During a short lived production run in the 1980’s, fewer than 28,000 Jeep CJ-8 Scramblers were sold.  They featured a very cool and unique design for the time period: basically a stretched version of the CJ-7 with a pickup truck-like box.  Nowadays Scramblers are extremely collectible, highly sought after and pretty hard to come by.  The owner of this ’94 Wrangler, listed for sale here on Craigslist in Maine, found a way around that problem by having his Jeep custom modified into a very Scrambler-like pickup.  And although he claims this truck has been appraised at over $60K, he’s listed this Jeep at the very un-Scrambler-like price of $15,000.

This truck is the beautiful result of a true custom build so at this point I am going to cease comparing it to a Scrambler.  In the ad the seller explains his Wrangler was modified in Maine by “a very talented builder” who hand built the box, tailgate, and soft top.  His work is certainly amazing!  The styling cues used in the design are truly tasteful and the the truck oozes the simple yet classic ruggedness of all things Jeep.  I’m not much of a fan of diamond plate but I really love it on this truck, especially the way it’s used to accent the leading edge of the front fenders.  I also love the classic Jeep logo prominently stamped into the center of the tailgate.  Thirty three inches were added to the length of the frame during the build as well as a 5″ suspension lift.

More diamond plate please!  Look at how beautiful it lines the inside of the tailgate as well as the inner wall of the box and wheel wells.  Further examples of the builder’s flair for design can be seen in how the spare tire is sunk into the bed of the truck, the way the bed liner extends over the top of the wheel wells, and how the canvas top meshes with the tonneau cover.

In addition to custom seats this truck also comes with custom wheels, custom “rock” bumpers, a Warn winch, a hood mounted jack with ax, and a steel top and doors.  The red and black custom seats look awesome, but the interior photos provided by the seller reveal what appears to be a pretty cramped cabin.  Looks like you might need a good set of knee pads to ride shotgun in this thing!

I purposefully left talking about the stock AMC 2.5 liter, 4 cylinder engine until the end knowing this will likely be a topic of debate among the Barnfind faithful.  Is the truck handicapped by this motor?  It likely depends on the type of driving it sees.  When rock crawling, a Wrangler like this with a 4 banger is arguably no worse off than one with a straight 6 or even a V-8 swap.  But pushing those big tires on pavement uphill at 55mph would no doubt make the 2.5 liter a little tired.  The motor has 128K on the clock and the seller mentions the manual transmission was rebuilt, but doesn’t mention how many miles ago that occurred.  A custom car or truck commonly evokes one of two reactions from people: they either like it or they don’t.  So what do you think?  Do any Scrambler aficionados approve?