Why?

[Hedgehog]

I think we tend to fix our CJ's where other vehicles with the same damage or problems would scrap them. I've known quite a few trucks that were scrapped for blown drive shafts, transmissions, even clutches, a blown engine means death for most old vehicles. Its relatively easy to fix a CJ.

 

[Scorzany]

I've only seen on the road where I live TWO CJ5 and ONE CJ7 since I bought mine in July 2017 and I do keep my eye out for them. I also saw ONE CJ2a which looked to be in perfectly restored condition. He was pulling into a fast food joint as I was leaving. I gave him a big thumbs up! I wish I was in my CJ7 when I saw him so I could give him the Jeep wave.

 

[dane71]

They're the most versatile vehicle you can get for the money which makes it perfect for rednecks to beat and scrap or for certain types of hunters to drive to the ground. There's also a guy near me that parts almost road worthy ones out on occasion. He probably doesn't even make much considering the time to dismantle one and used part prices.

They won't be making anything like them again. I use mine for sure, but it'll never be scrapped.

 

[jp360cj]

I've only seen on the road where I live TWO CJ5 and ONE CJ7 since I bought mine in July 2017 and I do keep my eye out for them. I also saw ONE CJ2a which looked to be in perfectly restored condition. He was pulling into a fast food joint as I was leaving. I gave him a big thumbs up! I wish I was in my CJ7 when I saw him so I could give him the Jeep wave.

Wow, they aren't quite that scarce around here. There are a few I see around town every now and then, including a near perfect late 70s CJ5 .

We always get a bunch of looks every year on our beach trip. And usually have several folks stop and talk and reminisce any the CJ they used to have. 4 CJ7s and 1 CJ5

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[Hedgehog]

I'm really likin' that green CJ% on the end.

 

[jzak]

I bought a roll cage from a CJ owner one time. Its was the only thing left intact, after he drove his jeep up the side of a mountain and it summersalted back down. Its amazing he survived.

Like with most classic vehicles, I think CJ's are getting to an age, where if the owner doesn't keep care of it, its just going to turn into rusted scrap metal. In North Carolina, i've probably seen maybe a dozen CJ's on the road over the years. We are a dying breed.

 

[Belizean]

i would say that those CJs aren't going to last very long if they are out in that sea water at all.

 

[jzak]

i would say that those CJs aren't going to last very long if they are out in that sea water at all.

You either gotta bed-liner the undercarriage, or spray it down with a hose the second you get off the beach. That said, just being near the ocean is a Jeep killer in the long run. I lived a couple houses back from the beach, and just the salt in the air was enough to rust everything.

 

[Belizean]

You either gotta bed-liner the undercarriage, or spray it down with a hose the second you get off the beach. That said, just being near the ocean is a Jeep killer in the long run. I lived a couple houses back from the beach, and just the salt in the air was enough to rust everything.

Yeah I lived on the beach before and have seen stainless start rusting in just a few days. A CJ would just about disintegrate In a couple few years

 

[duffer]

There is a difference between running a jeep like a jeep and driving it to destruction. I've gotten in trouble for questioning some of the uses folks put their CJ's through. My CJ is made to go someplace, not to push to and beyond the breaking point. The places I want to go can be in rough country, but there is a destination in mind. I have said it before, I don't understand piling rocks up just to see if they can be driven over or going to some 4x4 park to drive in the mud or over logs or on rock piles. I simply don't understand that. I do understand building a machine specially for racing or rock crawling. Those vehicles are not really jeeps, they are very jeep like with huge articulation and big everything else. Those are sorta made to abuse, even destroy. I think that is where mistakes are made. Our street machines are simply not made for that kind of abuse. Run them even 1/2 as hard and they will break.

This is me also. I've been at this for 50 something years and have piloted several Jeeps over some pretty challenging trails and have yet to put anything more than a few scratches in any of them. And I too always have a destination in mind, whether a hike or backpack trip from the end of the Jeep trail or just Jeep camping at some high country lake. I have never gone anywhere just to wring out a Jeep.

I also learned to drive in a Jeep. Specifically, a 1947 2A in the mid 50's. And that Jeep certainly had a lasting effect on my life addicting my to both Jeeps and mountains.









Nope, not interested in any 12 step rehab------------------------

 

[jp360cj]

i would say that those CJs aren't going to last very long if they are out in that sea water at all.

You either gotta bed-liner the undercarriage, or spray it down with a hose the second you get off the beach. That said, just being near the ocean is a Jeep killer in the long run. I lived a couple houses back from the beach, and just the salt in the air was enough to rust everything.

They get hosed off after wards and it only happens once a year. We all live 100-AMC 150 miles from the beach.


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[007]

Dave, I can’t agree with you. It’s true that far too many were wasted because of rust but even here in AZ where rust doesn’t exist, CJ5s are nearly extinct. As far as rust goes CA isn’t too harsh for Jeeps either but good luck finding an older one.
I’m confident that anyone here who has owned one can testify to the design & construction of the early military & CJs that they never had a reputation for being fragile or proneto chronic mechanical issues. Of the 620,000 CJ5s made the vast majority died as a result of abuse & exposure to the elements.
Too bad they weren’t made of stainless steel! I’d be tempted to polish one.

PistolDave said "I would be willing to bet you that rust and neglect have killed a whole lot more CJ's than off road abuse ever has."

I'm curious as to how you differentiate between "rust and neglect" vs. "abuse & exposure"? I don't think there's any question that the majority of CJ's built spent their time in rust-prone areas, and rust-free Jeeps and tubs from NM, AZ, CA, NV etc. are hot commodities in the rust-prone areas so there's a bit of an exodus of those from the dry climates. Rusted frames and tubs are subsequently much more prone to damage from use and find themselves being parted out.

Not arguing at all, just saying one thing can lend itself to the other and geographically we have higher populations where rust is predominate than where it isn't.