We like Jeep XJs around here. They are a good, simple and honest 4×4 SUV that wasn’t about bells and whistles. They are all about utility, function and durability. They won’t win speed awards, and in stock form aren’t trail kings, but they are an excellent all-around choice and are one of the few “automotive cockroaches” that we actually like. AMC’s design department nailed it with the XJ, and while it wasn’t enough to save them from the inevitable, it was a solid application that Chrysler carried through 2001. Think of the XJ Cherokee as the tool you never knew you needed.
Using that logic, this 1991 four-door is the circular saw that shorts out and occasionally comes to life on it’s own. Sure, the $500 price tag is nice, and while the engine could probably use a teardown and rebuild and the nearly-dead transmission needs to be replaced, for that kind of money you would still come out on top with this deal. But that isn’t the whole story, now, is it? Here’s what the seller has to say about the “other issue”:
“Car alarm has quirks. If you don’t unlock and open the passenger door before the driver’s door, the alarm goes off. The only way to shut the alarm off is to open the hatch. We think it’s possessed. I guess you could disconnect it. Or bring in a priest.”
A $500 Jeep that could use an engine check and a new transmission is one thing for the Rough Start budget. But something tells me that hiring in a young priest and an old priest to exorcise a Cherokee could be expensive. What do you do when the steering wheel starts turning without stopping and the radiator pukes coolant straight forward? “Though I sort through the bundles of wiring of CarToys, I shall fear no evil…thy multimeter and side-cutters, they comfort me.”
Craigslist Link: 1991 Jeep Cherokee “Linda Blair Edition”
(Thanks to Beagle for the tip!)
