A few months ago I purchased a manual transmission, V8-powered 1989 Chevy K1500 — possibly one of the greatest pickup trucks ever. I used that truck to move my entire household, and fell in love with how it drives; it’s smooth, torquey, and supremely capable. But I’m a Jeep man — I have been for over 20 years now, which is why I don’t think that K1500 will fill the gap in my heart that will exist when I begrudgingly part ways with the 1985 Jeep J10 that the state of California won’t let me drive due to SMOG. For this reason, I have made a questionable choice that will on Wednesday put me in Idaho, about 1000 miles from my home.
With my J10 on the chopping block and my heart unable to truly cherish the K1500 like a Chevy truck fan would, I find myself with a truck problem. How will I carry big, heavy parts like those needed to build my eBay World War II Jeep? How will I cary washing machines and driers and drywall and other things needed to maintain this ancient house my wife, child, cats and I live in?
What I need is a Jeep pickup truck that won’t fail SMOG, and that leaves me with four options. The first is an old Willys pickup truck; this thing:
These are basically pickup truck versions of the first true family 4×4 SUV, the Willys Wagon, and like the Wagon, the Pickup was loosely based on the World War II Jeep (on which the first civilian Jeep, the CJ-2A is also based). They’re old, really don’t go much faster than about 45 MPH sustained, and they’re small.
The truth is, finding one of these in decent shape is difficult and pricey, and what’s more, they’re basically antiques; they’re for driving either on a farm or slowly around town; they are not meant for LA highways.
I could also hunt for a pre-1976 Jeep J10, which would allow me to forgo annual emissions checks. Of course, decent Jeep J10s from that vintage — coveted for their beautiful “Razor” grilles — aren’t cheap. Most of these have rust on the bedside seams, and fixing that is really tough. I’m lucky enough that my bed doesn’t’ have this.
What I could do is buy a pre-1976 with a rust-free cab but a crusty bed, swap my bed and 85,000 mile powertrain, and boom: I’d not only have a California-legal truck, but the rust on my floorboards and the back of my cab would no longer be an issue.
This would take time, of course, and then I’d be tempted to paint it all to make the bed match the cab. And in the end, I’d still have a temperamental, carbureted old truck that makes 112 horsepower.
I could also do an engine swap — namely do the 4.0-liter “stroker” mod that involves taking the crankshaft out of the 258 currently in my J10, swapping that into a 4.0-liter engine. (they are a dime a dozen), and installing a new Hydroboost brake booster (since the 4.0’s intake manifold would interfere with the J10’s brake booster) as well as an engine computer and all the requisite wiring.
It wouldn’t be trivial. The easiest “J10” option involves me just plunking down $15 grand for a nice pre-1975 J10.
Door number three involves buying a new Jeep Gladiator. This is a good option for a few reasons; first, because it’s newer, it’s more refined, more reliable (thus giving me more time to do family things), and safer. This latter point, along with the fact that the truck has four doors, means I could actually drive my kid around in it. Not to mention, it’s really the only option on this list that can actually tow.
The downside to this option is that the manual version of the truck isn’t rated to tow more than 4,500 pounds, and I refuse to ever buy an automatic ICE car again. What’s more, pre-2024 Gladiators don’t have rear side-curtain airbags, which is totally ridiculous. 2024+ trucks are too expensive, but older Gladiators are actually fairly cheap, with 2020s going for around $23,000. That’s not bad for a modern truck, but it’s only got a 5-foot bed, towing with the stick is limited, there are no rear side curtain airbags, and $23,000 is still $23,000.
That brings me to the final option, and the one that I’m exploring.
The Jeep Comanche.
And not just any Jeep Comanche; I just committed to purchasing the very last model-year: 1992. Jeep built only 1,000 Jeep comanches this year, so this is an extremely rare truck.
I’m usually not a snob about final model-years, but what I am a snob about is engine management systems, and all Jeep Cherokees and Comanches prior to the 1991 model-year had what was called a “Renix” fuel injection system, along with a “hot bottle” cooling system. These tend to be a bit temperamental, and the Renix-era vehicles make less power. I’ve gotten used to the Chrysler Fuel Injection system offered in 1991+ Jeep Cherokees and Comanches and Grand Cherokees, so I really didn’t want a pre-1991 Comanche.
