I went with a CJ5. And Pre-AMC (71 and older). They were much more simple and being my first time doing anything like a restoration I needed simple. It has a light switch and a key on the dash, that's pretty much it. Manual brakes, manual steering... I will never get rid of it just like you said and I love it. It took me about 3 years to "finish" after paying $450 for it.
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I do have some envy with the CJ7 or newer CJ's and how easy it is to find parts. If you go old, you really have to dig to find parts. It took me 6 months to track down some random guy on Craigslist across the country who was selling seat frames I needed... getting him to ship them was another story. The CJ5 has limited room. I'm 6'1 and I make it work but some people are not okay with the 5's smaller space.
Best advice on buying one I think is to look for one that Bubba hasn't gotten a hold of or is basically stock. That applies to any jeep for me. Once things are cut off or changed, it really makes it difficult. I didn't know a lot about Jeeps or CJ's when I decided to buy one, it was missing a lot of parts that I had to track down, if I knew what I know now, I would have passed on it.
If you find one your interested in post it up, with the older CJ's a lot of times people say it's something it isn't. Friend bought a "1971 CJ5" and it was actually a 1950's M38A1 frame with a 76+CJ5 body on it. So not 1 part was a 71 CJ5... there are little things that give the years away.
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