A car equipped with an American V8 engine looks like this
V8s may be harder to find these days, but there are still some available from American brands.
One day when Victoria Mann was 14 years old, she came home to find an old Jeep Wagoneer Limited parked in her father’s driveway. This was not unusual. Brian Mann has been repairing and selling four-wheel drive vehicles since the 1980s.
The beige paint on this one had faded and there were some dents and rough spots on the surface. The nutmeg-colored upholstery and bucket seats were photographed. The headliner hung low. The car was very old and was manufactured 23 years before she was born.
It was hers, a $2,500 gift from her father. her first car.
“She had no clue. When she asked what that was sitting in the driveway, I said, ‘That’s your new Jeep!’ She didn’t say much for a while,” her father recalled.
Was she overjoyed?
There aren’t that many.
“I was thinking about buying a Jeep Wrangler, but when I saw this, I really thought it was something he was fixing up to sell. I guess he was hoping…” She paused, then said, “It’s not that old.”
Probably from the 21st century.
However, father and daughter together began dismantling the old Jeep and destroying the interior.
Her father tweaked the 360 V8 engine and replaced the suspension, brakes, and steering system. He installed a 6-inch lift kit and 33-inch tires on the original wheels.
Mann believes he has $10,000 invested in the 40-year-old Wagoneer. He said the ride was smooth and “will go smoothly and straight down the road at 80 mph.”
Victoria got her driver’s license and has been proudly driving her Jeep for about a year. At age 17, her opinion of this artifact changed from the day she first saw it.
“My friends think it’s great. They know that sound so they can hear me coming,” she explained of the V8’s big roar.
“She can’t hide it because my friends know what it feels like too,” her father said.
Jeep built the Wagoneer Limited for just one year. In 1984 it became the Grand Wagoneer, a name it retained until 1992.
A 1983 magazine ad for the Jeep Wagoneer Limited called it the “ultimate wagon” and it became the official vehicle of the America’s Cup. “Water covers three-quarters of the Earth’s surface. Our Wagoneer covers the rest.” Prices ranged from $16,889 to $44,600 in 2020 dollars.
The Wagoneer Limited featured tinted glass, a tilt steering wheel, cruise control, air conditioning, thick carpeting, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, a premium audio system with electronic tuning, a cassette player, and power windows, seats, and door locks.
And the fake wood panel trim that is thankfully long gone from Victoria Jeeps.
Want to talk about cars and trucks? Contact reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.