So this left me with 1991 and 1992 options.
I’ve actually owned a 1991 Jeep Comanche before, but it was not only an automatic, it was horribly rusty and outfitted with a janky lift kit. I barely recall that truck since I owned it for only a year or so. But I do remember it being reasonably comfortable and capable enough to haul over 11,500 pounds of scrap metal to the metal-yard. Here’s old-me doing feral things in Michigan with that old Comanche “MJ”:
Some people call it a backyard. I call it a proving ground. pic.twitter.com/AEWDkHaUAj
— David Tracy (@davidntracy) March 3, 2020
Anyway, I recently spotted a 1992 MJ for sale up near Boise, Idaho. It is a bone-stock, final model-year model with the coveted AX-15 manual transmission. The asking price of $6,500 seemed reasonable, and if I sold my K1500, I’d actually come out ahead. So I told the seller I’d buy the MJ, only to later realize it was a no-AC truck. Oh well!
Tomorrow I’m flying from Burbank up to Boise to pick up this rust-free 200,000 mile pickup that I hope will fulfill my truck wants and needs. I hope it will offer a bit of the comfort/reliability of the K1500 and the cool factor of the J10.
We’ll see. Before I decide on which truck to keep, I have to get this machine from Idaho to California, which is a tall task for any 30+ year-old car with that many miles on it.
Renix injection on Renaults was the best in the second half of the 80’s to mid 90’s.
You could see everything when diagnosing
You needed what Renault called the XR-25
Machine to read error codes and to see the settings,trims etc.
Big butt, you needed the right card with it
For the right vehicle, right engine,year specification.
Base functions where pretty much the same, for further inspection you need the right card.
Off i remember correctly 33 for my 21 Turbo abs with ac
So David buys an older Jeep that has 2 doors and no airbags at all
Make it make sense!
No back seat = no baby no airbag >> die like real men
You’re killing me. You live in So Cal…and you bought a car with no AC, that’s not gonna pass smog, from Idaho. Dude. I love you but get it together.
I’m just happy the headline says “try to” instead of “try and”.
That’s a pet peeve of mine. I change it regularly when I edit!
Bless you!
No A/C? Dealbreaker for me, especially in the valley. Good looking truck though, good luck on the trip. Reminds me of when I bought my 01 holy grail (2 door, 5spd, 4×4) XJ in Colorado and drove it back to Houston. Made it without any issues.
Wow, what a find!
Maybe Autopian could get a deal on one of those aftermarket AC systems for hot rods, if they do an article about installing it. 🙂
When I saw the article headline pop up in my twitter feed I literally shouted “no David!” like I was scolding a pet. But good luck with it DT, I do enjoy the writing that comes from your questionable vehicle decisions.
It was Moira who popped into my head and said the same thing!
Very happy your keeping both trucks to truly see which one scratches that itch, worse thing is to sell the 1500 prematurely and potentially regret the decision
So, how about those rear lights and rear bumper? They are suspiciously out of the picture …
It looks awesome. The drive from ID to CA should be really nice this time of year, you shouldn’t have snow, and the fall colors will be amazing. But if you’re coming straight down through Nevada, just be prepared for a whole lot of nothing for a very long way. Fill up at every gas station you see. Don’t take gravel road shortcuts. Have fun!!
I am a father approximately the same age as David. I was an automotive engineer for a bit. I own a house and some cats. I like interesting cars. I spend way too much time poring over the details of the things I might purchase and making all kinds of cases for and against them.
But in the end, I let the “practical” side win out over the heart most of the time, which is why I own a hatchback and a minivan of reasonable age and reliability and still work in engineering.
There are plenty of benefits to this, but lots of times I think that maybe I’m taking the “rules” too seriously and missing out on some experiences that have more to do with following your heart regardless of the risk.
So far this “tortured Holy Grail Jeep logic” way of thinking seems to have gotten you a pretty great life, so who am I to question the Comanche being the right choice? Keep it up, David, you’re an inspiration.
