1. Some of the options came on other CJ-5s.
2. This was the last of the old style before AMC bought Jeep and made their model change so they may have been using a lot of parts that they could get locally; consequently parts weren’t always the same.

It’s the new style…

Throughout the 1960s Kaiser’s Jeep sales had been sagging. Their previous effort the more up-scale Jeep, the Tuxedo Park was a failure. The general public never saw the Jeep as the perfect, affordable, second car as Kaiser tried to sell it. The Tux Parks were intended to draw in a different crowd than the normal buyers of the Jeep Universal. Those buyers included municipalities, farmers, industrialists, and other folks who had special needs for a vehicle, and of course hunters, and a small off-roading crowd. This left Kaiser in a sticky situation. Over half of their sales came from their military contracts in the mid 1960s (Foster, 2006). With sagging sales facing them they had to do something to turn around their fortune.

The 462 was the first step in the direction that gave Jeep the image it enjoys today. Today the Jeep Wrangler is seen as a sporty, go anywhere, do anything vehicle for fun loving people, not some farm implement or a vehicle used to maintain highway right-of-ways. The 462 was a radical departure from that previous image. It had the sporty look, big tires (for that day), a V6, extra gauges, a hood stripe, and a roll bar. All of which probably seem tame today when you look at a Wrangler Rubicon or Rubicon Unlimited that come with a 4.0L I6, 4.10 gears in the axles, a 4:1 low range in the transfer case, 31″ tires, and electronic lockers. But without the direction of the 462 Jeep might not have started down the road to the TJ and LJ Rubicon models. Ultimately it was the Renegades that came onto the scene that made a bigger splash. Even though there were only a couple hundred of both the Renegade I and Renegade IIs made, the Renegade name was what AMC cashed in on in the 1970s after the Kaiser buyout.

Press Releases

From a Kaiser Jeep Corp. Press Release

Way-out action is what is happening with the way-out vehicle. The ‘Jeep’ Renegade I built by Kaiser Jeep Corporation. Based on the renowned ‘Jeep’ Universal CJ-5, the special “er” accessory package adds a racing-type roll bar, rear swing-away spare tire carrier, heavy duty oil pan skid plate and electric ammeter and oil gauges. Dressing comes in the form of a racy black Renegade stripe and five 8-inch wide wheels fitted with G-70 x 15 4-ply “Polyglas” white-striped tubeless tires. Four stainless steel wheel covers round out the special trim. Standard Renegade I equipment include the sizzling 160-h.p. “Dauntless” V-6 engine, front passenger bucket seat, rear seat with dual seat belts, draw bar, safety rail, heavy duty frame and suspension and rear locking differential. A full safety package, including dual sun visors and padded instrument panel, provides everything the four-wheel-drive buff could want in a vehicle. ‘Jeep’ vehicles were the first to open up ‘Jeep’ trails. The ‘Jeep’ Renegade 1 is the latest in the unequalled line of ‘Jeep’ sports-utility models — the way-out vehicles carrying on that growing outdoor recreation tradition of the ‘Jeep’ way out.”

From 4 Wheeler

Kaiser Jeep began a sales offensive on the four-wheeling market in 1969 by building a limited number of CJ-5s with a goodies package that included a V-6, rollbar, limited-slip axle, big tires, extra gauges, and other accoutrements. It was called the 462 package and as far as we know, the only ones built were for a big press event. For 1970, the package reappeared and sold as the Renegade. When AMC took over the Jeep line that year, it grabbed the ball and ran for several touchdowns. The Renegade was the first factory high-performance 4×4 package and it had all the goodies needed to claim that title. Four Wheeler didn’t test one that year and might be accused of being a little slow to grasp the significance of the Renegade, but when the V-8-powered Renegade debuted in 1972, they made up for it with an enthusiastic test.

