If you could use a time machine to show the designers at Kaiser-Jeep, GM, Ford, Chrysler, AMC and International just what the sport-utility vehicles of the 1960s and early 1970s would become, would they flinch or accept fate? It’s something I wonder about whenever I look at an old Scout or Ramcharger. None of these trucks started out as luxury vehicles by any stretch of the imagination. They were smaller than a pickup truck, could work as well as a pickup truck, and offered up four-wheel-drive when that wasn’t a common option. Nowadays, SUVs are luxurious places that are great to spend time in eating up the miles…but for some of us out here, there has been something lost in translation.
This 1976 Jeep Cherokee is like any other that AMC produced. A reintroduced version of the two-door FSJ bodystyle, this Cherokee is devoid of any of the uprated model designations like Chief or Golden Eagle. What it does have is a clean, one-color body, the “razor” grille, an AMC 360 and a four-speed, which should be a T-18. Inside you’ll find a tachometer added on, and freshly reupholstered seats.
Everything you need, nothing you don’t. Forget it’s age, forget that you don’t have a touch screen infotainment center, forget the driving aids. One reasonably sized V8, a four-speed manual, and enough creature comforts that allow you to be comfortable without being coddled. We will take a Jeep like this every single time.
Craigslist Link: 1976 Jeep Cherokee (SJ)
Just add a stand alone fuel injection system, long tube headers, Gear Vendors overdrive, halogen headlights and you would have one hell of a daily driver.