I overheard a conversation in the parts store...

[Spinnakerblue89]

A few days ago I stopped in Advance Auto for some oil and a filter for my Ranger. As I'm browsing their deals and what not, two highschool-aged boys came in and they were chatting with the fellow behind the counter about this or that. 

 

For clarification: I live in Chevy country. Silverados and Sierras are built just up the road from me and loyalty is strong locally. And since older Chevies and Fords have gotten both difficult to find and afford for most, older Dodges are making somewhat of a comeback here. At the same time, so are older Jeeps. Well one of these two younger boys I saw drive up to the store in an XJ, nice to know those are getting a second wind around here. 

 

The gentleman behind the counter is a smart fellow; he semi-retired after nearly thirty years working in a local shop, and he is just enjoying himself working behind the counter. He's quite knowledgeable and has steered me right each time I've inquired about a product or part. So I've set the stage... 

 

The kid who drove the XJ to the store with his buddy asked about a part for his Jeep. I don't recall- but the gentleman begins the search on the store's online catalog. The kid said: "It's for my XJ."

 

"Okay, son. What year is your Jaguar?" Asked the clerk.

 

"Jaguar? Naw bro, I drive a Jeep XJ, it's a 1998."

 

"XJ was a Jaguar." The clerk told him. 

 

Needless to say the kid clarified it's a Cherokee, and the gentleman acknowledged that he was aware and was justing giving the kid the business. But as I've thought about it, the dude has a point. I think Duesenberg even had a prototype once called the XJ- feel free to fact check me on that. 

 

Has anyone here ever gotten a weird look when they say XJ or MJ? I never say those or refer to my Grand Cherokee as a ZJ  unless I know the person I'm speaking to knows what it means, personally. I just found the conversation amusing to listen to. 

 

What does MJ mean anyway? I like to tell my buddies that it stands for "My Jeep" for obvious reasons. I know XJ supposedly means Xperimental Jeep, but I recall seeing original AMC drawings claiming it to stand for Xciting Jeep. 

[75sv1]

MJ + Manly Jeep. Its the MJ Jeep of Jeeps. Sort like what Micheal Jordon is to B-Ball. 

[gogmorgo]

Factory chassis code. I’m sure they’ve had meaning ascribed to them after the fact but I have a hard time believing they were more than random strings of lettres. Like the CJ was a Civillian Jeep but I’m pretty sure everything else was just a vague homage to that. 
 

I also don’t use the chassis codes IRL, just as a shorthand on the internet. Especially when talking to the guy at the parts counter. His computer doesn’t say XJ, and definitely doesn’t say MJ. 

[87MJTIM]

Somewhat similar story, though not as funny.

 

I live in home owners association (HOA).  The HOA requires all vehicles be register in order to use/park-at the amenities.  We owned the Comanche before moving here.  Every year, we have to verify our vehicles.  One year I looked at the HOA's preprinted list of our vehicles and they changed it to a Commander.  We went to the HOA office to inform them that the truck is a Comanche.

 

The persons response: I've never heard of a Jeep Comanche.

[Ωhm]

SJ was known as the Senior Jeep (1974-1983). Most call them FSJ.

[gogmorgo]

“Do you have access to Google”

Weird thing that people assume something is incorrect just because they haven’t heard of something before. I’m sure I’m guilty of it too. 
I had a similar experience after running over a deer while making an insurance claim. Might have helped avoid getting the truck written off. The girl handling the claim said she’d never heard of a Comanche before, and there was some obvious googling noises and then “oh cool it’s a little truck. I wonder what these are worth… I don’t see any others for sale in Manitoba, yours is higher mileage but it must be in good shape if you just drove it to Alberta and back… yeah we’ll fix it”

13 minutes ago, 87MJTIM said:

Somewhat similar story, though not as funny.

