I've been looking at various Scramblers for sale and they all seem very overpriced. I know that Kelly Blue Book is almost always less than what a car is really worth, but if you go by the prices I'm seeing they are off by 5-11x! What's up with that? I have difficulty believing anyone would buy a 20 year old Scrambler for $17,000 no matter how much it's fixed up. Is there anyplace a decent Scrambler can be bought for a reasonable price?
Rare beast to begin with:
"It's a rare unique Jeep that had very limited production of around 27000 units spanning 1981-1986."
-- JimG
80' CJ-7 258 CID 35" BFG MT on 15x10 Centerlines D44 Rear, Dana 30 Front. SOA 4.56 Gears, LockRight F&R Dana 300 w/4:1 & Currie twin sticks Warn X8000i w/ dual batteries
Here's one (this guy will never sell... won't even off-road it anymore)!
How do you insure something like that? I mean if the book value is, say, $2000 and some dude takes you out and it's totalled, $2000 is the most the insurance company is gonna give you for it.
This guy has a lot of scramblers from 2K on up:
I was able to find my '82 Scrambler here in PA for $5500. It had a half-assed Wagoneer powertrain swapped into it (401, T/H400 and Q-Trac), but the body was solid, 2 1/2" lift springs, 33" Mickey's on American Racing Wheels. Made a very nice foundation for a rebuild. Keep looking in your local auto trader ads and used car listings.
Don W
Jay Stuler ( snipped-for-privacy@no.thanks) wrote on Sunday 04 January 2004 08:20 pm:
You'll have to either get special coverage from your insurance company, or have them find a few for you that are comparable in your area. Fortunately, Collins Brothers sells and restores Scramblers near where I live, and I can always use them as a reference point for my insurance company if it's totalled/stolen.
BTW, if you ever want to drop $30+ thousand in a restored Scrambler, Collins Brothers would be more than happy to sell you one. And they do sell for that much (yes, that's where I bought mine but no, it's not restored - cost about $7,000 about six years ago).
Are you talking about the small Cherokees or the older large style or both?
I have noticed the price of XJs has gone up a little since I got mine last spring, but I thought that it was more due to people wanting to get 4wd before the winter than an overall shortage.
Monte Castleman, Bloomington, MN to email, remove the "q" from my address
Have you ever heard of the law of Supply and Demand? There were only something like 28,000 Scramblers ever made, the few remaining specimens will be very pricey, or complete junk.
Or both. A couple years ago I saw what was advertised as an '81 Scrambler...except that it had a 3-speed tranny, front drum brakes, and CJ-5-style door openings. Best I could figure, it was a 70-74 CJ6, NOT a CJ8 of any kind. It was in pretty bad shape, too, and the asking price was $3,500.
Last Feb, I had the cash for Lift/SYE ect for my TJ, before I loged on to order a 4" Teraflex, I checked the paper one last time for CJ-7, and Found a Scrambler local 3,750. Very little rust but ran great tuffy console ect. Put another $500 right off the bat, SOA lift and what not over the next year.
I've had several people ask if it was for sale, It's not. But I Dumped the Tj quick. There out there, People don't know what they have, or get in a bind and need cash (what I stumbled into), Take your time, wait for wait for what you want. In hindsight I would have not bought the TJ, and kept looking for the CJ-8 from day one.
83 CJ 8, a work in progress
KBB ought to take that into account, but they apparently don't. Makes you wonder if they just make up their numbers randomly.
I think that KBB is not a very good resouce for these kinds of collectables. If you think about it, a Scrambler is more rare than a 67 Mustang, but the Mustang is a known collectable and a Scrambler is accepted as being a worn out truck. The fact is the Scrambler is either a worn out truck, or a restored collectable, and not very many units are in between these two extremes. And, the worn out truck can become a collectable for a reasonably small pile of cash, making them more valuable than KBB likes to admit. I am a huge fan of KBB, but mostly for more mainstream cars and trucks. They have a Collectable issue of their guide, but I am certain the Scrambler does not grace its pages, maybe it should.
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