(first posted 2/3/2013) For some odd reason, on this (another) gray day, I have summer on the brain…so let’s dig out something apropos. Like this gnarly Jeep Commando, to take is into the woods further than just about anything else I can dig up right now. And if we get stuck, that winch will rotate the earth a bit closer to us.
This puppy is a survivor, and more like something you might encounter in a third world country, predating the time when Toyota Land Cruisers dominated this market.
I see it’s a recent arrival from California; maybe it was used in someone’s growing operation way up in the Humboldt County back country. The temporary license sticker is in a very conspicuous spot, I see.
This one is lacking the V6 emblems that would identify it as being powered by the “Dauntless” V6, which Jeep was manufacturing using Buick’s V6 production machinery at the time. The standard engine would have been the old F-head Hurrican Four, wich churned out 75 hp from 134 cubic inches. Somehow, I doubt that’s what’s still here, but if something else has been swapped in, it’s been a discreet job, with none of the tell-tale signs all-too often apparent when a Chevy V8 or such has been shoehorned in.
There’s certainly no obvious sign of any changes in here, except for the seats.
That’s the capsule version of the Jeep Commando and Jeepster. For a more in-depth look at these, head over here; four wheel drive not necessary.
I love these. My head tells me that I would be tired of it after about 3 hours , but my heart doesn’t care. I see that this one has the radio delete. 🙂
I am not sure I have ever seen one of these with a fabric top, not that they were ever all that common to start with. I would hope that the owner can find a tailgate to keep all of that Oregon rain out of the inside of the vehicle.
There’s a similar one, perhaps even a tad bit more tired looking, in my neighborhood as well. Never seen it driving, but it’s at least moved regularly. These were always very appealing to me as a kid, unlike the earlier, more car-like Jeepsters which even by the early Sixties just looked like old cars.
The early Jeepsters looked like old cars when they were new.
I know it was never super popular when new, but this would be an interesting “retro-mobile” for Chrysler to try to copy.
There was a Jeepster concept car in 1998. It was more in the vein of the original Jeepster, but definitely had some styling elements lifted from the ’66-’71 version. The thin red sidewall tires are very mid-60’s!
It would have been possible, using the LJ chassis and the fiberglass Commando replacement tub that 4WD Hardware made for a few years.
But, but, but…the LJ was so rare and so spendy, it would have been a waste to cut one up.
Chrysler do a new one? It seems that after Daimler got its mitts in, and later, the people in charge of Jeep wanted to go in a new direction. In any event, I don’t think the Jeepster body would meet current safety standards.
Wow, they were still using the old Willy’s F-Head four in these? There’s something I never knew… this thing is so gnarly and all business. Love it, and I’d love to imagine the scenario you suggested is where it actually came from. I can picture this old donkey, equipped with it’s original F-head and crazy low gears, chugging slowly up a steep Humboldt County hill loaded with a couple hundred pounds of weed crop on a warm Sunday morning.
There’s a Jeepster a lot like this one up here in my neck of the woods, painted the same approximate color, with plenty of rust and patina. I see it at the local strip mall from time to time, and I’ve been trying to get some shots of it to post to the cohort, but the timing has never been quite right. At first glance, I thought it was the same car, but then I saw the soft top and the California plates. It’s great to see these old beasts still being driven.
Jeep’s unsuccessful attempt and making a true competitor to the Scout and Bronco. At least this is the version that stays true to the Jeep family design DNA unlike the last or them that really tried to ape the front end looks of the Scout and Bronco.
Believe it or not I wouldn’t mind one of these as long as it had the Buick V6.
Why was it unsuccessful? I think because Jeep, in those days, was Kaiser – radiating (incorrectly, as it turned out) the stench of death. Henry Kaiser was the can-do miracle worker who was a key player in the consortium that built the Hoover Dam; the man who figured out how to crank out Liberty ships faster than the Nazis could sink them. There was NOTHING Henry Kaiser couldn’t do…
…until he turned his hand to automobiles.
Kaiser-Frazer was undercapitalized, and from a game-changing miracle car with aluminum body and FWD, it turned out to be rather mundane with off-the-shelf Continental sixes. Dramatic styling came later, and in recognition that it was cheaper and easier than engineering breakthroughs.
From 1947 to 1954, they tried; they blew smoke in press conferences; they promised “All-New” and their tired, commoditized cars sold few. And then they were gone; the rumor was, they owned Willys Jeep.
Which became Kaiser-Jeep. Which sold a lot of trucks to the government and a few to specialty users.
The Jeepster Commando was a rehash of the VJ-Jeepster – which didn’t sell in five years of trying. Once again, a marketing error: Dragging up memories of a LOSER. On paper, they’d gotten it right this time – with potent Buick power and standard four-wheel-drive.
But the manufacturer wasn’t to be trusted. And quality control…Volkswagen had nothing to worry about. And while Ford and Chevrolet didn’t exactly have clean records in that area, they at least were established – they were around fifty years ago and they’d bet there tomorrow, if your Bronco turned out to be troublesome.
Even adoption by AMC didn’t ease the credibility issue. AND…it’s noteworthy that AMC’s new Buyer Protection Plan didn’t cover Jeep products. Ever.
