Here’s what is well documented as possibly the rarest Jeep ever produced, long before SRT8 Cherokees started running around: a 1971 Jeep Commando Hurst edition here on eBay with a Buy-It-Now of $5,500. A hundred or less made their way into American driveways in the 70s, and you can be sure ever fewer survive today. This one gets rarer still, as it is equipped with a manual transmission – and the seller says only about 20 of those were ever sold.
While the name Hurst may scream performance, these were pretty docile creatures all said and done. The requisite graphics were added as were hood scoops and a hood-mounted tachometer. The manual transmissions received the iconic T-handle shifter, but the standard engine remained unchanged, pumping out about 160 b.h.p. Still, for the Jeep fan in your life, this is likely a bit of a trophy piece for a classic 4×4 collection.
The seller claims he bought it intending to restore but simply hasn’t had the time. At least he is cutting it loose and not letting it wallow away in a dark garage. Despite their rarity, these Hurst Commandos don’t command strong money, and in project form, this asking price is somewhat near the top of the market for other examples that have sold recently. But they aren’t making any more of them, so perhaps he can ask whatever he wants for such a rare special edition.
When finished, this is a nifty cruiser that certainly would be welcome at any July 4th festivities. Like this more complete example above, this project Hurst retains its unique badges, but it looks like the top has either been swapped or painted black. Still, the hard-to-find bits are there and given the extremely limited production of the Hurst Commandos with a manual transmission, you’ll likely never see yourself twice.
Hood scoops on these appear to have been shared with the Rebel Machine. I believe that this is the third one of these I’ve seen come up in the last (8) months or so. A Jeepster project would be cool, but as they were horribly prone to rotting they aren’t for the weak hearted.
There was a completely restored one at the SEMA show a couple of years back. Interesting piece of history.
For being a 1 of 100ish truck/car/Jeep, it’s not going for much
Where is it stored……….a dungeon?…….sellers, they just won’t let you like em’
Nice post, Jeff! We had an automatic one last year as well: http://barnfinds.com/about-100-made-1971-jeepster-hurst-edition/
Pretty good coverage considering there were only ~100 made!
I have seen these from time to time………I am skeptical of the “only 100 built” comment. I suspect that there is more to the story. It would mean that I have seen something like 10% of the total production.
There’s a website dedicated to Jeepster Commandos that has been trying to figure out the answer to the Hurst production number question for years. This site has long thought the number produced was 100 but… no one knows!
(http://jeepstercommandoclub.com/hurst/history.htm)
Here is one of their posts from a few years ago.
When we first started this site years ago, we only knew of maybe 20 Hurst’s. My current count is now approaching 65. As the number found goes up, the chances of only 100 being produced logically seems to go down. If we continue to approach a possible 70-75% survival rate, even I’ll have a hard time believing that there could possibly be that many survivors after 40 years. Personally this doesn’t worry or particularly bother me as the whole point of this site from day one was to try to answer these questions. I’ve always operated on the principle of publishing what I can show through documentation or research. I have still yet to find anything which suggests a number produced of over 100 (despite looking), but our numbers are starting to get interesting.
I did not know that story. I suspect someone is differentiating something like an orignal Hurst Jeep and one ordered with the Hurst graphics kit……or something like that. I would not expect a survival rate over 20% on the outside. These bodies rusted pretty badly, so, an interesting question.
Drove a 78 c-j7 golden eagle in college, loved it. This looks great.
It’s a mad mad mad mad world
There’s a reason why they only sold 100 of them. They looked like U.S. Mail jeeps and were pretty anemic.
There was also a UAW strike in 71 that affected sales in general which helps explain the low production numbers.
Again AMC was ahead of they’re time and foresaw the whole upcoming 4×4 craze but this one wasn’t the best of efforts
looks like someone sat on the hood scoop. is that intentional or just a dent?
Someone bought it.
I’m no jeep expert, but I would think there would be production records somewhere that could answer the question of how many were made. As for the 1 of 20 claim, I would want more documentation than “the seller says.”
Good luck, when Chrysler bought AMC they threw all the records at the bottom of Lake Michigan
Ironically I’m working on my 69 Jeepster Commando today. There is more rust on it than actual metal, and it’s highly probable that a good jolt would make the rear wheelwells collapse onto the wheels but the Dauntless V6 is still an impressive little grunt horse for it’s age. The best thing about the whole Jeepster is that you can open the hood and there’s not a single electronic anything. About as old school and basic as the Briggs and Stratton lawnmower engine your shop teacher made you ‘rebuild’ in shop class.