 

I live in home owners association (HOA).  The HOA requires all vehicles be register in order to use/park-at the amenities.  We owned the Comanche before moving here.  Every year, we have to verify our vehicles.  One year I looked at the HOA's preprinted list of our vehicles and they changed it to a Commander.  We went to the HOA office to inform them that the truck is a Comanche.

 

The persons response: I've never heard of a Jeep Comanche.

I was expecting the HOA conversation to go a different direction considering a Comanche is 15 years older than a Commander and there’s a bit of a reputation with HOAs and old trucks.

[Spinnakerblue89]

1 hour ago, 87MJTIM said:

Somewhat similar story, though not as funny.

 

I live in home owners association (HOA).  The HOA requires all vehicles be register in order to use/park-at the amenities.  We owned the Comanche before moving here.  Every year, we have to verify our vehicles.  One year I looked at the HOA's preprinted list of our vehicles and they changed it to a Commander.  We went to the HOA office to inform them that the truck is a Comanche.

 

The persons response: I've never heard of a Jeep Comanche.

And that's a sign you have a conversation piece. 

[Spinnakerblue89]

The thing about factory chassis codes is we use those in the production environment a lot. For seven years I worked for a fuel tank supplier. We never said Mazda CX-50 gas tank, we said Mazda J34A. Nodge Ditro/Leep Jiberty was KA/KK. Ford was always the "U" code. 

 

Speaking of which, since I was responsible for leading all of the stress and other testing on the gas tanks, there is a difference with the Nitro tanks from their Liberty counterparts, even though they may look the same. 

 

So yeah, the chassis codes make sense in a production environment. I can just imagine working in a factory at the time having to make "XJ" parts.

[87MJTIM]

Another story:

 

I was returning to my truck and a "young" woman complemented me on the truck.  She told me she has learn to drive on one those...except it was the "station wagon."

 

She asked me if I did the work or had someone "convert it to a pickup."  ?!?!?!

 

I informed her that Jeep made it that way.

 

Her response: I didn't know Jeep made a pick up!

 

(Only from '46 to '92.)

[Spinnakerblue89]

54 minutes ago, 87MJTIM said:

Another story:

 

I was returning to my truck and a "young" woman complemented me on the truck.  She told me she has learn to drive on one those...except it was the "station wagon."

 

She asked me if I did the work or had someone "convert it to a pickup."  ?!?!?!

 

I informed her that Jeep made it that way.

 

Her response: I didn't know Jeep made a pick up!

 

(Only from '46 to '92.)

Don't count the "Gladiator" of new? I give it a hard time only for the name, same I as I give the Mach E a hard time for falsely being branded a Mustang. 

[87MJTIM]

1 minute ago, Spinnakerblue89 said:

Don't count the "Gladiator" of new? I give it a hard time only for the name, same I as I give the Mach E a hard time for falsely being branded a Mustang. 

 

When this occurred, the Gladiator was barely a concept. 

 

I consider the Gladiator more of a Scrambler, than the line of Jeep pick ups (Willys, J-series, MJ), but that's just me.

[Spinnakerblue89]

5 minutes ago, 87MJTIM said:

 

When this occurred, the Gladiator was barely a concept. 

 

I consider the Gladiator more of a Scrambler, than the line of Jeep pick ups (Willys, J-series, MJ), but that's just me.

That's the same thing I say. Likely they didn't think Scrambler would be as appealing as something based like Gladiator- I don't blame them. In this day I doubt we'll ever see another Comanche return because the European overlords at Stellantis didn't seem to keen on keeping the name Cherokee when their nation was alleged to take offense to it. 

[pizzaman09]

Depends on the brand, I rarely use the term MJ because very few people know it, occasionally I use XJ and ZJ as more folks know it.  Now when I'm talking BMWs, I use the chassis codes all the time and most people into sports cars know the common ones.  

 

The number of folks that have told me that they had no idea that Jeep made the Comanche or that they used to make trucks is high.  However just as many people know what they are and are excited as they haven't seen one in a long time.