No…Jeep as a serious player needed two things: the later cachet of SUVs; and the fall and distrust of GM and Ford….as well as Jeep’s transfer to Chrysler, the Kewel Kar Kompany of the 1990s.
The C-101 Jeepster, like the CJ-6 it was under the skin, was doomed from birth.
Didn’t AMC sell craploads of Jeeps in the 1970’s? And even more of them after the XJ launched in the 80’s?
Jeep sales doubled Kaiser’s best years in 1977, I believe.
…which were still a relatively small number.
The 1980s were a game-changer; with the SUV very “in” and the traditional American brands looked at with skepticism. AMC by that time was owned by Renault – whose brand was on the Car Of The Year 1982. Of course it turned out to be a lemon and a disposable car; but that was in the future. And the Jeeps of those years, UNlike the Kaiser Jeeps, were amazingly bulletproof with proven AMC parts.
Times change. I think I once posited on the first Jeepster write-up, that it was the right car/truck at decidedly the wrong time.
One of these was for sale a summer or two ago ,not far from my home.
It was parked on a street corner with a for sale sign stuck in the window.
I stopped to look at it because it was the first Jeepster I had ever seen in person.
To me a very strange vehicle in that its a Jeep , but isn’t.. Its not quite an early suv , or pickup . Not really a station wagon either.
Most places pre Toyota Landcruiser were roamed by the ubiquitous Landrover especially African Mid eastern and antipodean lands. After WW2 Jeeps didnt get out much until recently with the plasticky looking versions for the yuppies. That is a collectors item here
Based on old movies and National Geographic photos I’ve seen, this was true in countries that had British heritage (colonies, Commonwealth) but not necessarily true in parts of Asia (eg Philippines) or Latin America.
The only Jeeps available for years here have been from mahindra or the copies from Mitsubishi. Genuine Jeeps like this are very thin on the ground
My truck is too useful to get rid of. I do think I would trade it for one of these. If fact I lust for this. Cold shower time.
I wanted one since the first time I sat in one…couldn’t buy it, a used one. Man, it felt like a Jeep is supposed to feel.
I did; but not now. Costly hobby cars aren’t in the program.
Nice VW Rabbit pickup in the 2nd photo!
Sweet find Paul.
I’m jealous of your location….everything around here gets eaten by rust far too early.
My father has one of these rusting away in the weeds. Its a ’71 (I think) with the V6, automatic, soft top and still has the back seat. He actually gave it to me several years ago for my kids to drive. I decided it was unsafe for that purpose and gave it back to him. He used it to plow snow for a few years and it still has the snow plow attached, but has not moved in several years. It has a layer of bondo in several places from a previous owner’s attempt to keep it on the road. I believe it has under 80,000 miles on it.
You could rebuild it.
Everything’s out there…frame (you could go with a tubular galvanized frame) tub and assorted body parts. OR…you could put a CJ-6 fiberglass tub on it. Or even a Scrambler tub…glass or steel.
The Jeep-nee-Buick V6 is a prize, even if it idles a bit rough. Transmission should be none the worse for wear, and the axles probably okay if they didn’t leak lube.
Just the name “Jeepster Commando” amuses me – you have Jeepster the Barbie/boardwalk cruiser/cream-puff and then add the super-macho Commando name to it! Have to wonder why they bothered, what did this offer that a normal Jeep did not?
LOL at the comments on the contrasting pair of names – you’re right and I’ll probably never be able to look at one of these without thinking of that from now on, thanks a lot!
It offered a longer wheelbase, more space, actual dashboard, a little more quiet & comfort (very little more). The Jeep CJ at the time was still a really crude utilitarian vehicle. They also made an extended wheelbase CJ (the CJ-6) but I doubt most people even knew about them, and they were just as lewd and crude as their smaller brethren.
They also looked pretty ridiculous:
The “Commando” series was a different level of trim…not so much an up-level, like Chevelle Malibu or Malibu Classic; but a different level.
The C-101 Jeepster was named as a reincarnation of the VJ Jeepster from 1948 to 1951. The VJ used the Jeep Wagon front clip but had a roadster body and was different from the cowl back
The “Jeepster” was also a roadster, with a convertible top and Continental spare. The “Jeepster Commando” was the – take your pick, the tops were removable – wagon/pickup/open tub.
Of course there wouldn’t have been a Jeepster wagon in 1948 – because there was the Jeep “basket weave” wagon.
And as a footnote, when AMC took over and redid the C-101 (to be the C-104) the Jeepster convertible body was dropped, along with the Jeep-ish front clip. So…maybe the “Commando” name made sense at that point.
I love this thing. This would be one of the Jeeps I would spend money on.
Actually, I want THIS one, in it’s condition now. Rusted, dented, probably leaking a little oil, smokes a little on start up, loud-ish muffler… A real man’s vehicle, little refinement, a real kiss my @$$ attitude to it…
+1,000,000 this is one of the most lustworthy vehicles ever featured on CC
Those are, of all things, Yugo seats.
Jeep commando still for sale?
https://delaware.craigslist.org/cto/d/1968-jeep-commando/6631302258.html
Not mine, just spend too much time on craigslist.