I was looking at some property for sale and pulled up the county assessor's website to get a rundown on the tax situation and they usually take one picture of the house. Well this is the picture they took;
What kind of jeep am I looking at here? It almost looks fullsize? The marker lights are in the wrong spot, the hood is too wide. What is this thing?
Jeepster Commando
Commando?
edit: too slow!
Jackpot. Thanks!
4 minutes. Y'all are slackin.
Holey Toledo, it's a Jeepster!
So when you are driving that you are going Commando?
Highly unlikely it's the pickup version. Most were 'wagons'.
I had one as my first 'car'. Though I paid for half of it, my Dad really wanted it more than I. If it has the ex-Buick Dauntless V6, it will run really well. Mine had the 4 speed, which is really a 3 speed with a crawler 1st. You could also get them with automatics. They are long wheelbase (same as a CJ-6) so ride really well. They rust in the rockers, tailgate and cargo floor, mostly. The lift hatch also can rot around the glass, usually on the inside where you won't see it until it's too late. Commando specific parts are pretty hard to come by. These were worth nothing for decades, but suddenly are bringing decent money if they aren't garbage.
The later, 'modernized' ones aren't as cool IMO.
In reply to ddavidv :
Was there any real difference between the pickup and wagon, other than the removable roof and a back seat?
So, if you don't want the Jeep, I know somebody who may. It's me.
There is no difference other than the roof. You could also get them as a convertible, aka Jeepster, but those are really rare.
The 'old' Jeepster was a 2WD style toy; a regular convertible that looked like a Jeep. The Commando is a Jeep tarted up to look like a car-thing. Basically, an answer to the Bronco. It is the same chassis as the CJ-6, which is a long wheelbase CJ-5. I've seen way more Commandos (model designation C-101, I suspect because of the wheelbase) than CJ-6s. Ronald Reagan had a CJ-6 on his ranch and it still exists.
The CJ-8, aka Scrambler, did not share it's chassis with the CJ-6 as many think. It actually has a longer-yet wheelbase.
In reply to ddavidv :
Just a couple of corrections from someone who has owned more LWB Jeeps than you can shake a stick at:
While the early CJ6*, which was based on the military M170, had 101" (ish) wheelbase, the CJ6** in the intermediate years after AMC bought Jeep was 103.5" WB to accommodate the AMC inline sixes, which is the same WB as the CJ8 Scrambler† (The CJ5 was stretched the same amount for the same reasons, as was the Jeepster when it became the "Bull Nose" Commando). The frame was longer than the earlier CJs behind the rear axle, however, giving it the "Tail Dragger" look. There were other differences between the frames, but those were based on model year changes in the mid '70s.
*
Untamed, my first CJ6, and possibly my last. Health issues have stymied me both times I owned this ex-mud drag rig. Hard to tell here, but when I built the beadlocks I faded the factory yellow on the Arrow brand beadlock rings to orange on the wheel centers to tie them into the 6's paint from its racing days.
**
My "Intermediate" CJ6 with a fiberglass tub and a brand new frame from 1975 looking quite the worse for wear when I found it for sale again years after I sold it. Notice the extra length in the dogleg area of the fender. This is where the wheelbase was stretched to fit the inline six engines that AMC had.
†
My '81 Scrambler, the one that started it all, and some of the different incarnations over the years. Notice the angle cut on the bottom edge of the tub behind the rear wheelwheels, to help the departure angle and *somewhat* mitigate the tail dragging effect. Also note the Land Rover D90 style external cage I added in the late '90s to keep from crushing the half hardtop on trees on the harder trails. This group of CJ8 photos probably spans from '96-2001, so forgive the potato quality photography.
The Jeepster/Commando has a frame all its own AFAICT. They are boxed, and a very different shape than the CJs, and not directly interchangeable.
*There is much much more to all of this, but I am trying my best not to get too far into the weeds here.
I will update this post later with photos, but I'm on a different computer right now, and don't have photos of my CJ6s and Scramblers on this machine. I am not quite sure if I have any photos of my '67 Jeepster Convertible with the factory continental kit and dealer installed "Jeep" Ramsey winch anywhere but possibly in a physical photo album somewhere.
~Edited for photos and more information than you really want or need
Haven't found the photo album with my old Jeepster in it yet.
In reply to iansane :
So uh, if you don't want to buy the property, maybe you could buy the Commando instead haha. Such a cool find.
@RussianWarship, "the more you know", LOL. My info was based on memory (and we know how reliable that is) and a very quick look at Wikipedia regarding the C101's wheelbase. I know enough about Jeeps to be dangerous, but not an expert. I owned a 71 C101 and a 67 CJ5. Both those departed my life in the 1980s. I've sworn off Jeeps since then, though would probably buy a YJ or TJ if all of the ones around here didn't have perforated frames. Jeeps are like whiskey: I know they are bad for me, but I still want more.
In reply to ddavidv :
No worries. I'm a bit of a LWB Jeep freak, and most of the stuff isn't common knowledge, just what I have gleaned over the years obsessing over them.
There was a Jeep dealer in my hometown, so there were always a fair number of these things around when I was growing up, but I never liked them as a kid.
You can swap a CJ hood, grill and fenders onto them, though, which makes them a lot better looking IMHO.
You can also do the similar swap in reverse, but I don't know why you would want to.
Paris Van Gorder said:In reply to iansane :
So uh, if you don't want to buy the property, maybe you could buy the Commando instead haha. Such a cool find.
That picture is from the county assessor's webpage and unfortunately not reflective of the current state of the property. Everything is gone on the property but a bunch of the shadows left behind make me very curious about the previous owner. I'm thinking they would fit right in around here.
Does the title to the Jeep come with the tax sale of the house?
pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) said:
I don't know why but all I can picture is Don Knotts driving this thing with the biggest E36 M3 eating grin you've ever seen.
In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :
Just the hood and the grille.
The fenders don't match at the dogleg.
In reply to Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself :
So you can use the CJ hood and grill with the Commando fenders? That's even better.
I knew that the bottoms of the fenders were a little different. You can see the gap on the white one above. Those look like CJ fenders.
In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :
You can use the CJ hood with the Jeepster fenders because the tops of the fenders on the Jeepster still have the lip from the CJ (technically M38a1, as it has the cut out from where the deep water fording snorkel would go, but the stamping was reused on the CJ5 and up) And the Jeepster grille is just a CJ grill without the turn signal holes punched out and a pair of stampings spot welded to the area just outboard of and above the headlights.
The white one has the entire rocker area crudely cut off, and it is difficult to tell exactly what is going on with the fender, but the early short fender should have a straight flange for the CJ cowl all the way to the bottom and have any extra metal at the bottom of the cowl as this one appears to. The fender lip also tapers in the dogleg area, which is a Jeepster fender hallmark, while the CJ lip keeps the keeps the same width all the way down and then curves. I think what was left of the bottom of the dogleg got mangled from the "bodyman's" sawzall during the cut.
In fact, now that I am looking at it closer, I think the white C101 only has the CJ hood added, as I don't see turn signals in that grille. I'm betting he simply ground the spotwelds off of the "wings" on the Jeepster grill.
And I thought I retained lots of useless automotive knowledge. 
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