Okay, this was totally an impulse buy but Cindy and I just happen to see a cute little CJ for sale and couldn't leave it sitting all alone by the roadside. Turns out it's a 1974 Jeep CJ5 Renegade with an AMC 304 V8 under the hood, a T-15 3-Speed manual transmission, a Dana 20 transfer case, Dana 30 front axle with WARN locking hubs and a Dana 44 rear axle. With the exception of a brand new set of 31x10.50 BFG AT's mounted on the super clean factory Renegade aluminum wheels and a homemade cage welded onto the factory roll bar, this Jeep is essentially bone stock, or for the most part anyway. Under the hood is a Holley carburetor, an Edelbrock air intake, MSD distributor and to cough it all out is a brand new Dynomax exhaust system. The previous owner also had a new radiator installed, new exhaust manifolds installed and a new gas tank installed complete with new fuel lines. Other new additions include Rancho RS5000 shocks and a Bestop soft top with 2-piece soft doors. All the lights and gauges work and while I have little doubt the odometer has rolled at least once, it only showed 46,800. All that being said, if there one feature on it that we were really surprised to see and absolutely love, it's the first year ever, factory installed WARN 8274 winch and winch plate! As some of you may know, this is one of the BEST 8000 lb. winches WARN has ever made and the "74" in the 8274 represents the year it was introduced.
Sure, this little CJ is a bit rough around the edges and far from being a beauty queen but in so many ways, that's what we love about it. Also, we know that anything made in the short 1972-75 time span is considered to be an "intermediate" CJ5 and harder to work on compared to something like a 76-81 CJ5 but again, that is what we love about it. Last but not least, while we found this Jeep up in Truckee, CA, we learned that it was originally from Fallon, NV and knew we had to repatriate it. Anyway, I hope you like the newest addition to the WAYALIFE family and I hope you follow it along as we try to restore and build it up.
Here are some basic all around shots to show you what it looked like soon after bringing it home.
Here's a few close up shots of the Jeep factory installed WARN 8274 winch.
Shots of the CJ5 emblem and "Jeep" embossing.
Here's a closer view of the factory aluminum wheels that came on CJ5 Renegades back in the day.
And here are a few interior shots.
The dash is still has the original Jetset Blue Metallic paint that the whole Jeep used to be and we hope to redo.
Check out how clean the floor pans are - NO RUST!
To help take better photos of the interior, under the hood and underneath, we brought the CJ into the garage to give everything even lighting.
Here you can see the original factory tilt and fold seat that would have been part of a split bench setup. The driver seat is a newer aftermarket seat but the previous owner had both reupholstered to match.
Here's a few shots of the tool box that all CJ's used to come with.
A better look with the passenger seat folded out of the way.
And here's a peek inside - As you'll notice, you can't seen the ground!
Under what would have been the rear seat, the floor does have a little surface rust but nothing close to being cancerous.
Here are a few shots looking under the hood and checking out the way cool AMC 304 V8!
Now for a few under shots.
From the rear, you can see the brand new gas tank.
Here you can see the shiny and new Dynomax exhaust system. Unfortunately, the transfer case was lowered quite a bit to accommodate the exhaust cross over so I may have to rethink the routing.
Now for some of the bummer stuff. At some point and time, both front fenders had been crudely hacked away to allow for headers to be installed. Of course, they have been removed but the holes still remain.
For some crazy reason or another, someone thought it would be good to weld brackets onto the frame and bolt the fenders to it without any form of isolation. Needless to say, both front fenders are in really bad shape.
There is a tear on the passenger side floor. From what I can tell, this CJ5 may have had homemade rocker guards installed at some point and time and a hard hit tore the undersized bolt that secured it to this point. Gonna need to do some welding here.
Because intermediate CJ5's like this didn't have boxed in frames like modern Jeeps have today, having them bend and tear at the mounts isn't uncommon. Fortunately, this is a 1974 CJ5 with a 304 and a few key areas were boxed in from the factory. The parts that were and had seen tearing, the previous owner was good enough to have welded up.
