Let’s say you’re at the traffic light and this 1978 Jeep CJ-7 pulls next to you. Would you imagine you’re idling next to a car that wouldn’t be out of place on a drag strip?
Yes, this is one Jeep that, as its windshield sticker says, never dies, it just gets faster. It owner has had the car since 1979, so this is one of those deep relationships that only get better with time.
The center piece of the offroader is now an AMC 401 CI V8 that has received its fair share of mods, from custom cams to ported cylinder heads. The owner hasn’t strapped it to a dyno yet, but he expects the output to sit somewhere around 370 hp and 440 lb-ft (597 Nm) of twist. We are, of course, talking about wheel horsepower here.
Further down the power line, we find a Turbo 400 automatic tranny and a rear end that comes from a ’73-’75 Jeep and uses special gearing. Oh and a pair of slicks at the back.
The owner plans to turn this into a 10-second Jeep. Give the relationship between them, we believe he will. As for where things stand now, the clip below shows us the CJ-7 playing the quarter mile game.
The results? A respectable 13.27s pass at 100.25 mph, which means that, even in its current state, this Jeep is quite a sleeper. And then there’s the sweet soundtrack of the thing, albeit one that kind of blows its cover.
In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist. Full profile
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