Vintage racing Jeeps aren’t around every corner, making this listing pretty unusual. Here on eBay is a 1976 Jeep J10 said to be a Baja racer, bid to $2,025 with no reserve. The vehicle is located in Caldwell, Idaho, and this tip came to us courtesy of T.J. The seller’s ad is unfortunately short of details, so we’ll have to fill in the blanks as best as we can. We do know the Jeep J10 started out under the Gladiator name, a vehicle that was produced from 1962 through 1988 in one form or another. By the time this Jeep was made, the two-wheel drive option had given way to the much more popular four-wheel drive. The paint scheme indicates Marlboro as a sponsor; the driver’s name is Mike Honcho and the co-driver is Gator McKlusky. Mike Honcho was the Playgirl-posing alias of the Cal McNaughton Jr character in Talledega Nights. Burt Reynolds played the Gator McKlusky character in White Lightening, a movie produced in 1973, but the movie car was a Ford Galaxie, not a Jeep. The truck is set up to tow behind your race trailer.
The seller indicates that the motor is a 360 cu. in. V8 – good for about 175 bhp in the 1970s – paired with an automatic transmission. No engine bay photos were supplied and while the seller indicates the motor is “strong”, he avoids saying whether this motor actually runs or not. He’s just describing 360 motors generally. Power steering, power brakes, and four-wheel disc brakes complete the package. The body has a few dents and the paint is poor, but that’s about par for the course for a used dirt racer.
The interior is where the claim of “vintage racer” begins to fall down if you weren’t already questioning the description from the names on the doors. Not even in the 1970s would you be racing at Baja without some semblance of race seats and a harness or two. Ok, maybe they were removed recently. But I’m thinking more likely this was a Gambler 500 entry, just like it says on the windshield, where rules are slender. The good news is the truck has a title; a lot of Gambler prospects come untitled.
Whatever it is, a prospective buyer is left with a lot of questions. But at the current bid, with a title, this bid is on the cheap side even if it doesn’t run. What do you think?
Definitely not a Baja racer. I think the Gambler assumption is pretty safe.
Yeah, maybe a tribute to a Baja Jeep but definitely not one that you’d race. Also that cheap throw-paint-over-the-rust junk doesn’t instill much confidence for a bidder.
And…all those pictures and not one of the underneath or one with the hood open.
regardless of history still a pretty cool truck for $2500.
No cage, no offroad suspension. No thanks
Plenty of truck for 2500.00, but there’s not enough suspension travel to race that thing to the liquor store.