what year is my CJ5?

I bought this with no title and the PO obviously wasn't the original owner. He said he thought it was a '69 but last week I bought a tailgate for a 55-75 that doesn't fit. I can't find a VIN anywhere. Any help is appreciated.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/schuesslerje/DSCN0814.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/schuesslerje/DSCN0813.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/schuesslerje/DSCN0812.jpg

 

Looks like a 70's something to me. It doesn't have the scoop/swish on the back rear tub. The gas tank section on the driver door is filled in. The front parking light holes(beneath the headlights) look too large to be from the 50's-60's and it looks like there is a side turn signal light groove in the front fender.

I'm sure someone else might be able to get closer to the correct date though.

 

http://www.earlycj5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28444
Look here, you should be able to find your answers.

 

Thi was a hard one to find out. I have just finished a massive search into this and had come up with zero results. I'm wondering if the VIN location was changed after the AMC requisition?:?

 

I have two frame's from that era, a '74 and a '75, and I have searched them for a VIN stamping and can't find one.

 

I don't mean to monopolize this thread, but seems to me that most major automotive manufacturers stamped their frames as a means of identification in the assembly plant as well as a way to identify stolen and/or hacked vehicles recovered. Is this something that AMC just did not participate in?

 

http://jeepfan.com/tech/tech_vincj.htm
http://jeepfan.com/tech/tech_vinref.htm
So far, this is the best that I can come up with.
But it still requires a stamped/typed VIN#.

 

My '56 CJ5 frame VIN is stamped in the two places it's supposed to be stamped, but they're stamped so lightly you can barely see them, and the frame is completely naked, sitting on sawhorses. Even after I found the numbers and lightly sanded the areas, you still can barely make them out, and my frame is cherry, it's not rusted or painted several times. It just wasn't stamped very hard.

 

Originally may not have had a tailgate many CJ5s in the '70s didn't have them. PO cut a hole for ya!

 

The Jeep letters low on the cowl started mid '74, so the body could be anything later than that. Looks like a '76-on column. What does the drivers floor look like? '75 and earlier have a large, removable panel in the front floors, as well as a toolbox under the passenger seat. The '76-on frame is wider at the rear - '75 and earlier has a ladder frame with the frame rails parallel front to back. Rear springs look wide, so I'd say '76 or later. Normally you could tell from the frame in front of the grille, but it's so hacked up that ID is difficult.

After '76 most of the changes were in the drivetrain, and the appearance didn't change. Considering how heavily modified this Jeep is, I don't think you'll be able to pin it down any closer than 76-83.

What are your plans for this Jeep?

 

When I bought this Jeep about a month ago, I bought it from a guy that had it parked in his backyard for the last 5 years with plans of getting it running again, but I don't think even he so much as looked at it, it just sat. The original owner had built this as a rockcrawler, but those aren't my intentions with it. This is my first restoration attempt, right now I have the frame parked with a car cover over it, the entire drivetrain is being sold and the body is in my garage getting stripped and body work done. My goal is to just have a Jeep to tool around in (go to the beach, hit the trails) but I just want it to be something that I had built.

Thanks everyone for your input, you helped out alot.

 

From first glance it looks like a '76 I used to have...I do have a couple questions for ya...Do you still have the drivetrain? We may be able to narrow things down a little more by looking at the numbers on some of your parts and cross-ref them with the years they were used. It is tough to say wat was original or not on stuff like this. Your biggest clue that it didn't come b4 76 is that stamp in the side of the body and the way the windshield sits, the '75 I have now has more of a classic look to the way jeep is stamped and the windshield on '75 and earliers sits up more straight than the 76. I am getting a parts catalog soon so if you want to cross-reference some things let me know.

 

the position of "JEEP" on the side indicates to me 1975 and later body....

the 1974 had "JEEP" positioned higher on the side........

 

AFAIK it was sometime in the '74 model year that the position (and shape) of the font changed. Certainly all '75s had the embossed "Jeep" lower on the cowl.

Here's my green '73, partly obscured, same position as earlier Jeeps with a different font:


Here's my yellow '75, with the lower position and yet another font:

 

Was it 80 then that "Jeep" on the side became "Joop" with "Jeep" decals over it?

 

will do sdurkee. Thanks