Golden Eagle?

I would like a better understanding of the buying practices when purchasing a new Jeep back in the 70s. Would a buyer be able to choose any and all options on the Jeep he was buying? Was it typical to have a fully loaded Jeep and not have it be a Golden Eagle or Renegade? I have a 79 that seems to have most all options, T-18, power brakes, clock, tech and dash pad. Nothing indicates that I have a Golden Eagle, but given the way dealers have sold options as package deals why would one order all the options and forgo the decals.

 

From my experience in that era, only the stripes, wheels and paint colors were exclusive to the packages. You could get every other option separately. I know this was true for the intermediate Renegades... you could even get the wheels if you'd let the dealer install them. The Renegade was a performance and appearance package, but only the appearance bits were exclusive. Not sure if there was any price advantage to the Renegade and Golden Eagle package though.

 

Tim, if the paint colors were exclusive would I know if I had a Golden Eagle by the paint code?

 

Yeah, I would think so. Certainly you can ID the Renegades that way.

Did the Golden Eagles have special colors?

 

None other then gold that I know of.

 

If a gold eagle is painted gold, why isn’t gold listed as a color in the 79 FSM?

 

I have a 78 golden eagle They only came in three colors. Mocha Brown, White or Black. and I'm not really sure of the Black. Over the years golden eagle have gone away since most did not want to spend $500 for the eagle sticker. Also the graphic being SO large only lasted 5-8 years. Even if the jeep hasn't been repainted it is possible they removed the decal. You can buy the decal new from Austin Jeeps. He is claiming a trademark on the thing which I think it could be challanged. I have a full size tracing of my original graphics and have played with the idea of producing new decals since I have a vinyl graphics machine.

When I repaint mine I plane on doing the grapchics in base coat and then clear coating the whole works.

 

BTW do you have the original seats in the Jeep? If so they would most likely be Levi seats if it was a G.E.

 

i was told that my jeep is a golden eagle by the po. he really didnt know much about it though. the hood of my cj is fiberglass, stock v-8, deleted tailgate, and i have a full eagle graphic on the hood and graphics going down the sides. the thing is though out of every golden eagle ive seen i still havent seen any with decals like mine. there really isnt anything else to show me that the graphic wasnt just added later. the eagle graphic is more like a fire bird graphic.

 

Bruce, when you said they only come in three colors (Mocha brown, White or Black) did you mean only in 1978? Maybe they kept with brown, white and black for all years of the Golden Eagle, but would change the tint from time to time. In 79 they didn’t have a Mocha Brown, but rather Alpace Brown Metallic and Sable Brown Metallic.

The brown, white and black make sense giving the Golden Eagle’s plumage is dark brown overall, with some white at the base of the tail and golden-to-blond feathers on the back of the head the bill and talons are black.

 

I had a '79 CJ7, and it was a plain Jane I6/T150, soft top with blue Levi's seats and silver body. The top was black, but had been replaced by the PO.

Paul

 

http://www.goldeneagledecals.com

 

I remember seeing the Mocha Brown the most with gold decals. Brown was big in the late 70's

 

I kinda like the brown...

 

Me too! It would be my first choice on a CJ7 --->Golden Eagle

 

parked on a side street today, I saw an old jeep with the large round turn signal lights, and it had what looked to be, the original paint with the Golden Eagle decals. They both were faded.
It was what I would call a bronze color. I had to laugh because there was an old red brick under one of the wheels in lieu of a working parking brake. I wonder if he throws the brick under the seat when he drives away.

I thought about putting a note on the windshield asking if he wanted to sell it, but I know I dont like to find them on mine.