Years ago, you would always see a shop truck parked next to the local service station. It did it all – from plowing the lot to making parts runs to helping stranded motorists. This has become a thing of the past, as independent service stations go extinct and we welcome giant convenience stores without any service bays. This 1969 Jeep Gladiator is an awesome survivor with wonderful patina that should be preserved now and forever. Find it here on eBay with a $4,800 Buy-It-Now.
Featuring the branding of the service shop that operated in, the seller notes that it was parked indoors every night up until 10 years ago. The body and frame are said to be remarkably intact despite also being a plow truck, and the seller has removed the plow attachment and related components. It has been repainted at least once, but the original service station graphics were preserved when the repaint commenced.
The interior is still quite nice, especially for a service station workhorse. The seller mentions the owner was older, and you can almost envision a senior member of our population placing a great deal of value on a loyal rig like this Jeep that provided steadfast service day in and out. The Jeep is powered by the legendary Dauntless Buick V6 that is currently out of the vehicle for rebuild, as the block cracked at some point in the service station’s ownership and it was removed for rebuild.
The seller has sourced another correct Dauntless V6 for re-installation, but it is non-numbers matching. Another interesting (and desirable) aspect of the project is that the previous owner coated the frame in a petroleum-based product, which has done wonders to keep the original structure preserved snd free of rot. This is such a cool foundation for a project and shop trucks draw smiles wherever they go – I hope this one receives freshened-up mechanical components and that the body is forever preserved in its current state.
Jeep just make a new Gladiator
They’re going to, but it won’t be a single-cab, it won’t be a manual, and it won’t ever be as-cool.
Nice erector set engine all laid out for your building pleasure.
This truck would have come from the factory with the Buick 350 cid V8 “Dauntless” motor, not the a V6. Even states that in the ad. The Dauntless oddfire V6 225 motor was only available in the CJ5/6 not the J-series vehicles. Both the V6 and the V8 Buick motors were given the Dauntless name after Kaiser Jeep obtained the motor tooling from Buick. Nice looking truck and cool that it was optioned with the 4spd which was seldom seen behind the Buick motors; usually a TH400.
If it was a 6 cylinder, it would have been the OHC “Tornado” engine.
Negative. The Tornado was discontinued in the civilian truck by 1965. A modified version was used in the M715 (etc) military trucks from 67-69
Looks like you’re correct. My brother had a Gladiator with the Tornado engine, but it may have been older than I thought (so hard to tell with Jeeps!)
By this point, they were using the Dauntless V8, which was a 350 sourced from Buick. As far as 6 cylinders go, I believe they were sourcing them from AMC, prior to being bought out by them.
Correct Rustowner on the v8. This truck never came with a v6 The Tornado was discontinued but if there was a 6 it would have been the AMC 258
Neat truck, would leave as is! I’m confused by: The body is solid considering its age and New England winters, although there are rust holes in sheetmetal. HUH?? I’d expect it to have some rust. Drop that buick eng in and drive. As always, good inspection necessary. Price aint bad!! Good luck to the new owner
I remember this truck from when I was a kid. The owner’s name was Tony. Landmark was a Sunoco station/garage on Ridgewood Road, Washington Township, NJ (Bergen County). Thanks for the memories!
I don’t mean to be that guy, but in the picture on eBay, I see eight pistons laid out, and two heads with four combustion chambers, each. Unless there’s some new math I never saw before, I could swear this would have had an eight cylinder engine.
Does the engine turn over?
Awesome truck. Had a ‘66 Galdiator with the 327 Vigalante and the four speed manual. It was great. The PO of my truck also took advantage of the space behind the passenger door and added a lockabke storage compartment on the outside of the bed.
Good luck to the seller.
This vehicle would be lame if it wver had a V6, pushing snow, SUX. Pulling cars out of the ditch, SUX. if this Jeep has the quadratrack switch inside the glove box that V6 wouldn’t have even had enough power to spin all 4 tires in snow!
According to WIKI: … From 1968 to 1971 Jeep pickups offered the Buick 350 cu in (5.7 L) 230 hp (172 kW; 233 PS) Dauntless V8 as an optional engine.
Does Jeff ever do any research before he writes up his post? Seems like he always gets the facts wrong.