1971 Jeepster Commando: The ‘Muscle’ Jeep that had No Muscle!
As the muscle car era reached its peak, American Motors joined forces with Hurst on the Commando. But there was one little problem…
For American Motors, 1970 wasn’t just the start of a new decade. It was also a time when the then-owner of the Jeep brand saw Jeepster sales begin to slide. With a younger, muscle car-obsessed consumer dominating the market, they wanted to offer something that might appeal to that crowd. And since American Motors had already worked with Hurst Performance Products, they leaned on them to come up with a sporty version of the ‘ute. Thus, the Jeepster Commando was born. Unfortunately, the idea didn’t go over well with consumers, which makes this example, part of Omix-ADA‘s “Jeep Collection,” quite the find.
Omix-ADA is not just a renowned maker/seller of Jeep parts, but also an important member of the Jeep community. The idea behind the Jeep Collection is to help preserve the brand’s heritage and have easy access to vehicles for product development. Over time, the collection has grown to include a number of rare, significant Jeeps. We recently had the pleasure of speaking with the Jeep Collection’s curator, Dave Logan, about these unique vehicles for JK Forum‘s new series, “Behind the Metal.”
JK Forum: Can you tell us a little bit about the history of the Jeepster Commando and how it came to be?
Dave Logan: AMC bought Jeep in 1970. Part of the vehicle lineup, from ’67 to ’73, were these Commandos. They weren’t selling all that well, so they decided they needed to attract a younger, sportier group of people or demographic. So, they partnered with Hurst to see if they could come up with something to bump up sales. The idea was working with the muscle cars; the Hurst 442 and so forth.
The idea didn’t go over so well, which makes these unique vehicles quite rare.
Only around 100 were built. That’s not an exact number, because it’s difficult to know. It’s also difficult to know exactly how many are left. The number may be more than 100, but not significantly more.
What made these “muscle” Jeeps different from other special editions at that time?
Part of the package is you got a Hurst shifter, naturally. And an incredibly ugly hood scoop, chrome bumper, street tires, and it’s got a little six cylinder in it. It’s a good six cylinder, but the point being is it was supposed to be a muscle car. Adding red and blue stripes and little Hurst badges and a shifter didn’t make it go any faster than a standard Jeepster on a dealership lot.
Customers obviously didn’t fall for it.
It was kind of a marketing failure. But that makes it a collector’s dream because they are now hard to find.
What kind of condition did you find this particular Jeepster Commando in?
You’ll notice in the pictures that there’s a fair amount of chrome on it. And some decals on the rear window. The wheels are these slotted mags. None of that is there anymore. The real wheels are a white-painted steel wheel with a hubcap, and we’ve since put those back on. We also removed the window tint and the decals. We’ve basically put it closer to stock. We removed the chrome front grille cover and transmission cooler. It was in pretty good shape and pretty clean when we found it, but we have worked to make it more original.
To see more of the incredible Jeep Collection, head over here!