My Jeep J10 is in great shape, body wise, if you consider how old it is. It’s got a little rust hole in the hood, a little rust on the back of the cab, a little hole here and there in the door jambs, a little bit on the floorboards, and a little in the bed, but it’s otherwise clean. Here in California, though, it’s apparently untouchable, because the standards are completely different than much of the rest of the country.
When I initially bought my 1985 Jeep J10 from Yadkinvilla, North Carolina in 2015, I was thrilled. The thing was 100% stock, it ran, it drove, it had very few miles, and the body was quite decent. I bought it for $3,500, which — especially for me back then — was a mountain of cash.
I not only got the truck, but also a Gallon of moonshine that the seller told me had been brewed by Junior Johnson himself, and I also got a hand-drawn map to the local mud-run that was happening that day. My friends and I attended, and it was epic.
The Jeep sat for a while until I used it for therapy during the pandemic, getting it on the road and driving it from Michigan to North Carolina to Fayetteville, AR to Dallas, TX, back up to Michigan. The truck was flawless, and I was in love.
It checks all the “ultimate pickup truck” boxes, including:
- Regular cab
- Long bed
- 4×4
- Manual
- Bench seat
- stamped tailgate
- manual locking hubs
- gun rack
It is the truckiest of the trucks, and luckily for me, it wasn’t a Michigan machine, or else it would be a rustbucket.
To be sure, it wasn’t perfect, as this young nerd points out here:
Here are a few photos of the minor rust:
Overall, it’s a really nice machine — by Michigan standards. By California standards, it’s apparently such a heap that someone just sent me this:
In case you can’t see that image for whatever reason, here’s the message:
Long shot here but I was wondering since it’s been a while if you are selling parts off your truck. I’m looking for a windshield and the front bumper if so please lmk
Either this person is pulling my leg or I’m out of touch, or maybe both, because is this person really suggesting I part out an 82,000 mile truck? Especially one that’s this complete? Come on; look at this thing — it’s not that bad!
Look at the underside; it’s clean!:
A few weeks ago I wrote “Bringing My Michigan Cars To California Was A Mistake,” an article about how my friend Fred had warned me that, given the amazing selection of vehicles out west, a vehicle from the rust belt pretty much has no value here in California. I don’t think I fully realized just how little value a truck that in another state is worth easily $7000 is basically worth, well, parts!
It’s a combination of the minor rust (which Californias would consider major) and the emissions status (it is missing its original emissions equipment, which is why it runs so well) that has basically relegated my J10 to the lowest tier in the California car hierarchy. It is a true shame.
Luckily, my internal sell-or-don’t-sell pendulum for the J10 is swinging back towards “keep forever,” so this doesn’t bother me in the least, but it’s something I find remarkable. In California, any rust = rustbucket. In Michigan, no holes = rust-free. What a difference.
Too bad it’s not an air cooled long nose 911. You could probably get your ask for just the VIN plate and the sun dried pile of Germany’s finest organic rust that used to be the car.
That’s “not terrible” for a New England truck of that age, but in no universe can I see anyone in CA being interested.
Maybe get some more content out of it by teaming up with Fred to do a series on building a crawler out of it.
Hey man, it’s a really cool truck and agree that it’s not far enough gone to be a “parts truck.” It’s mechanically great and the body isn’t so far gone that it’s unfixable.
That said… no one is going to pay $8,500 (let alone $10,000, for which it was originally listed) for this, especially in California. I know you don’t see it as a project because you’ve indeed put plenty of mechanical work into it, but it’s a project. To get this thing up to nice or hell, even “decent” aesthetic standards, someone will either need to pay a fortune to a body and paint shop or spend enormous amounts of time DIYing. And body work and paint aren’t something any rando has the skills to do, at least if you want the result to be aesthetically pleasing.
On top of that, the truck isn’t legal to register in California because of the absence of the emissions equipment. You’ve even previously said that the parts required to do so are likely unobtanium and it would be difficult to make it legal even if you had the inclination and money. Sure, there are extralegal ways to “register” it, but most buyers aren’t going want to deal with that BS. So that leaves you with folks looking for a project or a cheap off road rig or work truck to beat the shit out of. Neither of them will pay what you’re asking for this. I’d venture to say that even in Michigan you might fetch a bit more than in California but still well below your asking price. Getting serious “I know what I’ve got” vibes, just like with the i3. It’s worth what someone is willing to pay for it, period.
