Guess where I went today... to see the fastest MJ (so far)..

[smithe1811]

:bowdown: I don't even feel worthy of touching the same buisness cards that you sent me Pete! :bowdown: Hopefully this will help motivate WFC a little more to put the MJ back in the spotlight.

 

Erik :beerhead:

[robfg67]

Any chance Chrysler puts this MJ on Craigslist after they file for bankruptcy? I read an article in the WSJ yesterday that said GM has stopped putting batteries in the wall clocks to save money.

[jaekl]

Beware of this truck. With all that salt dust, first time it gets wet, poof rust to dust.

[mfpdm]

This is awesome. Just think of what else they have tucked away in some unmarked building.

 

I hate to think what they will do if they go under. Instead of selling them off I could see them crushing them just so no one else can have claim to them. :nuts:

[Akula69]

Other then the historian and a few isolated wrench benders, most of the Chrysler folks probably don't even know that they exist.

 

There is already visable salt damage on the springs in the one photo - no telling what other areas the salt might be slowly eating this truck's soul....Kinda sad they didn't give it a good cleaning after the test runs.

 

Pete - in the picture of the dash there are two buttons mounted in the panel where the clock (and sentinal module) goes. Where you able to see what they were for?

[Pete M]

I believe the top one is the tach reset and the bottom is the tach recall.

 

 

This building is not an accidental group of rare cars that was discovered. They were all brought there for historical preservation. I doubt they would have anything to do with the current financial crisis. There's a ton of history there.

 

 

And I promise it won't go poof the first time it gets wet, as they washed it for us. :D Over all the truck is very solid. The leaf springs and traction bars were really the only bad spots. But it still could use a bit of attention. Too bad it has to get in line behind cars worth millions. :shake: I'd certainly volunteer to clean it up some afternoon. :yes:

[fiatslug87]

Hey Pete, what Hemi cars were there?

[Pete M]

What hemi cars weren't there? :clapping: Honestly, so much info was thrown at me that day I remember very little. I sooooo wish I could have taken just a few pictures. :( I remember there was a couple Willys, a last-year Grand Wagoneer, the last XJ to roll off the line, a dozen Vipers (some race winners), the 2 Little Red Trucks, an old fullsize dodge baja truck, All the hemi powered creations from a while back (snowblower, grille, etc), a really really old hemi powered siren alarm, a huge turn of the century truck, a bunch of the 60s muscle cars (I remember one very nice hemi challenger), a super bird or daytona (in rough shape), just about every concept car from the last 3 decades, one of the turbine cars (and 7 engines to go with it), the last TJ (as well as a couple others), a Nash Rambler, a few old cop cars, and the list could go on and on. I really wish my memory was better than it is. :( Maybe W.F.C. remembers more.

[Akula69]

Geez - that really sounds like a place I'd want to visit myself.

 

Pete - I hope you stuck a few CC stickers on the jeeps you saw :brows: :D Thanks for the info...maybe some day Chrysler will set them up so we can all enjoy them.

[Pete M]

I imagine most everything is viewable at one time or another at the Chrysler museum near their headquarters building in Auburn Hills, MI. Personally though, no museum could possibly hold a candle to a huge room full of car covers. It's like christmas. Not knowing what's under each wrapper til you peek.

[jtdesigns]

 

Anyone have some veiws on these springs? Looks like it has some leafs removed. Think so?

 

 

And these front springs look custom too.. I wish I knew where they got them from/off....

because...............

 

This is the stance I want to be...

[Pete M]

The leafs were modified. The third leaf down was cut off behind the axle. I ssumed they were stock 2wd MJ, but can't say for sure. No ideas on the front coils though. The only info we have is those old photos. Nothing else has been found by the Chrysler archives. :(

[SuperWade2]

The leafs were modified. The third leaf down was cut off behind the axle. I ssumed they were stock 2wd MJ, but can't say for sure. No ideas on the front coils though. The only info we have is those old photos. Nothing else has been found by the Chrysler archives. :(

 

So all the dudes that built this thing been bumped off our something? Seems that we get some names and do some Google stalking and we find some of these dudes... you know they have boxes of crap in their attics detailing every bit of this build...

