CJ-5

[EatenByLimestone]

Vehicles have come a long way since the 60s! I drove my buddy’s 60s CJ5 today. A blast do drive, and the most basic vehicle I’ve ever driven. No power steering, no power breaks, 3 speed, warn out 4cyl engine, and a needs to be adjusted clutch. 95% of its movement did nothing, lol.

The lack of power breaks was a bit scary. Every thing else was fairly easy to adjust to.

I kind of want 1 now!

 

[Nealm66]

I bought my brothers 59 after he used it for hard core 4-wheeling in a jeep club for quite a few years. Mostly stock except welded spiders and 31” tires, it held it’s own pretty amazingly. I used it for jobs on fort Lewis where the roads were trash and didn’t want to ruin my pickup. Gave it to my son who plans on restoring it

 

[begreen]

I used to drive a 50's Willy's. It was all basic, no frills, but in good shape. Not fast, but a little tank.

 

[SpaceBus]

Vehicles have come a long way since the 60s! I drove my buddy’s 60s CJ5 today. A blast do drive, and the most basic vehicle I’ve ever driven. No power steering, no power breaks, 3 speed, warn out 4cyl engine, and a needs to be adjusted clutch. 95% of its movement did nothing, lol.

The lack of power breaks was a bit scary. Every thing else was fairly easy to adjust to.

I kind of want 1 now!

Old jeep brakes are terrifying. The first vehicle I 100% bought with my own money was a super overpriced 1982 CJ-7 in 2009. It was supposed to be "restored", but the cost of maintenance outran my meager E3 pay and I sold it after a year or so. A friend of mine had a 70's CJ-5 with a lightly worked over 304 and three speed manual. It didn't have a windshield or top and was a blast. I'd like to get another old CJ some day, but they are getting harder and harder to find and maintain. If I ever acquire one it would be converted to EV drivetrain.

 

[PaulOinMA]

1960s vehicles are fun. Simple mechanically.

My wife has a 1966 Austin Mini Moke. 848 cc. 30-something h.p. Huge amount of fun.

Wiring diagram is one page.

I never should have sold my '66 Mini Cooper 970S. Rare 970-cc Cooper S engine. Only available by special order. Only enough produced for homologation to allow racing for 5 years. It's on display in a personal museum now.

 

[begreen]

1960s vehicles are fun. Simple mechanically.

My wife has a 1966 Austin Mini Moke. 848 cc. 30-something h.p. Huge amount of fun.

Wiring diagram is one page.

I never should have sold my '66 Mini Cooper 970S. Rare 970-cc Cooper S engine. Only available by special order. Only enough produced for homologation to allow racing for 5 years. It's on display in a personal museum now.

We have an annual mini cooper meet-up here. It's a hoot. I believe I have seen a couple Cooper S among them. I'll try to snap a picture.

2026 calendar

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seattleoriginalminis.wordpress.com

 

[SpaceBus]

1960s vehicles are fun. Simple mechanically.

My wife has a 1966 Austin Mini Moke. 848 cc. 30-something h.p. Huge amount of fun.

Wiring diagram is one page.

I never should have sold my '66 Mini Cooper 970S. Rare 970-cc Cooper S engine. Only available by special order. Only enough produced for homologation to allow racing for 5 years. It's on display in a personal museum now.

The old Cooper S is pretty cool, but that Moke is even cooler.

 

[Bad LP]

Years back when I was a 15-16yo pumping gas after school and weekends the owner of the station had an old Willy’s with a 327 Chevy in one.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

There’s an online video of an LS powered CJ3B. I bet that is terrifying to ride in lol.

Any V8 in a vehicle that light must be like a go cart!

 

[Jags]

I hope so. Currently building a mopar 340 in excess of 400hp to go into this one:


Gonna hot rod it. Chop top and slam it in the weeds. Drive train will get major upgrade and convert to rear wheel only.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Lol, the original FC designers could never have imagined!

 

[Jags]

How can going from 75 horse to 425 horse be a bad thing

 

[Nealm66]

Ours had the f134 hurricane before I sucked a valve. 459 gears. The frame is so weak it’s like coil overs. Walked up some nasty hillsides past v8 powered modified jeeps and got some strange looks. One time on copper creek road, by mt. Rainier, we got behind a crazy long line of 4 wheelers stopped in a couple feet of snow. A guy was walking back and telling everyone the lead vehicle, chained up front and back, had gone as far as he could and was basically busting through snow with his front end. When the guy got to us my brother asked if it would be ok to go around and the guy looked at us like we were crazy ( possibly right) because the road dropped straight off on one side and a deep ditch and steep cut bank on the other. My brother drove down into the ditch and on the side of the cut bank and just putted along past about 30 rigs all looking at us like we were completely nuts. He got past the last one and just kept putting up the road until I finally started freaking out a little bit because we couldn’t really tell where the road was anymore and I told my brother if something happened I didn’t know if anyone could make it up to where we were at to help. We stopped and I stuck a shovel handle side first clear to the end and never hit bottom. We drank a beer and turned around and drove home. The big line of 4 wheelers had all left

 

[Nealm66]

Here’s a picture of old blue waiting for my son to bring her back to life. I built the fiberglass top to get me through a winter on ft Lewis

 

[Bad LP]

I hope so. Currently building a mopar 340 in excess of 400hp to go into this one:
View attachment 294852

Gonna hot rod it. Chop top and slam it in the weeds. Drive train will get major upgrade and convert to rear wheel only.

