Hooniverse Truck Thursday – Jeep Comanche Pioneer
Jeep Comanche. Not an everyday sighting over here.
Today’s sighting must be one of the Hooniversiest sightings I’ve done, right after that Roadmaster: it’s a bona fide Jeep Comanche right where I walk for lunch every day. And it seems to be in pretty damn nice shape; the metallic blue paint looks good and there’s no rust or dents to speak of.
The tailgate’s also removed and it looks like it’s still doing duty at Kalles Motor, a motorcycle dealer from a nearby Swedish-speaking town. Not a bad gig for a Comanche.
According to the plate, it’s a 1990 model registered in Aug ’91; the other piece of information the plate gives is that it’s got a 2.1-litre Renault turbo diesel four under the hood.
Seriously, even if the AMC-Renault connection explains the engine choice, it blows my mind that a Jeep is run by something that’s jacked from a Renault Fuego. The eight-valve engine belongs to the Douvrin engine family, and produces 88 horsepower. It’s claimed to be a reliable engine, but I can’t help but take that with a pinch of salt.
The Comanche is also a 4×4 version, instead of a bog-standard RWD model. While I would prefer it to have a 4.0-litre six under the hood, it probably is a testament to the owner that he’s kept the 2.1 turbo diesel running all these years.
Perhaps somebody more Comancheledgeable can detail the Pioneer trim’s specifications for me?
Related posts:
- Hooniverse Truck Thursday – Dacia Duster 4WD, From Romania with Love
- Hooniverse Truck Thursday – It’s the Hofmeister Patrol
- Hooniverse Truck Thursday: Monster Truck Edition
- Truck Thursday – Toyota Land Cruiser 70-Series
- Hooniverse Truck Thursday – A 1963 Diamond T Dump Truck; What would you do with this?
Holy cow! These have a reputation for dissolving into rusty bits in the US Northeast winters… I can't imagine how one survived 20+ years in that environment. Bravo to the owner!
No rust, no matter how old,
Couldn't be much more from the norm,
Forever rusting where we are,
then nothing else matters.
Never found one myself this way,
These are rare, we live in the USA,
These Comanches I don't just see,
and nothing else matters.
Rust I fear and I find it hard,
Every truck for us is in the 'yard,
Open hood for a turbo diesel,
and nothing else matters.
never drove one, what they do?
never been there so I don't know,
but I know!
[guitar solo]
Wow, all this time, POLAЯ has been posting under a pseudonym, but his true identity is finally revealed!
Every time I see the backwards "R" I wonder if its him.
FЯeeMan.
<img src="http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/b/br/brainloc/201885_face_-_suspicious.jpg" width=300>
I took it on as a part of the tribute when he left [Яedacted]. If it weren't for copy/paste, I'd have no idea how to go about typing it in.
Smiling. Had to copy and paste your name.
Speaking of that other place, I just deleted my bookmarks and unliked them on FB today. Leaving there is, as Flick said a while back, strangely like breaking up with a girlfriend. Started off great but then she turned all bitchy and after it was over you still sorta miss the way is was at the beginning.
Then you realize it'll never be that way again, and you delete her number and every email she ever sent you, and settle down with someone awesome.
Yeah, pretty much… While it seems weird to compare a website to a romantic relationship, the parallels are certainly there.
I miss POLAЯ too… I'm glad there are a number of familiar "faces" here though
Flick is in a sing-songy mood today.
Deftly done.
[more guitar solo]
Thanks! Yeah, I started with the one and felt inspired to keep it going. I might bust out a couple more today… I'm pretty out of it though, so the creative juices might decide to dry up…
[drum solo]
If nothing else, you can try the age-old formula of:
Jokes
[rim shot]
I never joke. I am always serious. Completely.
Except right now. But no other exceptions.
I regret that I have just one +1 to give for this comment.
(I was just listening to the Black Album today, actually… Metallica is among my go-tos for music for brainstorming endless iterations of a design in search of the right one.)
While I am really disappointed by their more recent efforts, it is disappointment bred by how awesome their older material was. Their militant efforts against piracy weren't exactly working in their favor either. Regardless, my collection of their older stuff gets revisited often.