[Pete M]

Having some full names would make that infinitely easier though... :( Maybe W.F.C. has some in his paperwork. :dunno:

[jbhill]

my guess would be they just pulled the leafs to lower it. prob cut the coils up front. OR they were quickor coils(who used to make drop coils for the XJ/MJ way back when)

[ejndssn]

wow :drool: only if we could restore this amc name brand back and run a limited run on these babies with a 24v stroked engine :drool: :drool: btw g8 job Pete :cheers:

[Worlds Fastest Comanche]

I will try to answer some of your questions, first we were very lucky to be allowed into the Chrysler archives. This is a place where they store not only cars but other important information, like sales brochures, designs, press releases, stock photos, Etc. It is like an Area 51, it does not have a street address. They have about 300 cars there, and about 75 more are normally on display at the Chrysler Museum. They rotate the cars to the museum and also to special events. GM has a similar storage facility ( also not open to the public) called the Heritage collection.

This summer my son and myself were at Bonneville as spectators, We thought ir would be fun to run a truck in the pickup class, and since we have a few J trucks lying around, we thought we would run one of those in the 260cid class. I contacted several firms about building a 6 cylinder engine, one of the firms was Hesco, Lee Hurley the owner wrote me back saying that he had already built a Bonneville engine for a jeep truck. I emailed him back and said "What truck?" That is when i found out about the 87 Comanche. 87 was the first year for the 4.0l and the jeep marketing people wanted to prove how powerful it was. the 258 was only rated at 112 hp and the 4.0 was rated at 175. So the 4.0 was a huge jump in HP and it also had MPFI, which was not very common for 1986. So the engineers slapped something together and set 14 speed records ( top speed 144mph), I will post them when i get time. GM was not very happy about the jeep pickup being regarded as a hi-performance pickup. So GM hired Gale Banks to erase the Jeep name from the record books. In 1989 Gale banks took a modified S15 pickup to Bonneville twice, once to break the jeep records in the 3-5L classes sanctioned by the USAC and FIA. He used a 5.0L engine for these runs and went 198mph. They then took the same truck back to Bonneville for Speed week with a different engine in it and set a record of 183.9 MPH in the E P/MP class that is limited to 261.99 cid. In 1990 Banks returned with the Syclone , and set a record of 204mph in the 5.0L class.

 

So somewhere in my research i found out that the truck was at the archives, and i requested permission to see it, because we were thinking about modeling our truck after this one, maybe even having the same number. My request took several weeks to be answered and has to be approved by "upper management" .

 

The Archives was just one stop on the journey back to Bonnevile, it will be 20 years since Banks set the record in the E P/MP class come next august. We have purchased a 1989 Comanche and are currently working on the engine, we will need a little more than 400hp to break the record. I will keep you posted on our progress.

[Darren]

Thanks for sharing guys. That is really cool.

[ejndssn]

it would be very cool if we could get a visit request from these guys allowing the folks on this site to visit when we where in the area :idea: more like a special request chit :brows: for members of the comanche club

[aemsee]

Well, I checked the internal Chrysler data base and S. Schramm (one of the names on the door)still works for Chrysler. I sent him an e-mail asking if he can share any info with us. I will update with any response I receive.

[SuperWade2]

Well, I checked the internal Chrysler data base and (one of the names on the door)still works for Chrysler. I sent him an e-mail asking if he can share any info with us. I will update with any response I receive.

 

See that's the type of Cyberstaking I'm talking about.... A few more googles turned up this...

 

Scott W. Schramm

Manager, Regulatory and Technical Affairs

Chrysler, LLC

1401 H Street NW, Suite 700

Washington, DC 20005-2110

 

Scott Schramm

Manager – Regulatory & Technical Affairs

(202) 414-6711

sws1 @ chrysler . com

 

I'm NOT a Stalker, I'm NOT a Stalker, I'm NOT a Stalker, I'm NOT a Stalker...

[aemsee]

Since I still work for Chrysler for another 34 days, I still have access to an employee database. There was NO stalking involved. There is nothing to see here folks, move along :D .

 

I also told him of the pics of the truck on here, and invited him to check out the site.

 

Again, no stalking. Most of us are somewhat sane. :thumbsup:

[djag12]

Pete

 

was one of those prototypes the Jeep Gladiator Pickup? If so was it nice in person?

[Pete M]

I don't remember seeing a fullsize Jeep pickup anywhere. But we didn't get to pull up every car cover and I'm sure there's more to see in other buildings. :yes:

[Worlds Fastest Comanche]

We did not see any full size Jeep pickups, you would expect to see at least i J truck. Not very many dodge pickups either.