1982 CJ, Scrambler, Wagoneer And Select-Trac Brochures

Welcome back and this weekend brings us to the end of the 1982 Jeep brochures. I hope that everyone had a good Fourth of July holiday weekend. The early 1980’s were a pivotal time in the history of the jeep. The last days of AMC ownership saw the jeep evolve once again firmly into a role that saw it as a recreational as well as practical vehicle. Gone were the days of just three decades ago under Kaiser ownership that stressed the role of work horse. The jeep was still a work horse, but increasingly the focus was on play, efficiency and reliability as AMC saw the market getting more and more crowded from domestic and foreign competition.

One of the innovations that came about in this decade was the era of the CJ-8, the Scrambler. Debuting in 1981, it was a stretched wheelbase CJ that saw its best sales in that very same first year. In the days of the larger modern stretched four door jeeps, this seems prescient, but 33 years ago this was daring. Approved as a model in 1979 the first CJ-8 rolled off the assembly lines in January 1981 and began sales in March. It was America’s only roadster pickup truck in soft top form and equipped with a five foot pickup truck bed, the wheelbase went from 83” in the CJ-5 to 93” in the CJ-7 and 103” in the CJ-8 (even longer than the CJ-6’ 101”!).

In 1985 the last Scrambler rolled off the lines in Toledo. They weren’t as accepted as AMC had hoped for (despite Ronald Reagan famously owning one on his ranch in California...) making them one of the rarer finds nowadays. They were also AMC’s next to last new model before the Commanche thundered out in 1986 as a challenger to imported pickups that picked up steam in the late 1980’s.

Come back next week, we’re winding down the 1980’s and things are changing! Click here to be taken to the full album of brochures from 1982 and click here to view a supplemental brochure on the Select-Trac.

I also wanted to take the time to promote our friendly, helpful forum over at http://thisoldjeep.fr.yuku.com/. If you’re looking for a new jeep forum to post on, show off your ride, ask questions, advice, etc... or just plain look at our projects this may be the one for you. Check us out!