I’m a car-obsessed engineer who’s always let the practical side win out. No regrets.
And my wife’s said I can get an FRS/BRZ/GR86 once we retire.
Life is too short for boring
There is a diesel Commanche in my neighborhood and I think of David every time it chokes me with it’s exhaust while waking my dog.
haha
You should stop letting it walk your dog.
sorry.
extra sorry, saw walking not waking…
It should have been walking. You win this round.
I went from a Ford F-150 crew cab to a Nissan Frontier, it does every truck thing I need it to do and I can park it in the garage. It IS possible to downsize!
Excellent!
Anytime you reply to my comments I get as excited as a kid on Christmas morning
I’ve never owned bigger than a mid-size truck (Chevy S10 and a couple GMC Canyons) and they always did what I needed them to do.
Having owned a ’87 4cyl no ac/4speed I’m loving this decision, sweet truck and the AC thing can be remedied. Good Luck David!
if Gladiators have gotten that cheap….maybe i bite the bullet????
That Comanche looks pretty good, hopefully she gets you back in once piece!
Had a 2023 Sport MaxTow with the soft top. Loved it. Miss it. See them around and long for it.
It also had “incurable” death wobble. 3 steering stabilizers replaced under warranty and I traded it at 36K miles. Couldn’t put the kids in something that made me nervous to drive on the highway.
Love it. Miss it. Long for it.
Moot point since you’ve already gotten rid of it, but the steering stabilizer is just a band aid. More than likely, it was the track bar. Replacing the track bar on my old ZJ got rid of bump steer and DW.
ooof thats not great. If i did buy one it would have to be able to do truck stuff but also long drives with the family. We had a rental wrangler on a trip a few weeks ago and it was WAAAAY different and more comfortable than my ’93 wrangler. the desire is strong.
I have a ‘21 with almost 80,000 miles on it. Have taken it on road trips from the northern to the southern border, off-road on 6-7 rated trails, and can haul the large Scout trailer to camp. It may not be the best at each of those, but I can’t think of one that does them all.
Plus the roof and doors come off!
My first vehicle I got when I was 15 was an 88 comanche. It had the pioneer stripe package. It had the 2.5 4 banger, manual everything, but fortunately it did have AC. Wish I still had it.
It must have been fun going uphill with the AC on
It didn’t have a problem with that. It really only struggled when I pulled a 16 foot double axle trailer at 65 down the highway. Again, I was 16.
I’ve always wanted one of these. There’s just something so cool and charming about them. A kid that was in my car-guy friend circle in high school (mid 2000’s) got one as his first vehicle, and it was super clean!
He promptly proceeded to beat the hell out of it, installed a cheap lift kit, saw-zall’d the fenders for clearance, and kept it purposefully covered in mud at all times. Didn’t think much of it then, but it makes me sad to think about such a rare truck being destroyed now.
Good call on skipping the RENIX system. I have memories of driving to work without ever touching the gas pedal because the system had some sort of malfunction that would set idle speed at between 2500 and 3000 rpm, which based on the reading I did at the time (2008ish), is a problem that is baked into the RENIX system, and there was nothing I could do about it. I miss that stupid thing though- 4.0, 5 speed, 4×4, long bed. Perfect.
It’s not a Holy Grail Jeep Commanche Diesel. Darn!
The 4.0 is the right engine for Comanches, XJs, and ZJS, as much as I dig those diesels.
What in the name of girl math is going on here?
11 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 6 (If I remember the target number right).
Seems like another poor life decision. The truck does look nice though.
Bon voyage!!
Yeah, just ignore the nattering nabobs of negativity in the comments.
As for AC, that’s indeed a bit of a concern, especially in southern CA, though your wallet will thank you (until you install an AC system which’d make for a good article or two since I daresay I speak for a lot of people when I say we’d be interested in reading about retrofitting vintage vehicles with AC.) While Jeeps ain’t renowned for fuel efficiency AC, especially back in those days, can have such an impact on gas mileage.
An ex-gf and I undertook a 2,000-mile (roundtrip) road trip in an automatic 2.5-liter ’85 Comanche 4×4 with a camper top to pick up her sister at the Miami airport upon her return from the ’92 Olympics in Barcelona (so the Comanche was only 7 years old but it already had 100k miles.) Since this was summertime in Florida we had the AC on the entire time. I don’t think we ever broke into double-digit gas mileage the entire trip.
