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MJ claiming to be some sort of preproduction prototype?


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5 hours ago, eaglescout526 said:

I feel like I am looking at someones XJW parts transferred to an MJ. 

I agree the door cards say wagoneer on them. I thought the early trucks had the 4x4 emblem on the bed by the tail lights not on the b pillar. 

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The door panels have the "Wagoneer" nameplate, I think everyone has noticed that.  What I find strange is is the door panels are manual windows.  I thought all XJWs had power windows, but perhaps it was an option.  I guess I'm assuming they were pulled from a Waggy and put on the MJ.  If they are original then it is what it is.

I really dig the color matched dash bezels.

Cowl panel has the single, center positioned windshield sprayer nozzle, which would be correct for a very early XJ/MJ.

Can't tell if the radio antenna is missing or is power retractable.

I would be interested to see the engine compartment and tailgate.

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54 minutes ago, Pete M said:

dang.  was looking to see if they posted more pics but facebook has either buried the post or it got deleted.  I can't find it again. :( 

It showed back up in my feed. I tagged you in the comments. I should’ve grabbed the link off of the post :doh:

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1 hour ago, schardein said:

What I find strange is is the door panels are manual windows.  I thought all XJWs had power windows, but perhaps it was an option.  

Base XJWs could have either or. The panels on my XJ I pulled from an 86 base XJW with power locks but manual windows. 

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12 hours ago, eaglescout526 said:

Base XJWs could have either or. The panels on my XJ I pulled from an 86 base XJW with power locks but manual windows. 

Cool.

No fender emblems, not the greatest pictures, but looks like no indication that it ever had them.  I wonder if the cowl emblems are the early brushed finish?  And I'm still curious to see the tailgate and what emblems might be there.

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I’m skeptical. 
There’s lots of erroneous title documents out there that cite model year as the production date or year of purchase. There’s lots of MJs built in 1985 that would have been purchased that year. 
Its also a common belief that you can’t legally remove and replace a vin tag back onto the vehicle it came off of, and I’ve seen people strongly insist you need to go get an assigned vin to make your vehicle legal after a dash swap, which considering this truck looks to have other Waggy interior parts swapped in seems likely.

Its also not unheard of to end up with an assigned vin when going through a lost title process. There’s other reasons as well the state could assign a new VIN to a vehicle.

 
MJs weren’t assembled in Kenosha. AMC was building things that weren’t Jeeps there, but I don’t know what of their design work actually happened at the assembly plants. It seems odd that something assembled elsewhere would end up there. It’s also unusual for preproduction models to end up anywhere other than corporate storage or a recycling facility.
 

Obviously I can’t say with certainty it’s not a preproduction vehicle. It looks like a nice clean truck that’s been well cared for. But you’d think that would mean there’d be a little more evidence than an assigned vin tag if that’s actually what it is. And you’d think the assigned vin would be done in the state where the vehicle was produced, or where the company HQ was located. Or the company would just slap their own vin on it like they do every other vehicle they produce. 

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4 minutes ago, gogmorgo said:

MJs weren’t assembled in Kenosha. AMC was building things that weren’t Jeeps there, but I don’t know what of their design work actually happened at the assembly plants. It seems odd that something assembled elsewhere would end up there. It’s also unusual for preproduction models to end up anywhere other than corporate storage or a recycling facility.

This is why I was skeptical too. Even by this point, AMCs only model left, the Eagle, was being built in Canada. I think Kenosha was being used for the Renaults. But the 2.5L plant was still in Kenosha and this truck has one. 

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17 minutes ago, 89 MJ said:

This is why I was skeptical too. Even by this point, AMCs only model left, the Eagle, was being built in Canada. I think Kenosha was being used for the Renaults. But the 2.5L plant was still in Kenosha and this truck has one. 

They were also building the 4.0 there and every other AMC inline six, and some after the fact redesigning was necessary to make it fit in the XJ/MJ engine bay. So it’s not totally out to lunch that a truck could have ended up there for that process. But it’s still just speculation in either case. 

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