Early Wagoneer for the Wife

[GoPokes3116]

Interesting to look at the OP's pictures a bit more closely.

Untitled picture (426 x 307) (852 x 614).jpg

This Wagoneer appears to be the earliest automatic type, with the Borg-Warner automatic and a one-speed Dana 21 transfer case. The other transmission for the 230 Wagoneer was only the T-90 AFAIK. This Jeep has a shifter on the column, and I believe there was no column shift T-90 in 4WD. Not very clear, but I can't see a clutch pedal here. I can see a pedal beyond the brake pedal, but I believe that's the parking brake.

Most telling here (I think) is the lack of the usual Dana20 shifter in the floor on the passenger side. Instead there is a smaller shifter on the driver's side of the hump. ALso, I believe these Jeeps had a dash-mounted indicator light for 4WD, which I believe you can see on the bottom edge of the dash.

To me this is a really interesting Wagoneer, and I think its best fate would be as a restoration in someone's Jeep collection. If it's really the 94th example, that's super early, ca 1962. The OP states there was no title or other paper with this Jeep, thus nothing to contradict this early origin.

I could be totally mistaken here, but that's what it looks like to me.

JMO - as Will points out, this Jeep is a long way from the end point the owner described for his wife and him. The body shell remains the same for these Jeeps up until the end in 1990ish. You'd have a lot more to work with starting with a '74 or newer - superior axles, power disc brakes, modern power steering, modern automatic transmission, vastly better parts availability, a few popular aftermarket accessories (versus nonexistant for this wagon), air conditioning likely, stronger frames, way higher production with many more examples available, and already fully highway capable.

I'd suggest you make it run and drive, drive it around for fun, then sell it off to someone who wants it for what it is. The drivetrain combo has historic cachet, and it's a very early example.

I believe this is a manual transmission. There is a 3rd pedal which I haven't confirmed yet but looks like a clutch pedal and not a parking brake. There is also a second master cylinder under the hood which makes me think its a hydraulic clutch for the manual transmission. Did these have column shift manuals like alot of other vehicles in this Era? We still haven't decided which route we want to go with the build yet for sure, and I won't know until I see if i can get it running and driving. If the engine is locked solid then there is no point in keeping it in there in my opinion. Whatever I do to it, the original parts will be kept and not sold off or tossed.

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[will e]

If it really is that early of a waggy it probably would be best to bring it back to original. And like tgreese points out, 74 and newer would be a better fit for what the OP wants from an old FSJ.

It's not like most people can tell the difference between a 1962 and 1990. lol
I always tell folks they would have been the best bank robbery car. No one would know what year it was.

[sierrablue]

Interesting to look at the OP's pictures a bit more closely.


Untitled picture (426 x 307) (852 x 614).jpg


This Wagoneer appears to be the earliest automatic type, with the Borg-Warner automatic and a one-speed Dana 21 transfer case. The other transmission for the 230 Wagoneer was only the T-90 AFAIK. This Jeep has a shifter on the column, and I believe there was no column shift T-90 in 4WD. Not very clear, but I can't see a clutch pedal here. I can see a pedal beyond the brake pedal, but I believe that's the parking brake.

Most telling here (I think) is the lack of the usual Dana20 shifter in the floor on the passenger side. Instead there is a smaller shifter on the driver's side of the hump. ALso, I believe these Jeeps had a dash-mounted indicator light for 4WD, which I believe you can see on the bottom edge of the dash.

To me this is a really interesting Wagoneer, and I think its best fate would be as a restoration in someone's Jeep collection. If it's really the 94th example, that's super early, ca 1962. The OP states there was no title or other paper with this Jeep, thus nothing to contradict this early origin.

Could still be the D20--the Panel is the same way. It has a weird linkage that shifts a rod in the adapter between the tranny and tcase, which then goes over to the driver's side where the shift knob is. This wasn't really doable with the TH400, and I assume to keep things cheaper they switched the manual transmission ones over to the J pattern on the pass side when the TH400 was introduced with the 327 in '65.

It has to be a '63-'64 because it only has 4 digits after the "1", later would have 5, and because the first two are zeros, that pretty much guarantees a '63 model year built in '62.

@OP--if you join IFSJA, and post a thread and @mud89 (I've tried PM and his inbox is full), he might take awhile but he can tell you all about when it was built and possibly all the stock options and such on it. Very cool example, and it's incredibly solid and restoration-worthy.

[sierrablue]

@GoPokes,
That is the 3-on-the-tree, same as my Panel has--hydraulic clutch, and because it's from before a dual-chamber master cylinder was required, I THINK it's even the same master cylinder as the brakes use.

I also love that these old Jeeps have alternators when most companies were still running generators up until '64/'65ish.