Junkyard Find: 1983 Jeep Cherokee

Murilee Martin
by Murilee Martin
Because we still see them all over the roads today, the still-in-production ( in China) XJ Cherokee is the best-known Jeep Cherokee. However, AMC made a two-door version of the original SJ Wagoneer, called it the Cherokee, and built it for the 1974 through 1983 model years (just to confuse things, a four-door SJ Cherokee was added to the mix a few years into production).We saw an XJ Cherokee Junkyard Find a couple of weeks ago, and here’s a final-year-of-production SJ from the same Denver self-service yard.
You wouldn’t be wise to drive this big ol’ four-wheel-drive truck, with its primitive early-1960s suspension and 170-horse engine, at speeds exceeding 85 mph, but these Malaise Era 85 mph speedometers still irritate me when I see them. 154,887 miles on this truck, with its unusual-for-the-era six-digit odometer.
This truck has some nice custom fighting (or kissing) eagles etched on the side glass.
If you like an interior with every possible shade of brown, this is your truck.
There’s no serious body rot, but this CB antenna mount didn’t do the finish any favors.
Let’s try to imagine this truck when it was shiny and new… and about to be replaced by a much smaller and more modern successor.
The claim of 20 highway mpg in the ’80 Cherokee seems, well, optimistic. Still the “We wrote the book on four-wheel-drive” line is a winner.
Murilee Martin
Murilee Martin

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.

More by Murilee Martin

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 20 comments
  • Chets Jalopy Chets Jalopy on Dec 14, 2015

    It looks so pathetic in the top picture. It's like someone knocked its friggin glasses loose.

  • Honda_lawn_art Honda_lawn_art on Dec 29, 2015

    I had one of these as my first car. A 1978 in 1998, it was still shiny. Made me very popular around school but that's also where someone hit it and it was totaled. After that I got a Dodge Shadow and was never cool again. With "texas" tires it was worthless in the snow or mud. It had no low range but did have a center locker of sorts. They were cobbled together; AMC engine, Ford carb, GM TH350, Dana axles, and so on. It'd do 75, more probably, but at those speeds you could actually watch the fuel gauge drop down. If you put at least 12 kids in one the inside front wheel will chirp during turns.

  • SCE to AUX The fix sounds like a bandaid. Kia's not going to address the defective shaft assemblies because it's hard and expensive - not cool.
  • Analoggrotto I am sick and tired of every little Hyundai Kia Genesis flaw being blown out of proportion. Why doesn't TTAC talk about the Tundra iForce Max problems, Toyota V35A engine problems or the Lexus 500H Hybrid problems? Here's why: education. Most of America is illiterate, as are the people who bash Hyundai Kia Genesis. Surveys conducted by credible sources have observed a high concentration of Hyundai Kia Genesis models at elite ivy league universities, you know those places where students earn degrees which earn more than $100K per year? Get with the program TTAC.
  • Analoggrotto NoooooooO!
  • Ted “the model is going to be almost 4 inches longer and 2 inches wider than its predecessor”Size matters. In this case there is 6” too much.
  • JMII Despite our past experience with Volvo my wife wants an EX30 badly. Small, upscale, minimalist EV hatch is basically her perfect vehicle.
Next