Yeah. As other people have mentioned, this is an “I haven’t accepted that I need to sell this yet” price.
The guy bought a North Carolina beater for $3500 an entire DECADE ago, took it on some adventures, did some hauling. It owes him nothing. It’s like a $2000 truck- maybe a few grand more back in Michigan?
Sure it’s old and rare, but it simply isn’t collector grade. It’s a project or a beater. The pool of interested buyers is so much smaller than the equivalent Ford or Chevy.
The problem is that ignoring good advice, David went to considerable effort and some expense to bring all his beaters out to California. Now he’s tied up in the sunk cost fallacy.
“The phenomenon whereby a person is reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they have invested heavily in it, even when it is clear that abandonment would be more beneficial.”
I used to have an old Chevy van that was in such rough shape that multiple times I parked it at a business and they tried to have it towed, thinking it was abandoned. DT, it was in better shape than your J10.
It has rust holes and will not pass inspection in your state of residence. It is indeed a parts truck by anyone’s standard.
David… Michigander to Michigander, you know that isn’t a small amount of rust. You might as well hang on to the J10 if you don’t want to see it parted out because that will eventually be its fate. You can either repair the rust or accept that the truck is living on borrowed time. Ironically enough repairing the rust on your truck might require finding a parts truck to at least replace the hood.
I’m sure you can fix the rust. You welded the frame of POStal well enough for it to survive a cross country drive to MOAB. Whether or not the time spent is worth it given everything else you have going on in your life is something you would need to discuss with your wife. I spent 6 months trying to fix my last car before I got sick of playing limp mode roulette. Trading it in for junker value and switching to a car that wasn’t broken greatly improved my quality of life.
So you need to call it patina and claim it’s intentional for the Cali crowd.
I started laughing just with the title. Can totally relate to your best show car, the flagship of your fleet, being mistaken for a parts car by others.
Cars from New England stick out as much as the funny accents.
Is DT a master of rage bait, or actually completely delusional? I can’t decide. Either way, it’s a pretty bad look.
I think these articles are rage bait actually. We’re probably getting played, but god damn does it ever work.
Let’s not forget, he’s trying to drag ANOTHER abandoned Jeep out of the woods (ignore the fact that he already has one). So I think the answer is yes on both counts.
I love his optimism though, even if I find it baffling at times.
Like the bondo infused Jeep you were going to use for the wedding, technically that was rust free, but also not in good shape.
Living in NC I see 50 year old trucks in way better shape than this. Literally on my way to work this morning there was a 60s F100 driving down the road that looked great, just cruising along.
You brought a pig to a vegan farm, nobody’s gonna buy it for what you think it’s worth, take what you can get and move on.
But we just don’t understand! It’s manual and has a gun rack!
I finally sold my family’s 35 year old fibreglass boat this past weekend. No trailer. Let me tell you… No sane person buys a motorboat without a trailer, even for a deal. I even offered free delivery! Eventually I dropped the price so low even a rational buyer couldn’t refuse- and it sold.
If you truly want something gone, you’ll face the music and list it for what the market will bear. No such thing as bad buyers… Just bad prices.
Seconded.
Finally realized that I valued the garage space more than any putative ‘profit’ I might make, and this was just for a JD X570 (52″ deck). 4 weeks on FBM and finally took what would close out the JD financial account to be free.
I don’t know about California, but in the UK that would count as pretty rusty. It’s hard to tell from the photos, but I think it might be an MoT fail, depending on where the rust is.
On the other hand, I’d be surprised if there’s any J10’s in the entire of the UK, so ship it over here and you’ll get a few quid just for the rarity value!
It’s like real estate: location, location, location. If you want to sell it you’ll have to take it back to Frostbite Falls where people have given up hope of ever living rust free. They’re resigned to their fates and have given up. In rust free areas it will only be purchased for a few bucks to hoon in the wilderness. Please quit saying it has a little rust. If you told me that and I looked at it I would flat tell you that you wasted my time. I have nothing but respect for you, but you don’t know what you’ve got.
Hilarious!
Thank you for your good humor.
David, you know how much I love you, since we both share irrational obsessions for Jeeps and BMW i3s, as well as a compulsive need to collect ‘unusual’ vehicles. However, I feel it is time for us to have an intervention. Your J-10 has rust HOLES. Not just rust, but holes. I’m sorry to be the one who has to tell you this, but it’s for your own good. Even here in the sunny, arid Chihuahuan desert of New Mexico, those rust holes are concerning.