The 1970 and 1971 Renegade I Package

Beginning with the 1970 model year the Renegade I package was available. It should be noted that it was available on 1971 model year Jeeps. This does not make the Jeep a Renegade II. These packages follow the body style and designation on the Jeep rather than model years. Thus it is possible to have a 1971 Renegade I. These Jeeps will have all the features listed below as a Renegade I, including a tailgate.

Thoughts on Production Numbers

org1970cj5 writes “I also own a 70 Renegade I in original condition. I’ve been researching for two years trying to find actual production numbers and the best information I’ve come up with is something less than 250 were made. There were 600 Renegade II’s made in 71.”

Dealers Could Not Order a Renegade II

wyomike writes “Let me give a little back ground on the RI and RII. As you know Kaiser was not doing too good when they got bought out by AMC in the spring of 1970. Even before that, there was talks between AMC and Kaiser. One of the results was that they were trying to make sales to the new and young generation of people vs. the old standby hunters, farmers, etc., to increase sales. The idea they came up with was to make a CJ-5 “sporty”, like a lot of the car companies were doing. The RI was the result of this, followed by the RII. According to the dealer I bought my RII from, Hank Lockin, he said that the dealers could not order a RII, AMC picked who got them. Remember there were only about 600 made. I don’t remember how Hank said the dealers were picked, but the state of Wyoming only got 2. One here in Sheridan that I bought and one at a dealer down in Riverton. Of course I am sure that if the dealer did not want it, they could turn it down, but I doubt any did. You might even say the RII program was more like a advertising campaign for what AMC had planned for the 72 models. I had a friend who wanted to get one and could not because of the way AMC distributed them and no more were available for the state of Wy. The point I am getting at here is that the dealer could not just go out and order a RII for someone that just walked in the door like a regular order, let alone order one with any factory options. Of course I am sure they could add dealer options if they wanted to. Because of this, unless the factory sent some out with different transmission, etc., they would all be the same. I don’t know for sure, but knowing how car companies work, I really doubt that AMC made any RII with different main components (transmissions, engines, etc). Car companies like to do things the same on assembly lines, and not have changes. Of course as small parts go, I am sure that AMC was using up what they had and so different small items might be different (oil gages, alternator, etc.). As far as what parts manuals show, I think I would be careful on trying to determine what kind of Jeep you had by parts numbers in the manual. Remember that right at this time with AMC doing the buy out, I am sure that there was a lot going on in the background and I have a feeling that AMC was not real really worried about the things done in the past and putting together manuals for old items was not on the top of there list.

How much all this pertained to the R I, I don’t know for sure, but I have a feeling that it was the same case in a lot of it.

For what it’s worth that’s how I remember thing”

Renegade I Colors

There are three four colors of Renegade I that I have now been able to document.

• Hugger Orange (Davis, 1970)
• Green
• Purple
• Sierra (?) Blue (Abrams, 2009)

1970 Jeep Renegade I

org1970cj5's 1970 Renegade I in green

Blue 1970 Renegade I

Blue 1970 Renegade I undercarriage

Blue Renegade I Dash Detail

1970 Renegade I Package Options List

• Kelsey-Hayes 15×8 inch steel wheels
• Oil and ammeter gages mounted to the left of the steering column
• Padded dash
• Roll bar with padding
• Limited slip differential
• Heavy duty spring package¹
• Racing stripe on sides of hood with “Renegade I” in reverse²
• V-6 225 engine
• Driver side rear view mirror³
• Padded sun visors
• Two tone seats⁴
• Passenger and rear seat (don’t laugh, passenger seats were considered an option back then)
• Oil pan skid plate
• Rear mounted spare on swing away tire carrier⁶

Original Paperwork for a late 1970 or 1971 Renegade I

Mike Davis was kind enough to share his original purchase paperwork with us for his Hugger Orange Renegade I. These are available as PDF files.

• Receipt Image 1 (Davis 1970)
• Receipt Image 2 (Davis 1970)
• Receipt Image 3 (Davis 1970)

Renegade I Wiring Diagram

T.R. Yelton created this wiring diagram of the Renegade I which is different from a “normal” V6 CJ-5 due to additional gauges.
Renegade I Wiring Diagram

The 1971 Renegade II Package

An image suitable for use as a computer desktop, 2415x1934 pixels of this image is available for download by clicking on this image.