So the nasty trailer hitch definitely needs to go but as you can see, this CJ5 had either been re-ended or it backed into something hard enough to have the spare do damage to the tub. Gonna need to do some repair work here.
Aside from that, this CJ5 runs great and I drove it all the way home from Truckee without any problems! Hell, so far as I can tell, the engine doesn't even leak and the motor sounds awesome. Being that we weren't planning on buying this Jeep, we haven't given it a name yet but Cindy has taken a real liking to it and likes to think of the "CJ" to stand for "Cindy's Jeep". :crazyeyes:
Sure, this little CJ is a bit rough around the edges and far from being a beauty queen but in so many ways, that's what we love about it. Also, we know that anything made in the short 1972-75 time span is considered to be an "intermediate" CJ5 and harder to work on compared to something like a 76-81 CJ5 but again, that is what we love about it. Last but not least, while we found this Jeep up in Truckee, CA, we learned that it was originally from Fallon, NV and knew we had to repatriate it. Anyway, I hope you like the newest addition to the WAYALIFE family and I hope you follow it along as we try to restore and build it up.
Here are some basic all around shots to show you what it looked like soon after bringing it home.
Here's a few close up shots of the Jeep factory installed WARN 8274 winch.
Shots of the CJ5 emblem and "Jeep" embossing.
Here's a closer view of the factory aluminum wheels that came on CJ5 Renegades back in the day.
And here are a few interior shots.
The dash is still has the original Jetset Blue Metallic paint that the whole Jeep used to be and we hope to redo.
Check out how clean the floor pans are - NO RUST!
To help take better photos of the interior, under the hood and underneath, we brought the CJ into the garage to give everything even lighting.
Here you can see the original factory tilt and fold seat that would have been part of a split bench setup. The driver seat is a newer aftermarket seat but the previous owner had both reupholstered to match.
Here's a few shots of the tool box that all CJ's used to come with.
A better look with the passenger seat folded out of the way.
And here's a peek inside - As you'll notice, you can't seen the ground!
Under what would have been the rear seat, the floor does have a little surface rust but nothing close to being cancerous.
Here are a few shots looking under the hood and checking out the way cool AMC 304 V8!
Now for a few under shots.
From the rear, you can see the brand new gas tank.
Here you can see the shiny and new Dynomax exhaust system. Unfortunately, the transfer case was lowered quite a bit to accommodate the exhaust cross over so I may have to rethink the routing.
Now for some of the bummer stuff. At some point and time, both front fenders had been crudely hacked away to allow for headers to be installed. Of course, they have been removed but the holes still remain.
For some crazy reason or another, someone thought it would be good to weld brackets onto the frame and bolt the fenders to it without any form of isolation. Needless to say, both front fenders are in really bad shape.
There is a tear on the passenger side floor. From what I can tell, this CJ5 may have had homemade rocker guards installed at some point and time and a hard hit tore the undersized bolt that secured it to this point. Gonna need to do some welding here.
Because intermediate CJ5's like this didn't have boxed in frames like modern Jeeps have today, having them bend and tear at the mounts isn't uncommon. Fortunately, this is a 1974 CJ5 with a 304 and a few key areas were boxed in from the factory. The parts that were and had seen tearing, the previous owner was good enough to have welded up.
So the nasty trailer hitch definitely needs to go but as you can see, this CJ5 had either been re-ended or it backed into something hard enough to have the spare do damage to the tub. Gonna need to do some repair work here.
Aside from that, this CJ5 runs great and I drove it all the way home from Truckee without any problems! Hell, so far as I can tell, the engine doesn't even leak and the motor sounds awesome. Being that we weren't planning on buying this Jeep, we haven't given it a name yet but Cindy has taken a real liking to it and likes to think of the "CJ" to stand for "Cindy's Jeep". :crazyeyes:
