I fell in love with the J10 many years ago, and never had the chance to get one until a few weeks ago. I am a propane delivery driver, and one of my customers had this in his yard. He blew a hole in the side of the motor, and ruined the transmission. The guy is in his 80's, so I offered to fill his tank free of charge for the truck. He agreed, so I finally have my J truck!
I was torn between trying to find a J Truck, or a late 80s, early 90's Toyota. I need a pickup badly, and the Jeep just fell into my lap. I have a rebuilt stock 350 Chevy for it, going to go with a mild cam, Edelbrock intake and carb, Vortec heads, roller rockers, and I am still deciding whether or not to keep the T-18 or buy my neighbors 700R4. When I was growing up, we had(have) a 73 Wagoneer, and that jeep taught me to hate automatics. It wasn't until I got to play with a 200R4 that I stopped hating them, but either will be fine.
I plan on sitting her on 33's, adding a tow hitch, and painting the whole truck in a metallic Root Beer, maybe some pinstripes. If I can find bucket seats that are nice, I might consider it, but I like the bench, honestly. I want to Dynamat and soundproof it a little, new carpet, and button-style headliner like what you see in Peterbilt trucks. I've been a Class A CDL driver for 17 years, and I like the look and feel it gives to a truck.
I can't wait to get my "Metal Slug" up and running!