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Jason Herring - 1979 J-10
My Jeep truck story all started when I got tired of asking to borrow my friend's truck to tow my boat to Lake Michigan and back - it must have been about 1990 or 91. Being a die hard Mopar man (after a long line of Chargers, Coronets, Dusters, and later Omni/Chargers and Daytonas), I started looking for an older power wagon. I figured if I was gonna get a truck, it better be 4WD (you snowbelt people know what I'm talking about). Then one night I caught a movie, "Tremors", that featured a Jeep pickup truck, and I thought that it was about the coolest looking 4WD I'd ever seen. Well, since Chrysler bought Jeep a few years back (Kenosha being the former home of AMC), I figured that the Jeep was grandfathered in as a Mopar, so I went J-10 hunting. Not having a huge budget at the time (being fresh out of college), I found an old beater J-10 that a snow plowing company was getting rid of for the tune of $700. This came complete with a hydraulic plow (very useful in our county home's long driveway) and alot of rust. It was adorned in a beautiful Rustoleum Royal Semigloss Blue. There wasn't a body panel that didn't have alot of dents and rust - I have the before pictures to prove it. You always had to wear a cap in the truck or you'd end up with rust in your hair. Well, this was all fine for my purposes for about a year, until a former buddy of mine made a crack about my rustbucket. I told him that I was thinking about restoring it, and he said that that would never happen. I pretty much decided then and there that I'd prove him (and all the other doubters) wrong. The next several years involved the most extensive restoration I've ever done - I replaced *every* piece of sheet metal on the truck, hood to cab to bed to tailgate. My J-10 is made up of at least a dozen trucks and wagoneers; the cab came from a J-10 in Nevada; the hood, an '84 wagoneer in Kenosha; the grill, off an '84 J-10, the bed, a '74 J-10 in California, etc. I picked up a junk '76 wagoneer for $100 for the windshield (mine had a scratch worn in it from the wipers) and other misc. parts. I scavenged the air conditioning unit out of it as well. The only thing original on this truck that I know of is the frame, axles, lower steering gear and perhaps the QT. Everything else has been replaced at one point. I painted her myself; first the cab forward (I was still looking for the bed) in '94 and then the bed in '96 a month before I moved to CA. It's a urethane basecoat/clearcoat finish over urethane primer, inside and out. Last year I was getting really tired of the piece of junk 2bbl Motorcraft carb, and knowing that I'd need it running in top shape to get me and my boat to CA, I decided to go with a Holley ProJection 4di setup. I dropped on a factory 4bbl manifold, an adaptor, and after some creative wiring and plumbing I was up and running. The ProJection has been just awesome. I can't say enough good things about it - it breathed new life into my tired 360 & feels like I have a modern truck. However, that 360 is just too tired to last much longer. After a stint down the interstate the oil pressure is hanging out down in the red zone and puffing a little blue smoke. It's no wonder, after dragging my boat, fully laden with tools, appliances, etc, over the mountains; it had had a hard life long before I got it. Still starts & runs good, but the power and pressure in my daily driver is fading. So, for my next trick, I picked up a 401 short block rebuildable core & have it down at the machine shop. I'm planning on a mild RV/offroad cam, 9.5:1 compression, and a Holley aluminum intake. This ought to be in by Christmas, if all goes well. Other plans include custom front and rear pre-runner style bumpers, new seats, and maybe real mirrors one of these days (the ones in the pic are gone; I'm looking over my shoulder all the time now). I also want to get a mild lift, maybe 2-4". I was thinking about a springover or add-a-leafs. Well, that's the story so far. My relationship with J-10 has already lasted almost seven years and outlived that of several girlfriends. Luckily, my current likes big, older trucks and used to own a Jeep, so her and the J-10 get along pretty well. That's important, ya know. :) Jason Herring
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