1972 AM General AMC Jeep Postal Van Service Vehicle

Description for Other Makes FJ-8 Series from American General 1972

Build date July, 972 as a Model FJ-8 Postal Service Vehicle. Initially served as a postal delivery van. In 1986 it went under private ownership. Mileage on Title Certificate in 1986 says odometer was at 47,030 miles. In 2015 it stands at 48,732 miles. The story I heard from 2nd owner: it was used as a sales van for an apple orchard in Southwestern MN. and hardly ever went off the orchard property.

AM General Corporation, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American Motors Corporation, AMC). AMC purchased Kaiser's Jeep utility operations in 1970 and ran it until AMC when they partnered with Renault in 1980. Chrysler acquired Renault's stake in AMC in 1980 and Jeep continues today under Chrysler Corporation. From 1971 AM General built many service vehicles for the US Post Office and other Government divisions. AM General is in business today and produces heavy duty military vehicles including Humvees. You can Google it.

This is mounted on a AMC jeep chassis with heavy springs and running gear. The motor is a 232 inline 6 cylinder AMC. It has right hand drive. It is a Borg-Warner T-35 three speed automatic transmission. I have been able to start the engine using an independent gas tank connected to the carb. The engine knocks loudly and smokes but it still runs. The fuel pump leaks. Parts for the engine, ransmission, unning gear are all AMC parts and readily available & cheap in a lot of cases. Any auto parts store will have many common parts available. Any special parts for these vehicles pop up on eBay all the time, r are at many jeep aficionado web sites. Nothing is too hard to come by for these vehicles but they are getting harder to find intact and good condition. This FJ-8 van shares parts with the DJ-5A (1968-70) and DJ-5B (1971-72) regular style postal jeeps which are also the similar to the consumer production 1968-72 AMC Jeeps. Vehicle dimensions: 7' tall, ' wide, 1' length. Will fit in any garage with an 8' door. Not that big as it is on a 1/2 ton jeep chassis.

I acquired things for installation and these are included: 2 nice right sized school bus seats that fit in the rear area, omplete spare 258 AMC 6 cylinder which should be a fit (just bored bigger), as Title Plate on vehicle. Have Minnesota Title from previous owner undated and open for registration in your name, ave hard to obtain Service Manual, perators Manual and Service Parts List manual. These tell all assembly, arts, perations. Have keys, ave new replacement radiator. Have factory rebuilt Carter carburetor, ave new fuel pump. DO NOT have time now or in future to work on this vehicle.

Disclosures, s best I can recall: Rear slide up door is the most deteriorated part on the vehicle but certainly complete and restoreable. The step up areas have rust out at the front but the rest if the step ups are solid so a repair here will solve that problem. Doors slide on a 1/2" x 1/2 square steel rail which i have removed (but retained) so the doors can easily be opened. That area where the doors slide into the pocket will require some work to clean up.

Overall I do not know how many coats of paint are on it but that has helped it minimize rust. It has been in a very dry barn the past 5 years of my ownership. The "flat glass" windshield is cracked. Tires are used and were installed 4-5 years ago. This is a used vehicle so expect that you may discover other things now or after you own it. Ask questions and i will reply. All tires hold air and it rolls easily rolls for loading. You arrange pickup or shipping. I can make a suggestion on a reliable transporter used several times so you can get a quote. Check pictures for other conditions.