At one point the gf’s sister was driving; I fell asleep for a while & woke up because I was freezing. I saw that she had the AC cranked all the way up in MAX mode and she was doing at least 85 mph (it’s been 33 years so I’m not sure if I’m recalling correctly that the Comanche had one of those 85-mph speedometers of that era but I know she had a habit of just burying the speedometer needle in whatever car she drove.) Since I was curious about the even bigger hit on fuel economy I stared at the gas gauge and saw the gas gauge needle *moving*!! Of course we had to stop for gas shortly after that. Thankfully the others of us took over the rest of the driving back home…
Wow you fit 3 people in there?!
Yes! AND a dog!! A really sweet 40-pound German Shepherd/husky/collie mix. Hence having the AC on at all times. Despite having access to the bed with its camper top through the back window he liked being in the cab with us.
I love the bench seat in ours. We recently picked up a free freezer with my 6’3″ father in law riding shotgun and my wife in the middle. It was cozy but not uncomfortable, as long as the person in the middle is comfortable with gear shifting going on in close quarters with thighs.
I love compact truck HVAC. My regular cab S10 was like a meat locker since the HVAC system was designed to cool an entire Blazer.
Ha, yeah, to this day that Comanche’s AC is still the coldest AC I’ve ever encountered and I’ve ridden in a real panoply of luxury cars ranging from rear-hinged-door Lincolns to early 90s AMG Mercedeses to modern Lexii/Infinitis…
That’s just about the right mileage for the age. I bet the journey is uneventful.
No AC just means it’s time for a sponsored partner post with Vintage Air. You know, in your spare time.
By now, I believe the only thing David has spare are parts, not time.
“spare parts”
Delmar got a nickname, I see
Will this scratch the XJ itch? Or is it a more temporary member of the stable? I love me an MJ and that looks to be a perfect example, other than the lack of AC.
I gotta say, getting nitpicky about side curtain airbags then buying a tin can of a truck is some interesting logic!
It’s david and you wanted no mental gymnastics?
Im with David, gladiator would then turn into the family car, which you want safe, but with the small bed/tow rating, for his needs he needs a single cab, not a family car and is a true truck
The amount of commenters chiding David here is downright embarrassing. Stop. The man has a wife if he wants to get a lecture about restraint and common sense. Since it’s all above board, I’m sure she’s aware of this and has, in some capacity, given her blessing.
We’re lecturing him because he’s made no fewer than 5 posts about his need to THIN his fleet.
This is not only the exact opposite of that but is a worse truck for his “needs” in every measure of the word.
He also literally discusses that a modern Gladiator wouldn’t fit his needs because of 1) lack of 5,000lb towing capacity and 2) lack of side airbags and proceeds to buy a 33 year old truck with a 4,000 lb towing capacity, NO airbags, and also NO AC. (Oh, and it also cost him nearly 30% of what a modern Gladiator would.)
DT can do what he wants with his life and automotive choices but he’s made all this very public (we assume in an attempt to seek advice) so here we are to give it. Of course he’s listened to exactly none of the advice provided by the young Dads here so I guess we should just let him learn the hard way.
If DT wants an old MJ, what do I care but don’t post on here about how it’s somehow a logical and good choice. Just tell us you bought it because you like it.
I welcome any and all input, and appreciate you all being here.
As you know, I buy fun cars fairly regularly, and with each purchase I expect to hear folks’ opinions; that’s entirely fine!
If you took the boring route, you probably wouldn’t have this website and legions of gearheads at your disposal
Where I got a little turned around is, recentlyish you hinted at a new Very Interesting Purchase, and then posted about the ebay Jeep. And some folks in the comments were like “but what about the Very Interesting Purchase” and I was like “um, I think the ebay Jeep is what he was referring to”. And SOME people were like, nah.
So could you clarify if this purchase is the previously alluded to purchase, or if the ebay Jeep is and this is just a new thing you decided to also do?
This is the interesting purchase!