…and Death Magnetic rots case-less in the door pocket of a derelict Volvo…
Nice! Here's another verse or 2:
Grab the mirrors to adjust the view
Windows move with a crank or two
So simple, no fixing to do
But something always rattles.
Kinda boxy in the look
Longbed with few tiedown hooks
But it goes!
Most excellent!
Giggling. Lyrics about rust set to a Metallica tune. . . .
Very nicely done. Felt inspired to do one to Sandman but am having trouble coming rhyming this evening.
I got the rhymes to work. Sort of.
Driving hard
St. Bernard
Cool truck, ain't it, pard'?
Love my Co-ma-an-cheeeee
Flock of sheep
Gonna keep
This French-powered Jeep
Gonna fill it with cheeeeeese
Beaufort or cabecou?
Both are so good with wine.
Cabernet
Sovignon
Le bourdon
This Swedish bike truck's cool. Trombone
Haha, nice!
I might have to bust that album back out. I need to exercise some new speakers anyway.
Nicely done Mr. Flick. Might I suggest a banjo solo as a change of pace? [youtube hOmqpkbaYAE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOmqpkbaYAE youtube]
Probably a lot easier to find parts and keep a Renault engine going in euroland, than if they installed the straight six. Might also have something to do with importing a partially built vehicle and/or taxes based on displacement or horsepower. I hope it can keep soldiering on for a few more decades, just like that.
That and diesel fuel used to be actually about 25% cheaper than gasoline.
This is pretty damn radical. And to do duty for a motorbike shop too! Totally radical.
Looks to have longer bed than, say Longrooffan's Comanche, or maybe not. Were these available with different lengths or is this maybe some Finnish tax dodger version like those Mosckwitch-aminos which had about 30 cm long part added to bed before sold to Finns so they could claim it was fulfilling min. requirements for cargo room length and was so eligible for tax break?
pic too:
<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3202/2714437528_9895907c26.jpg">
It probably is. Subaru pickups were extended too, and look quite goofy.
They were available in a SWB and a LWB version here in the states. Easy to tell them apart – if the fuel filler door (driver's side) is centered between the bed and the rear wheel well, it's a SWB. If not (like this one, as well as longrooffan's) it's a LWB.
Here's the Long Ruffian's 'manche showing off the tell-tale gas door.
<img src="http://hooniverse.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/roar-229.jpg" width="500/">
And here's mine, which is a SWB.
<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-qE8JXvrDJRk/TTO8Ma6QWdI/AAAAAAAAALM/gj3z-yBRUjs/s800/IMAG0011.jpg"width=500>
Nice truck…my first '86 Comanche has those same wheels.
I agree with Longroofian, that really is a pretty truck. There's a Comanche here down south in Tombstone, a longbed like Longroofian's, but it's not in nearly as good a shape as either of yours.
The whole truck bed length thing got started by Toyota Timangi, which people were just using as a passenger car because it was so damn cheap. Until the IRS said NO, and "Lex Timangi" defined 185cm as the minimum acceptable length instead of 150cm.
<img src="http://www.kuraperseracing.com/marina/timang.jpg" WIDTH="500">
I remember when you could walk into a Renault dealer in France and buy Jeeps. I think they were shipped without engines to Europe where it was added. I guess a seriously motivated Jeep owner in the US could convert his truck to diesel by importing a Renault engine…
Drifting off topic: In the early 1990's Chrysler shipped unpowered minivans to Austria where Steyr added diesel engines. They were sold as Chrysler Voyager in France (and probably other European countries as well).
The Comanche was available here for the 86-87 with this same diesel engine. The lack of parts available for these means a lot of them get ripped out in favor of a 4.0, or if the owner is ambitious and likes his diesels, a 4BT.
In my town, Jeeps (and Chryslers) were sold in the same dealership as Nissans and Peugeots. I remember leafing through Saratoga brochures and looking at Cherokees and Grand Cherokees.
