74' Cherokee First Jeep

[volkswaben]

Hi, my name is Ben and I am 17. I have a passion for classic cars and working on them. I currently daily drive a 1970 vw bug that I have fixed up and is in great shape. I also own a 1972 Ford F100 that is running great. Now that both of these vehicles are no longer requiring immediate attention, I was in need of a project , that's when I stumbled across this beauty on craigslist.







I decided to go check it out. To my surprise, this guy had a whole property full of Vw bugs and parts, CJ5's, a few old Chevy trucks, and among them the Cherokee.

(The Cherokee was sitting where that tarp is for about 5 years)
The Jeep is in all original shape, with just a few additions from the original owner. Has the original 360 V8 and 3 speed manual tranny. The guy selling was selling it for his son-in-law, who bought it of the original owner. The original owner was a friend of the man who was selling the Jeep. He said that his son-in-law fell in love with it after riding in it a few times, and bought it off Earl the original owner. His son-in-law then drove it to and fro work for a while, and it was parked in 2005 only occasionally being driven around the property. It then sat not having been run for 5 years. I spent my whole Saturday with my friend getting it running, and by then it already became attached to me. We came back Sunday and made a deal. It needs work, but hey I wanted a project right? It's really dirty from sitting so long, i'll post update pics when I clean it up real good.

[Stuka]

That cherokee reminds me SO MUCH of my old '75. It was a 360/T18a combo (4sp with granny)

Welcome to the forum!

[243]

Ben, welcome to FSJN, that is an awesome find!

I have a soft spot for bug's too, grew up in them and owned three myself.

[mud89]

A first year (74) Cherokee is a good choice for a project, it's a standard one , not the "S" cherokee, for info this two-tone paint scheme is not original

[volkswaben]

The tan part of the paint is original, the original owner added the brown parts and the pinstriping.

[will e]

Hey welcome to the forum. You will get lots of help and encouragement here.
That looks like a fun project. I love the manual transmission, that shifter is epic.

[volkswaben]

Thanks for all the support guys, I am so pumped about this. I love the manual too, that's one of the things I wanted in my Jeep.

[motcat]

I spent my whole Saturday with my friend getting it running, and by then it already became attached to me

I like that line -You're right - FSJs have a way of attaching themselves to us. Mine is a 78, my folks bought new and I got it from them when I was 20. In 2013 I thought I didn't want it any more and sold it. I heard my Chief calling me almost everyday asking why I sold her. In 2015 I bought it back. It's attached to me and my wife knows to skip the coffin and bury me in the driver's set when the time comes.

[volkswaben]

I spent my whole Saturday with my friend getting it running, and by then it already became attached to me

I like that line -You're right - FSJs have a way of attaching themselves to us. Mine is a 78, my folks bought new and I got it from them when I was 20. In 2013 I thought I didn't want it any more and sold it. I heard my Chief calling me almost everyday asking why I sold her. In 2015 I bought it back. It's attached to me and my wife knows to skip the coffin and bury me in the driver's set when the time comes.

That's cool that it's been in the family that long. I hope to hold onto mine for a long time, it's one of my dream cars. I'd like to get it reliable enough so I can take my friends or family on roadtrips and camping without having to worry too much.

[comet the dog]

Cool, congrats on a nice find.

[Renodemona]

What part of CA are you in? Large group of folks in the Northen part and Nevada that do runs and campouts pretty frequently.

[volkswaben]

What part of CA are you in? Large group of folks in the Northen part and Nevada that do runs and campouts pretty frequently.

I'm in SoCal, Santa Clarita specifically. It would be fun to find a group and tag along on a camp out.

[rocklaurence]

I remember when I was 16ish. By the time I was 19 I had gone through 7 vehicles. One of them was a '67 J2000. That was the fastest vehicle in town in the 16th of a mile. With a Buick 350 and 4.27 gears I would get the Jump on the competition and then wouldn't let them drive around me [Top-end of 60 mph].

[Renodemona]

Search Sierra Nevada FSJs on facebook. Are you down by Magic Mountain? Bit of a drive to most of us but only 6 hours to Sac right?

[volkswaben]

Search Sierra Nevada FSJs on facebook. Are you down by Magic Mountain? Bit of a drive to most of us but only 6 hours to Sac right?

Yeah, I am down by Magic Mountain. It is about 6 hours to Sac from my house.

[Tatsadasayago]

Very nice find! It appears those are factory painted bumpers which is very unusual. The 360/T-15 are a great combo.

Congrats on your first FSJ. I agree, a 74 narrow track is a great first rig.

[Jeepdawg]

Well done, that's a nice find, even has the CA blue plates. Looks pretty darn straight and shouldn't be a ton of work to make it decent driver. Since you're in CA a '74 is a good choice, no smog. These things are pretty much impossible to pass CA smog tests.

The original paint is worth some money. Resist a respray and do what you can to keep the original paint.

[az chip]

Welcome! Looks like you caught the bug. Post up plenty. How many miles?


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[volkswaben]

Well done, that's a nice find, even has the CA blue plates. Looks pretty darn straight and shouldn't be a ton of work to make it decent driver. Since you're in CA a '74 is a good choice, no smog. These things are pretty much impossible to pass CA smog tests.

The original paint is worth some money. Resist a respray and do what you can to keep the original paint.

I agree, it is a pretty clean find. The body is pretty much dent free, with the exception of a few small dings. The previous owner repaired the a small dent on the driver's side fender and leveled it out with bondo. I might have to do something about it in the future, as I don't like the look. Not sure how I would tackle it though, as I love the patina on the rest of the vehicle. Hmmmm... Found a decent sized rust hole under the passenger side floor mat, and some smaller ones by the drivers side. Good thing I have a welder and have repaired floor pans on my vw before.


Still haven't gotten a chance to work on it yet with school. Will keep updated when I do.

[volkswaben]

Welcome! Looks like you caught the bug. Post up plenty. How many miles?


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I believe that it has 137,XXX miles, or 237,XXX. Hard to tell without that extra digit. (Need to restore the gauge cluster as the two of the lenses have fallen out)

The Jeep came with service history and a bunch of other papers, maps, and manuals dating back to the early 80's.
The most recent recorded service was a smog in 91' , and then the odo had rolled over to 012988.

Loads of cool things hidden in this brief case...


Also found an old AMC parts invoice.