For the longest time Jeep's CJ-series was about the most rudimentary 4-wheeled vehicle sold in America. Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Laredo is representative of that basic instinct, but contrastingly, is its price overly complex?
Wango Tango, Cat Scratch Fever, Free for All, Fred Bear… I could go on. Those were some of Ted Nugent's guitar to the face hits from his heyday back in the seventies, back when head banging was far from complex (thanks, Metallica). You know what else of Ted's hailed from the seventies? Yesterday's 1979 Ford Bronco, that's what. Of course he had it Ted-ified in the late '90s, but according to fully 85% of you even that late in the game-changer wasn't enough to warrant the truck's asking price.
Would you call Jeep a one-hit wonder? Possibly not, however the company is perhaps best known for the CJ-series of off-roaders, a model so iconic that its visage serves as the brand's icon in both advertising and as a design element on other Jeep models.
Today's 1986 CJ7 is claimed to be an all-original, low mileage edition from the last year of that model's run. Now, to the succeeding YJ Wrangler didn't look all that different from the CJ, and in fact many parts are interchangeable, but still, YJ. The new truck did introduce one styling change that I don't think a lot of people - myself included - ever really liked all that much, and that was the adoption of rectangular sealed beam headlights in place of the round units of this CJ and its predecessors.
In addition to those round headlamps, this bad boy has stock wheels, and even the optional Jeep box in the back. Sporting only 46,000 miles, the Jeep features a tow bar on the nose, which was not a factory option, and makes you wonder how many of those miles were possibly racked up behind a motorhome.
Power comes from a 98-bhp/193 lb-ft 4.2-litre six, backed up by a Torqueflite auto, so this Jeep is pretty much ready to party. Mechanically, these trucks were pretty bulletproof, although of course, there's just so little there to go wrong.
In case anything does go tits up on this one, there is a Citizen's Band radio for you and your good buddies. That and the battery are claimed to be new.
The CJ7 is the last in the Civilian Jeep line, the YJ or Yo! Jeep being much the same, only not in name. That probably doesn't mean anything, but this one being in majorly stock shape does. A lot of these trucks have been messed with over the years, and have become the unique vision of one or more owners along the way. This one is just as god and AMC intended it, in Laredo clothing.
That of course is why the seller is asking a substantial $25,500 for the truck, and you now need to decide if he should get that or if he should not. What's your take on this unmolested CJ7 and its price tag? Is $25,500 a decent amount to pay for originality? Or, is that too much considering you'd just jack it up and put lights all over it?
You decide!
Inland Empire Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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