In the early eighties, right after I got out of the Army, I worked for an RV dealership that sold Winnebagos, and they sold a misbegotten front wheel drive mini motorhome called the LeSharo. It was riveted together out of fiberglass panels, had both a turbocharged Renault four cylinder diesel or (get this!) a naturally aspirated version of the same engine. It was junk. I worked in the parts room, and the customers hated these things like the plague. They were gutless, broke down, squeaked and rattled like a bag of snakes and a cage of rodents put together, and the one thing that I remember most about them was the P-trap coming down off of the shower stall that was like five inches above the pavement. Those got snapped off constantly, I think we had like five boxes of them in the parts room, because that was the most common warranty replacement. That wasn't the Renault engine's fault, but the whole RV was a POS from that engine (they were always in the shop because of that overloaded little thing) to that P-trap. The whole thing was bad news.
Ha! These are based on Renault Trafic minibus, which could be considered to be French alternative to Sprinter bus. Seems that Winnebago added big box and ugly plastic beak to typical European frame-with-basic cabin package, the one many European RV builders also used. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Trafic
<img src="http://i.ebayimg.com/00/$(KGrHqZHJBEE63St-2NCBO4IbLjO!!~~_19.JPG">
OhOh Manic King, with above image, you've done it to this olelongrooffan again. 2 Murican couples, a few cases of wine and one of these my French brother in law owned and us doing 10 days in western France in 1992. I feel a blog coming on.
It looks like it has a nice set of Cibie' or Hella headlights.
MrHowser, how does that unibody/frame thing work, anyway? Does it have frame rails under the bed, that extend some distance under the cab? And is the frame bolted to the cab, or welded to it?
Grabs flashlight and heads to the parking lot….the frame, welded to the cab but bolted to the truck bed extends from just behind the lower spring holding arms up front (not a arms) to the front end of the leaf spring holding rear end. The rear end of the leaf springs are attached to another frame section.
The only bed available in the virgin year, 1986, was the 7.5 foot longbed. The shortbed was introduced for the 87, and thereafter, model year. And the Renault connection makes sense. Jeep was owned by AMC, then a partner with Renault/Peugeot during this time. A Peugeot 5 speed transmission was available in the early years, if I am not mistaken.
But then again, The Charles Barrett Special has been taking up quite a bit of my time these days so I could be mistaken.
Yeah, that. Thanks for saving me a trip out into the cold, LongRoof.
The Frenchies contributed quite a bit to the truck – the electrics/engine controls are all Renault/Bendix aka Renix until 1991, when Chrysler took over and changed things up.
So far, the Peugeot transmission has held up ok for the 132k miles my truck has on it, but I've heard horror stories of guys putting a lot of money into a transmission that grenaded shortly after the rebuild.
Wow. Wish I could see one on a lift. Do they use a non-independent front suspension, like a Cherokee?
Yep. Same beam front axle as the Cherokee.
From the back of the cab forward, the only major difference between an MJ and an XJ is the floor pans. XJ seats will not just bolt into an MJ. Engine, transmission, doors, dash, nearly all the electrics, body panels, suspension – all are interchangeable.
<img src="http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/3496/1004340.jpg" width="500/">
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v702/xjohnnyc/Comanche/IMG_8068.jpg" width="500/">
I'll throw this one in just because it is the same color as my former XJ.
<img src="http://www.locojeeper.com/gallery/d/3595-2/P5070023.JPG" width="500/">
It's a fierce blue. Yes, they do have solid axles all around.
Given the stance, and the blue skin that indicates constricted blood supply, I'd have that pickemup checked for an enlarged prostate.
You might look into an AX-15 swap when your transmission goes. That's what Chrysler replaced the Peugeot unit with. They're strong units and they've got good aftermarket support.
Yep, that's the plan. Nurse the puke-goat along until it dies, or until I have another driver so I can take the Comanche off the road for a transplant.
Awesome. May it not be for many miles. My understanding is that NV3550 cores can be hard to get ahold of, so I may end up doing the same when mine goes (which shouldn't be for a long time yet, it's still in pretty good shape).
There is a dealership down the road from my work that keeps a constant supply of MJ's. It tempts me every day. The only issue with them is that, judging by their lot, it might not make it the 25 miles home.
Yeah, but once you've got it sorted (6 wives/girlfriends later), it will be unkillable!