We have now the unique Jeep Cherokee to thank (or blame) for the crossover’s rise. Launched for 1984, and known as XJ internally, the mannequin gained a loyal following by bridging the hole between family-friendly station wagons and burly body-on-frame SUVs. Many early XJs have been pushed into the bottom, closely modified, or chewed alive by rust, however a clean-looking instance with cool choices has popped up on Automobiles & Bids.
Jeep could have drawn inspiration from current four-wheel-drive vehicles when it began creating the XJ. Subaru had supplied wagons with four-wheel-drive for years, and American Motors Company (AMC), which Jeep was a part of, had managed to carve out a distinct segment for the four-wheel-drive Eagle wagon. Regardless, the concept was to downsize the Wagoneer-derived Cherokee right into a extra daily-drivable automobile with out dropping off-road functionality. The model notably shifted away from body-on-frame development and created a brand new structure known as Uniframe.
By downsized, we imply downsized. The unique, Wagoneer-based Cherokee measured 183.5 inches lengthy, 75.6 inches extensive, and 65.9 inches tall, and it weighed 3,764 kilos. The XJ Cherokee posted numbers of about 165, 70, and 63, respectively, and it tipped the dimensions at roughly 2,900 kilos. It was accessible with two or 4 doorways (most of its rivals have been two-door-only), which made it well-suited to family-hauling duties. Jeep’s paid wager off: The XJ-generation Cherokee practically doubled the model’s gross sales a couple of 12 months after it went on sale.
The instance listed on Automobiles & Bids is the Pioneer mannequin, which was positioned a notch above the bottom trim in 1986. It is completed in Olympic White with a blue material inside, it is using on body-colored 15-inch metal wheels, and it was ordered with swing-away spare tire provider that Jeep supplied as an choice on early fashions. It is practically unmodified and it seems to be in pretty good condition for an off-roader that is rapidly approaching its fortieth birthday. Effortlessly rugged, it completely illustrates what the time period “SUV” meant to many drivers in the course of the Eighties, and it’ll definitely strike your nostalgia chord in case you spent any period of time within the nation’s mountainous areas within the Nineteen Nineties.
Jeep consumers had three engine choices to select from in 1986. The bottom engine was a 2.5-liter four-cylinder rated at 117 horsepower and 135 pound-feet of torque. From there, prospects may take the XJ in two wildly totally different instructions. One choice was a 2.1-liter turbodiesel four-cylinder borrowed from Renault (bear in mind: AMC was underneath French management for years) and tuned to develop 85 horsepower and 132 pound-feet of torque. Alternatively, a Common Motors-sourced 2.8-liter V6 rated at 115 horsepower and 150 pound-feet of torque was supplied.
(Sure, the four-cylinder made extra horsepower than the six. This was the Eighties; ’nuff mentioned).
The 1986 instance on Automobiles & Bids is powered by the six-cylinder, which is extensively thought-about to be the extra fascinating of the three choices. The output reaches the rear or the 4 wheels by a five-speed handbook transmission and a two-speed switch case. Right here once more, that is the way you’d wish to configure one among these. The opposite transmission choices for 1986 have been a four-speed stick and a three-speed computerized.
Jeep made quite a few modifications to the XJ-generation Cherokee throughout a manufacturing run that resulted in 2001. The well-known 4.0-liter straight-six changed the two.8-liter V6 for 1987, and the 1997 mannequin 12 months introduced a brand new look that the Cherokee wore till it retired — in america, a minimum of. Manufacturing continued in China into the 2010s. Whereas the XJ was exhibiting its age within the latter years of its American life, it remained a fairly well-liked entry right into a section it helped create, and the nameplate was a part of Jeep’s portfolio by the 2023 mannequin 12 months.
Bidding on the 1986 at present stands at $1,155 with six days left in a seven-day public sale, so there’s loads of time for that determine to rise. And, it is a no-reserve public sale so the very best bidder will take house a cool and comparatively early instance of one among Jeep’s most influential fashions.