Hot damn!! SWEET ride.

 

[SpaceBus]

I hope so. Currently building a mopar 340 in excess of 400hp to go into this one:
View attachment 294852

Gonna hot rod it. Chop top and slam it in the weeds. Drive train will get major upgrade and convert to rear wheel only.

I love Jeep FCs! I would rather see it get an off road build, but chop top and hot rod sounds fun.

 

[bholler]

I love the look of FCs but they are a little scary to drive. You know if you hit anything it will end badly

 

[SpaceBus]

I love the look of FCs but they are a little scary to drive. You know if you hit anything it will end badly

As if any other 60' era car is any better 😂

 

[bholler]

As if any other 60' era car is any better 😂

Well a little better

 

[Jags]

I love Jeep FCs! I would rather see it get an off road build, but chop top and hot rod sounds fun.

That's what everybody does with them they either go back stock or four-wheel rock crawler. That's one of the reasons you've never seen one on the road .in stock Form they suck. 50 mph is scary. I aim to change that.

 

[Highbeam]

I restored a 74 CJ5 in my late high school and early college days. 304 V8, points ignition, 3 speed transmission, manual drum brakes, no radio, metal dash, but at least it had electric windshield wipers. Great vehicle to restore since all of the parts were available. Even made a little money on the sale.

Those jeeps were actually pretty terrible in the snow. The short wheelbase meant the thing would spin around really easy which was fun but not helpful when you want to go straight.

I moved into toyota pickup trucks after the jeep. Much better in the snow and far more civilized transportation. Miss the raw power and nostalgia of the jeep though.

 

[bholler]

I restored a 74 CJ5 in my late high school and early college days. 304 V8, points ignition, 3 speed transmission, manual drum brakes, no radio, metal dash, but at least it had electric windshield wipers. Great vehicle to restore since all of the parts were available. Even made a little money on the sale.

Those jeeps were actually pretty terrible in the snow. The short wheelbase meant the thing would spin around really easy which was fun but not helpful when you want to go straight.

I moved into toyota pickup trucks after the jeep. Much better in the snow and far more civilized transportation. Miss the raw power and nostalgia of the jeep though.

Yeah short wheel base sucks in the snow. My bronco really doesn't like facing the right direction all that much

 

[Nealm66]

Ya, welded spiders didn’t help either, had some really white knuckle rides getting to where we wanted to play . Once you got off road with them though they functioned very well. The light little 4 cylinder helped get a guy on top of the snow. There’s a few spots up in Elbe trails where there’s warning signs if your under a certain wheel base you need to winch up or down so you don’t endo but no big deal to run a line and the short wheel base got through the trees better. Seen some smashed up rigs trying to make it through jeep trails

 

[firefighterjake]

I restored a 74 CJ5 in my late high school and early college days. 304 V8, points ignition, 3 speed transmission, manual drum brakes, no radio, metal dash, but at least it had electric windshield wipers. Great vehicle to restore since all of the parts were available. Even made a little money on the sale.

Those jeeps were actually pretty terrible in the snow. The short wheelbase meant the thing would spin around really easy which was fun but not helpful when you want to go straight.

I moved into toyota pickup trucks after the jeep. Much better in the snow and far more civilized transportation. Miss the raw power and nostalgia of the jeep though.

Learned that fact real quick with my 1993 Wrangler YJ. It was terrible in the snow . . . and heaven help you if you hit a frost heave in the Spring . . . thing would practically go sideways on you.

That YJ was fun . . . but not very practical. Heater was crappy and build quality was terrible. I had more problems with that vehicle than any other vehicle. Eventually I sold it and moved up with a Toyota 4Runner. Much more practical and the quality was heads and shoulders better than the YJ. Still . . . there's something about taking the top down and doors off in the Summer time . . . .

 

[firefighterjake]

I realize it's not the same vintage . . . but this happened this past weekend in Bar Harbor.

2021Bronco drove over to Bar Island at low tide and then got stuck in the mud flats. Couldn't get it out. Apparently it was submerged with the high tide a few times before they were able to attach some floats to it and get it out. And in case folks don't realize it . . . this was the AtlanticOcean. Anyone want to buy a slightly used 2021 Bronco? Now with Salty Sea Scent . . .