[Spinnakerblue89]

13 hours ago, pizzaman09 said:

Depends on the brand, I rarely use the term MJ because very few people know it, occasionally I use XJ and ZJ as more folks know it.  Now when I'm talking BMWs, I use the chassis codes all the time and most people into sports cars know the common ones.  

 

The number of folks that have told me that they had no idea that Jeep made the Comanche or that they used to make trucks is high.  However just as many people know what they are and are excited as they haven't seen one in a long time.

I have very much the same experience.

[Htchevyii]

The model code really comes into play for vehicles that they've made forever like the Mustang. Try searching for a part, even if you put in the year you'll get a bunch of messed up results. This doesn't apply to actual parts lookup catalogs, just use year, make and model there. Even my 1989 XJ is very hard to search for without putting XJ in the mix. You get parts for full sized Jeeps, newer Cherokees, Grand Cherokees ETC. At least there aren't a bunch of other vehicles named Comanche out there, and probably never will be another at this point. 

[eaglescout526]

8 minutes ago, Htchevyii said:

Comanche out there

Sometimes you’ll get the air plane. 

[watchamakalit]

1 hour ago, eaglescout526 said:

Sometimes you’ll get the air plane. 

Or the Ranger bass boat....

[Eagle]

On 4/3/2024 at 11:39 AM, 87MJTIM said:

 

I consider the Gladiator more of a Scrambler, than the line of Jeep pick ups (Willys, J-series, MJ), but that's just me.

 

It's not just you. I also consider the Gladiator to be a more modern Scrambler. I'm starting to see some of them on the road -- they still look stupid, IMHO -- but I haven't yet seen a single one of them doing anything that requires a pickup truck, and I haven't seen one that has tools in the back or a contractor's name painted on the driver's door. The new Gladiator isn't a pickup truck -- it's a life style vehicle.

[87MJTIM]

24 minutes ago, Eagle said:

 

It's not just you. I also consider the Gladiator to be a more modern Scrambler. I'm starting to see some of them on the road -- they still look stupid, IMHO -- but I haven't yet seen a single one of them doing anything that requires a pickup truck, and I haven't seen one that has tools in the back or a contractor's name painted on the driver's door. The new Gladiator isn't a pickup truck -- it's a life style vehicle.

 

It's a BMW.  Big Money Waster.

[Eagle]

Sadly, Jeep currently doesn't make anything I might be interested in buying or owning. I think I was done when they stopped testing new vehicles by driving the Rubicon Trail, and instead just slapping a "Trail rated" badge on them.

[ghetdjc320]

On 4/8/2024 at 6:37 PM, eaglescout526 said:

Sometimes you’ll get the air plane. 

This is true . Happened several times searching for “Comanche” parts. Always thought it would be neat to own a Piper Comanche as well. Nice size planes

[pizzaman09]

There was a variant of the International Scout named the Comanche, like a trim level.  I've come across that a couple times.  

[Spinnakerblue89]

For me the new Gladiator is a lifestyle truck, as someone else had mentioned. Besides, it doesn't seem as practical for the money you pay. I find the bed itself to be insufficient in dimension. At the same price point, you can find a more practical pickup. 

 

If I'm being forthright, I absolutely worry about Stellantis getting their hands on the Comanche nameplate because I have a hunch it would be based off a platform ill-suited to the task. It would ruin the name in my book. Best to let it ride the coat tail of history.

[Spinnakerblue89]

1 minute ago, pizzaman09 said:

There was a variant of the International Scout named the Comanche, like a trim level.  I've come across that a couple times.  

Comanche engine. It was a 4 cylinder that they offered with a turbo, which brought it up to a mighty 111hp. By all accounts it's a good engine, and I believe a majority of Scouts had it up to MY 1980. But if you lived in a hilly area or did a lot of highway travel, you often opted for larger options. 

[87MJTIM]

I doubt that the name Comanche will get used again. The PC crowd has blocked the use of “culturally sensitive names “ by Big Business. Jeep is getting flack for Cherokee   
 

Of course I could be wrong.