1984 Jeep Wagoneer Limited Is Junkyard Treasure in Colorado

Even as the United States government bailed out flailing Chrysler in the late 1970s, Uncle Sam gave the similarly troubled American Motors Corporation the cold shoulder.

This drove AMC into the arms of Renault (then owned by the French government), which resulted in a bunch of cars we've all forgotten—and one truck that changed the American automotive landscape forever.

That truck was the Jeep XJ Cherokee, which debuted as a 1984 model. I've found one of those now-rare first-year XJs in a boneyard between Denver and Cheyenne.

For the 1984 through 1990 model years, the top trim level for the Cherokee was given the old Wagoneer name, even as production of the massive early-60s-vintage SJ Wagoneer continued (through 1991) with Grand Wagoneer badging. Meanwhile, a pickup version of the XJ Cherokee called the Comanche was built for the 1986 through 1992 model years.

The Cherokee name itself went back to 1974, when a sporty two-door version of the SJ Wagoneer got that name.

With a development team spearheaded by Renault's brilliant François Castaing, the new unibody XJ Cherokee had nearly as much interior space as its monstrous SJ predecessor while weighing 1,200 pounds less and looking credibly outdoorsy. It was reasonably competent off-road but rode like a car on pavement, while getting markedly un-truck-ish fuel economy.

Suburban commuters took note and made the XJ a smash sales hit; Jeep dealers in the United States moved nearly twice as many new vehicles in 1984 as they had in the previous year.

1984 was also the first model year for Chrysler's revolutionary new K-platform-derived minivans. Few realized it at the time, but those minivans and the Jeep XJ marked the beginning of the end for station wagon relevance in the United States. Lee Iacocca understood this very well and had Chrysler buy AMC in 1987, glomming not just the XJ Cherokee but Castaing and the future Grand Cherokee in the process.

The XJ Cherokee's success resulted in Ford creating the huge-selling Explorer for the 1991 model year, with Chrysler putting the hammer down on the truckification of America's (and, eventually, the world's) roads with the Grand Cherokee in 1993. Sedans, hatchbacks and just about every vehicle not at least somewhat utility-shaped have been pushed to the margins as the heirs to the XJ Cherokee rose to dominance.

AMC didn't begin installing its thirsty but tough straight-six engine in the XJ Cherokee until the 1987 model year. 1984-1986 XJs had the AMC 2.5-liter straight-four (which used some aspects of the six's design to save on production costs but wasn't just a cut-down 4.0) as base equipment, but AMC went to General Motors to buy six-cylinder power for these trucks.

This one has a GM 2.8-liter 60° V6 rated at 110 hp and 145 lb-ft. Citations, Cavaliers, S-10s, Fieros, and many other GM cars got 2.8-liter power during the 1980s. This caused confusion among XJ owners and parts-counter employees over the years, because many of them believed the 2.5-liter four-bangers were GM Iron Dukes and not AMC engines, assuming GM power across the board. (Interestingly, the AMC 2.5-liter stayed in production a full decade longer than did the Duke).

This truck is a fully loaded Wagoneer Limited, so the original purchaser surely insisted on the optional automatic transmission rather than the base four-speed manual. The MSRP for this truck was $17,381 ($53,274 in 2024 dollars), with the V6 adding $349 ($1,060 after inflation), while the Selec-Trac all-wheel-drive system plus automatic transmission tacked on $812 ($2,489 today). The air conditioning (no, it wasn't standard equipment even on the Wagoneer Limited) listed at $743 ($2,277 now). By the time the dust settled, the out-the-door price tag for this truck likely exceeded 60 grand in today's dollars.

By the standards of four decades later, the original XJ Cherokee was cramped, underpowered, and rough-riding, but it was just what American car shoppers wanted in 1984.

The Wagoneer name was used as the top trim-level designation for the new-for-1984 XJ Cherokee, so this truck is really a Cherokee.

This is a fully loaded truck, the most expensive XJ Cherokee available for 1984. Under the hood is a GM 2.8-liter V6, best known for powering the quicker Pontiac Fieros.

Even while the Wagoneer name went on XJ Cherokees, the Grand Wagoneer stayed on the ancient SJ platform.

Only 133,285 miles on it at age 40. The best-traveled XJ I've found was a '92 Cherokee with well over 350,000 miles on the clock.

The Wagoneer Limited was the pinnacle of the XJ line, with an MSRP of $17,381 for the four-door ($58,274 in 2024 dollars).

I've documented plenty of XJ/MJ Cherokees, Comanches, and Wagoneers over the years, but 1984 models had been elusive. Prior to this Junkyard Treasure, the earliest discarded member of the extended Jeep XJ family I'd photographed was a 1986 Comanche pickup.

It's not worth restoring in this condition, but still an interesting bit of automotive history.