Renegade II Colors

There is a good bit of confusion among enthusiasts about the colors offered on the Renegade II. Most commonly acknowledged are the colors shown in the above photo. But there are also reports of the package being available in Plum and Blue (Marski 2003). In his book, The Story of Jeep, Patrick Foster writes that the Renegade IIs were available in the first four colors, two colors of orange, the yellow and green; production numbers are from Foster (1998). Paint code for all colors is 999.

• Baja Yellow (200) (Foster 1998)
• Mint Green (200) (Foster 1998)
• Riverside Orange (50) (Foster 1998)
• Big Bad Orange (150) (Foster 1998)
• Sierra Blue (Marski 2003)
• Plum Metallic (Marski 2003)

The colors were to commemorate wins at Baja, Riverside and the Mint 400.

WYOMIKE's Renegade II he purchased new in 1971.

Renegade II Package Options List

• Aluminum alloy wheels⁷
• H78-15 Goodyear Polyglass Suburbanite tires (Harkins, 2008)
• Oil and ammeter gages to the left of the steering column
• Padded dash
• Roll bar with padding
• Limited slip rear differential
• Heavy duty rear spring⁸
• Charcoal colored racing stripe with Renegade II in reverse on side of hood and charcoal hood blister
• V-6 225 engine
• Driver side rear view mirror²
• Padded sun visors
• Two Tone seats⁴
• Passenger and rear seat (don’t laugh, passenger seats were still considered an option a year later)
• Fixed rear mount spare with a fixed panel tub, no tail gate
• WYOMIKE has confirmed, a 22 inch two-core HD radiator came stock on his Renegade II, though this has been pointed out that the 22 inch two-core HD radiator was an option on the V6 CJ-5.

Thanks to all the members of the Early CJ-5 and Dauntless V6 Forum that contributed to this page, especially WYOMIKE, org1970cj5, and dnb5853 for the photos of their respective Renegades.

Elsewhere on the web see

Tonka Renegade II Toy on the CJ-3B Page

Early CJ-5 Renegade hood stickers are available from Golden Eagle Decals

Early CJ-5 Renegade hood stickers are also available here Phoenix Graphix

Frank Sanborn, fellow Jeep owner offers them, fsanborn@cablespeed.com, I’ve met Frank and purchased a 1/2 cab from him and will say you can’t do business with a nicer more helpful guy.

1. Standard V-6 was ten Front and five Rear, RI had 12 Front 13 Rear.
2. Early RI’s did not have charcoal hood blister, the last RI’s titled as 1971 model year Jeeps appear to have had this feature.
3. Some were round, some were rectangular.
4. Photo here, other options were apparently available through the dealers such as these diamond tuck seats
5. The RI still had a tailgate, pictured here , note the bracket for the carrier to attach to on the left.
6. Two kinds were plied, American Racing may have been the source for them, picture of what is thought to be the Renegade II style, the later (Intermediate?) Renegade wheels had more of an oval and less “D” shape slot.
7. Standard V-6 was ten front leaves, five rear leaves. The RII had 10 front leaves, 12 rear leaves

References

1. Abrams, B. 2009. Photographs of blue 1970 Renegade I sold in Sidney, NE, Dec. 2009

2. Davis, M. 1970. Original Purchase Paperwork for 1970 Renegade I

3. Foster, P.R. The Story of Jeep. 1998. Iola: Krause Publications, 1998.

4. Foster, P.R., “2006 Spring Midwest Willys Reunion Keynote Speaker”, Presentation, 2006.

5. Harkins, M., “RenII Tire Size” Thread in Earlycj5.com Forums, 2008, <http://earlycj5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54879>.

6. Marski, J., “Unofficial ‘Jeep’ History”, webpage, 2003