Jeep made it easy for Buick guys to go four-wheeling for years to come, because for several years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it installed Buick V6s and V8s in its various models. Therefore, for you Tri-Shield and/or Jeep fans, here is a decent 1970 Jeepster with a Buick-designed 225 V6 under its big, wide hood. It looks like the Centennial State’s climate has been fairly kind to the old Jeep, and it was until recently for sale on craigslist in Calhan, Colorado.
Jeep offered the odd-fire Buick V6 from 1966 to 1971, and with 160 horsepower and 235 lb-ft of torque, it was an excellent choice for light Jeeps. While the Turbo Hydra-Matic 400 was optional, this example has the standard three-speed manual, a fully-synchronized Warner T14A with 3.10, 1.61, and 1:1 ratios. Front and rear axles were Spicer units with standard 3.73:1 gears when teamed with the V6/manual combination. The seller says that V6 has a new carburetor and “runs great.” It appears that an electric fuel pump is mounted to the firewall and plumbed to a parts store fuel regulator on the passenger valve cover, so I would consider swapping everything back over to a factory mechanical fuel pump with its related lines and hoses if I were interested in going Jeeping.
A word about the Buick engine: By the time this 1970 model was built, Buick had sold the tooling for the engine to Kaiser, who installed it in its Toledo plant and built the engine there. A few years later, after AMC purchased Jeep and began using their own inline sixes, General Motors bought the tooling back and was even able to install it in its original location back in Flint. It fit right back where it originally came from.
While the Commando is a lot more solid than many you’ll find for sale, it’s not rust-free; a picture of the passenger-side rocker panel shows some corrosion that shouldn’t be too hard to repair for an amateur bodyperson. Getting the aged paint match just right so it looks like you haven’t done any work? That’s another story.
The front floorpans near the toeboards also look a little soft, but a coat or two of your favorite rust encapsulator would probably keep replacement at bay for as long as you wish. I’m not sure what’s going on with the extra hole in the transmission tunnel; the shifter and transfer case selector under the dashboard are in the factory locations, so it seems that someone might have installed a different transmission at some point in the Jeep’s past.
Two bucket seats come with the Commando, but they badly need recovering, and some kind of floor covering would be high on my list, right behind patching the hole in the floor that’s directly above the driveshaft.
Like many single-marque boosters, Buick people are proud of their favorite brand; therefore, Jeeps with Buick engines are moderately popular with that crowd (the V8Buick.com forum even has a “Jeeps with the Buick Heartbeat” subforum). And while the odd-fire V6 isn’t the most well-loved (or best) engine to come out of Flint’s engineering labs, as a Buick guy myself, I wouldn’t want anything else under the hood of my Jeepster Commando.
Related Reading
Cohort Outtake: Jeepster Commando Custom Convertible (by Paul N)
Cohort Sighting: Jeepster Commando – Is It Spring Yet? (by Perry Shoar)
Curbside Classic: 1966 Kaiser Jeepster Commando – One Last Hurrah Before Winter (by Jim Grey)
CC Capsule: 1966-69 Kaiser Jeepster Commando — Beechwood, Aged (by Jim Grey)
Nice Jeep! I have a soft spot for these, particularly green ones having had a Tonka Stump Jumper as a kid.
I would do the rust repairs, but not bother trying to hide the paint. It’s a Jeep.
Also at first glance I thought there was a suitcase in front of the radiator. Buick V6 sure is shorter than an AMC straight 6.
My mind always compares Jeeps with International Scouts, with this one sitting halfway between the original Scout and the Scout II on the refinement scale.
I always liked these 2nd generation Jeepsters, but have not seen one in a long time. I am not a Buick guy, and see the old “paint shaker” odd firing version of the V6 as something to be avoided, but the Jeepster with the long AMC straight six makes the nose longer which kind of ruined the Jeepster’s looks.
The first thing I was thinking is that you could certainly fit a Buick 350 under the hood of one of these, but that’s probably more torque than you’d need.
“but that’s probably more torque than you’d need.”
Is that ever really possible? 🙂
Probably not. The transmission could handle it for sure if it were an automatic. These came with Turbo 400s.
Funny, I was thinking of what should be a fairly straightforward swap of a 3800 with the factory supercharger.
I like this Jeep including the aged paint color. I’m not sure the odd fire six is a great pairing with a stick in terms of NVH. An automatic probably would’ve helped smooth things out a bit.
I used to order my pickups with 3.73 gears as a good compromise ratio. The jeep probably has no trouble moving along on the highway or off road.
It looks like a solid buy for somebody.
Interested in buying….where do I go?
It sold after I wrote this up. As I said, it was on Craigslist but the ad was removed.
I remember Danny Thomas commercial with this model as he would shout “Holy Toledo “
AMC made some really good engines and I would rather have an AMC Jeep than Chrysler any day! I knew a taxi driver that had an AMC Ambassador ( I like that car) and he had the documents to prove he got 310 K out of that car! Rust is what sent it to the junkyard!
This is typically Colorado weathered, paint burnt off the horizontal surfaces and minor corrosion down low around the wheels. Amazingly burnt areas are only very surface rusted, no scale or holes, our ’75 GMC is the same, and they are rather notorious rusters in most areas of the country.