Junkyard Find: 1976 Jeep Wagoneer
Since Willys/Kaiser/Jeep/AMC/Chrysler built the Wagoneer from Biblical times until ten minutes ago (actually 1963 through 1991), and I live in Jeep-centric Colorado, I see these things just about every time I visit a wrecking yard. Mostly, I don’t photograph them (unless I see an unusually late example, such as this ’89, or one resplendent in purple paint and tape stripes, like this ’81), but today’s Junkyard Find— spotted in a San Francisco Bay Area self-serve yard a few weeks ago— was just so incredibly Malaise-y that I felt compelled to document it in its final parking space.
Imagine having the guts to buy something this thirsty just a few years after the 1973 energy crisis, and the sinking feeling that the owner must have experienced when the 1979 energy crisis hit!
Still, if you need a work truck you have to be willing to pay the fuel bills.
Fake woodgrain, refreshingly uncomplicated HVAC controls. Some things about the middle 1970s were pretty good.
The AMC 360-cubic-inch V8 stayed in production all the way through 1991, thanks to Chrysler’s absorption of AMC in 1987.
Still some good parts left on this one.
Toughest four-letter word on wheels!
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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My family had a 79 followed by an 84. The 84 was full of problems. The nylon track for the power windows would break and you walk out to a down driver side window in the morning. The A/C would freeze the interior or it would be off. No middle ground. I drove it for seven years of taking myself to school and it lasted my family for total of 15 years. Great leather/cordoroy seats that were comfortable as hell. Dad sold it after she was pretty well used up for a grand to a friend of a friend and six months later it had an electrical short and burned up. It was a total loss. Insurance company paid them 2 grand. It was a great gas guzzling vehicle.
I would love this.