new owner at the end of this auction.
This truck looks great, dust and all. Apparently, it was and still is owned by an “older lady” who hasn’t driven it since 2010, it’s been parked in the garage since then. It was reportedly repainted just before that time and it sure looks good. They say that vehicles don’t rust in Idaho and they could be right but the photos leave a lot to be desired as far as being able to see big chunks of this Jeep.
It’s hard to find any flaws in this vehicle or to find many of them. It looks really good to me despite knowing that the seller mentions that it needs transmission work and who knows what else it’ll need due to sitting for a decade. The inside of the box/bed looks crisp and clean.
The photos are all over the place from mostly verticals to a few horizontals and really no overall photos of anything, that’s always disappointing. Here’s the offending automatic, or the shifter portion of it. They have updated the eBay listing several times almost in real-time it seems like, and that’s nice to keep the latest info out there for buyers. Apparently, the woman’s son came over and get the truck running and took it around the block a few times and it ran great, but the transmission wasn’t working perfectly. Here’s a YouTube video of it running.
The engine is an AMC 360 cubic-inch V8 which would have had 175 hp when new and now we know that it runs which is good news. This would have been a nice truck when it was new, fairly luxurious, tough, and functional all rolled into one great looking truck. With less than a day left on this auction, what is this J-10 going to sell for?
No Jeep should have a slushbox! And last I heard, parts for the Quadratrac are tough to find. Don’t get me wrong; I like Jeeps, but I would have dropped out of the race once bidding hit $1,000.
Wrong Dan, parts are plentiful and these Jeeps are surging in value. You couldn’t be more wrong.
Although I agree with Dan on the slushbox statement, I must disagree on “dropping out once bidding hit $1000”,as IMO a smooth running 360 alone is worth that, and a solid bed, at least $600 or more,at least in my neck of the woods. I see $2500 just in parts, although it’s too nice to part out. Rebuild trans, give it a tune up and a weekend of elbow grease cleaning it up and enjoy
Sorry, I’m with Dan, I don’t think you could find a bigger money pit headache than this PARTICULAR truck. J series trucks are good trucks, and some come through here that are worth it, however, the only thing going for this, is it’s rust free body, otherwise, every single system will have to be addressed, you into that, have at it. This has all the same mechanicals my ’78 Cherokee Chief had, so I know what I’m talking about.
I had to do a little additional research on the Quadratrac. The switch on the featured J-10 is vacuum-operated. Given the choice of vacuum or mechanical operation for such a component, I’ll take mechanical every time. Electrically shifted transfer cases are even worse (I learned that the easy way).
Though the featured J-10 isn’t completely bad, I’d be into it at least double the purchase price by the time I had it shipped to me and did a transmission and transfer case swap. I’d be much better off finding one with a powertrain that I’d want (and I may well have done that!).
I’ve spelled out the miserable experience I had with my particular Jeep before, which isn’t entirely fair, I really liked the truck itself. It sure went through the snow great, had a good heater, got terrible gas mileage, especially for a 6, I can only imagine what this would get. I had that Quadratrac switch in the glove box too. Even though it made a hissing noise when moved, it didn’t seem to do anything other than that. It wasn’t just the rust, but everything that could fail, did, from back window, to seat adjuster, to window regulator, not to mention, all the electrics that went out, and some have the nerve to rip on Lucas, which I had great luck with. A CJ would still be my Jeep of choice for this era.
Saw an episode of “Wheeler Dealers” last night where Mike bought a rough Wagoneer with non working 4wd. Vacuum wasn’t reaching the switch on the trans, so it was an easy fix. Wish all car reality shows were this educational to watch!
We had a ’78 Wagoneer growing up, with the vacuum switch in the glove box. It always worked. Everything always worked. It was unstoppable in snow and ice, even used it after an ice storm to pull equipment on a farm because the tractor wouldn’t. The only drawback was gas mileage, my dad traded it on an Eagle wagon.
That isn’t a slushbox, it’s a turbo 400. One of the most stout tranny’s ever. Get your facts straight before you bad-mouth. Just because some people had bad experience with a vehicle does not mean they are all bad. I’ve owned several and you just have to know the vehicle.
Slushbox is just a slang term for any automatic transmission
Is a TH400 is coupled to an engine by means of a torque converter? Yes. Therefore, it is a slushbox. It might be one of the sturdier ones, but not an adequate substitute for a proper manual transmission in my opinion.
“Your flag decal won’t get you into heaven anymore” – John Prine
One of the best songsmiths ever. GL with the stent Mr. Prine and get back on tour where you belong.
I’ve had three cj7s with v8s and this transfer case, never had a problem.
The only issue people speak of its’ chain driven gears, the chain gets old a streaches and then slips, but with proper up keep no problem and they are strong, back in the day off-road racers ran the quadratrac behind 400+ hp v8s. As for the ,so called slush-box, what’s the way I like them. Here in the south west there is a lot of sand , and an automatic is by far the best way to attack dunes , half way up a steep dune you lose speed , shift back to 2nd or even 1st and keep climbing , try that with a manual and the moment you push the clutch in you done, nope I’ll take the automatic every time, but that’s just me.
Nothing wrong with an automatic, mail duty didn’t help I am sure. Surprisingly few if any vehicles of this era had transmission service, rebuild the trany and clean up the truck and enjoy! By the way Dan I like a stick but today’s automatic transmission is amazing.
I don’t care what “opinions” anyone has about transmissions; the Fact remains, that towing or Hauling Heavy Loads is substantially easier and Safer with an Automatic transmission. Period.
Upon what factual evidence are you basing that claim?
Auction Ended: Aug 04, 2019 , 8:50PM
Winning bid:US $5,400.00
[ 14 bids ]
What a pretty J 10 Pick Up !!!! Reminds me of the 1970’s when I worked part time at Templeton”s Service in Detroit, Mi 11175 Chalmers Ave . Bill Templeton purchased a new 1971 J 10 Pick up truck , white with red two tone paint. That truck was perfect as a tow vehicle. We used to wash it every Saturday night and ocassional we would wax it as well. Can’t say enough good things about that truck. GML 02-12-2020