There’s no retirement plan for old farm trucks. When they complete their last job and can’t go any further, they wind up as rusting, rotting stands for can-focused shooting practice. If a window gets blasted out, so be it; it’ll just be one part missing from a forgotten corpse that happens to be above ground.
Knowing that makes the purchase of a 1985 Jeep J10 by Jalopnik‘s David Tracy so uplifting. He plucked the decaying, filth-ridden, lusterless, beast of burden off of a farm in Yadkinville, North Carolina. Obviously, it’s lived through a rough 30 years and 65,000 miles.
However, it’s still clinging to life in several ways. For instance, its frame is free of rust. Despite needing its carburetor rebuilt, the 258-cubic-inch I6 runs, as does the AC and four-wheel drive system.
Clearly, this J10 could be much better off, though. Tracy is going to give it a new lease on life by giving it fresh rubber, overhauling the brakes, simplifying the engine, and completely restoring the body and interior.
Raise your mason jars of moonshine. Here’s to another 30 years of this handsome and hard-working Jeep!
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
