Just a few days ago, we featured an exceedingly clean Jeep Wranger of the YJ generation, with a hefty asking price due to its shockingly low mileage. This one may be a better bet for a truck you can own without being afraid to use, while still likely not losing a dime on your initial investment. It’s a rare Islander edition, which has survived incredibly well considering it wasn’t left in the garage since new. It’s listed here on craigslist with 94,000 miles and an asking price of $9,500.
Pretty much every adolescent coming-of-age film from the early 90s featured an Islander if the story took place in a beach town. The graphics, the bright colors, and the fact that Wranglers are still considered a desirable first car among teenagers likely put the Islander package models on the wish list of every high schooler with a trust fund, and for the rest of us, this nicely preserved specimen represents the chance to buy one without mom and dad’s help. The interior presents quite well.
The engine, of course, is the venerable 4.0L inline-six paired to a manual transmission, which rounds out the short check-list of must have features in a Wrangler of this vintage. The underhood area isn’t quite as tidy as the interior, but it’s also entirely appropriate (if not slightly better than expected ) for a vehicle with near 100,000 miles on the clock. The seller mentions it was never used in the mud or sand and garage kept since new.
The fact that the Islander graphics survive so well is a major selling point, as Islanders without the iconic orange sun over black graphics are just another YJ. Other features included a matching spare tire cover, floor carpeting, and a center console. To me, the YJ represents the peak of the Wrangler brand, with great models, options, and bread-and-butter Jeep DNA – it was even part of one of the most memorable scenes in the Jurassic Park franchise. An emerging collectible, for sure.
I feel like whoever buys this must flash the hang loose hand signal every time he or she sees someone while he or she is driving
Ocean City, MD used a bunch of these to pull their boardwalk trams up until about 2002… they all had white soft tops and steel wheels (this one likely originally had the latter). In 2002, they were replaced with Tram Industries Model 6000s, but when one caught fire in 2013, they replaced it with a 2013 Jeep Wrangler JK, and in the summer of 2018, they vowed to replace all Tram Industries Model 6000s with Jeep Wrangler JL’s. I remember riding the YJ-pulled trams in the late 90s and early 00s when I was a kid. Glad they’ve decided to bring them back. :)
I had one of these in teal, small lift and blacked out wheels. It was a great conversation starter. Everyone either owned an islander or had a story about one. I sold it when I moved to FL because it didn’t have air and the aftermarket kits weren’t readily available. I imagine that’s probably still the case. 100k miles left in the inline 6, they are fairly bulletproof. The rust is no worse than usual. When the windshield frame goes, there are replacements in steel and fiberglass. If this goes for $8k or so, I’m calling it a decent buy. Keep the hardtop for the winter, throw a soft top and half doors on for summer.
Heck, if it were closer, I would take a look. Hard to find something like this in FL that isn’t Swiss cheese from rust.
we have a standard 95 jeep wrangler and like 5 days a go the motor mount bolts on the passenger side sheered off in the block. it is supposed to have 3 but it had one, one had broke long, long ago and we couldn’t get it out because it was rusted in there so bad, the 2nd one have broke a while ago but wasn’t rusted in we got it out, the one that broke that day we got out to, we drilled a bit and the bolts would start to thread in so we got a backwards bit and threaded it out, so now it has 2 bolts holding it on the passenger side, the driver side is fine. it has a 6 cylinder like this one and a 5 speed manual and 4 wheel drive of course.
Yup, bullet proof, had a 94 YJ, had 100,010 and the engine went, we were towing it W/motorhome and wife forgot to put it in neutral. Put a rebuilt 6 in it and it’s still running great, son has it as a summer tourer
Have a ‘ 92 YJ myself……beautiful specimen of a Jeep, bought it new and still immaculate and beautiful, just changing the Fuel line hoses and filter today as it sprung a small leak. Would NEVER get that kind of money for it…..unfortunately 180Km on my Red Beauty hardtop 6 cyl
Islanders had body color painted fender flares, and side steps.