Keep in mind that NM is still the Wild West when it comes to vehicle safety inspections. NM does not have ANY vehicle inspection requirements, save for a bi-annual emissions test in ONE county (Bernalillo County) out of the thirty-three. (Aside: a vehicle has to be over 35 years old before being exempt from emissions testing in NM. 35. YEARS. New York State only requires 25 years.) Importing a vehicle into NM requires one inspection, which consists of an MVD employee visually confirming that the VIN on the vehicle matches the VIN on the title. That’s it. On a daily basis, I see vehicles without any functioning brake lights, missing fenders, hoods, head/tail/turn lamps, and on a few occasions, doors or windshields (these are not off-road ready 4x4s on their way to a trail ride, BTW). It’s rare that anyone is pulled over for any of these issues. I have seen a Geo Metro converted into a pickup, and a third-gen Camaro on a 4×4 chassis. In NM, it is not unusual to see 30+ year old cars and trucks as daily drivers. What I don’t see out here is: rust. There is the possibility of surface rust, since we are a mile closer to the sun and factory paint/clear coats are roasted off of exposed surfaces with depressing rapidity. Rust holes in a car in NM means that it came from somewhere else.
We purchased a gently used and meticulously maintained 5 year old minivan from my in-laws in Syracuse NY and I was shocked at the amount of rust on the vehicle. FULL DISCLOSURE: I ground down the offensive rust around the front fenders, sprayed some Por-15 on the bare surfaces, drilled a few holes, added zip-ties, and Presto! a full-fledged NM rural road rocket.
But, enough about me. As long as you can keep registering your truck in California, keep it and ignore the nit-pickers. When you get tired of it and want to sell it, there are plenty of folks in the rust belt who agree with your assessment of the rust and would happily pay top dollar for a “California” truck, holes and all. If all else fails, I’m sure we could find it a forever home in the Land of Enchantment.
That price is what we call my wife wants me to sell it and I don’t price. “Honey, I really tried to sell it but no one is buying”.
Nailed it.
The copium is real here.
I respect you guys but someone might have replaced your retinas with rose tinted marble beads while you were asleep.
> it’s not that bad
Yes, yes it is. I mean no disrespect, because you love the thing, but in California it is what we call “a pile.” You’ll be lucky to get $3k for it, and it will be a parts car for one of the three people in the state with one like it.
“Now” it’s a parts car? It was a parts car the minute you brought it to SOCAL.
“Mint” – David Freiburger
As a life long Californian, I wouldn’t even bother to visit a car with perforating rust unless it was for parts. There are just better options out here and I don’t have experience working on rusty cars.
As a native Californian I would take one look at your truck and keep walking.
“In Michigan, no holes = rust-free.”
Yes, but yours has holes. Several of them. Your rose colored glasses are so darkly tinted, you can barely see through them.
“It was flawless.”
This is the trip where the speedometer was soaking your shoes in oil. Most of us would consider this a significant flaw.
Road trip it back to the rust belt and sell it here. It’s worth something here. (Not $8500 though, that’s batshitcrazypants my friend).
you should try a comet wash on this one
You been watching Freiburger save old Chrysler vehicles too?
Since I was 10!
Highlight of my middle school life was him responding to me on a web forum
DF answered my question earlier this year in a live stream, I was so psyched, haha.
Years ago, I shit talked Jesse James on the HAMB forum and he responded back.
I’m kind of a big deal.
I got a real chuckle and showed my wife the comment where Adrian replied to me that he’d marry my wife so she could get british citizenship and he could get american. Then they’d divorce and we’d get remarried.
Haha! I doubt the marriage-citizenship still works though.
I dare you to try the foam cannon on that. Once you wipe the foam away, it’ll be invisible.
If you do plan on selling it I have an idea, take it on one last hurrah road trip and drive it to Jason or Mercedes to list it in a more favorable market.
“Here are a few photos of the minor rust”
Dude – You have multiple perforations.
“Look at the underside; it’s clean!”
Define “clean”
“it is missing its original emissions equipment, which is why it runs so well”
How did you get it smog-certified when you registered it in CA?
Oh Wait – I don’t see a front license plate….
…you never registered it in CA, did you?