Is this J10 a Golden Eagle?

[Rainer]

Hi All -

I own a 78 J10 and have done a bunch of research on the site to try and determine if the truck is an original Golden Eagle. It has original GE wheels which were never repainted, and it has the grille guard and roll bar. It also has the Levi's interior. It does not have decals, but its had a repaint so I'm guessing they were just never reapplied. Anyone have any other suggestions to verify whether this one was a GE? Thanks!

[Tripwire]

does the VIN decoder here on the site offer any clues?

[autogatto]

The Vin plate will only indicate what interior trim the truck originally had. Still with the rally steering wheel, the levi's seats and the wheels (combined with the fact that is a 78) you can assume it might have been a Golden Eagle.

[Bill Moore]

i believe it is a GE, looks just like mine

[Tinkerjeep]

I thought GE packages only began in 1979. Same with the Levis interior.

The roll-bar and brush-guard were both J10 options. The wheels may have been too. Are there remnants of the tape/sticker lines on the rear cab-wall and front bed-wall in the bed-to-body gap? Sometimes if the vehicle is a quicky reshoot they wont pull the bed off the chassis to prep between the cab and bed and some of the wrapped around stickers stripes can bee seen under the new paint. Same for in the door jambs/inside lip of the doors.

I'm curious to know more about the history of this vehicle.

I cant remember if my 79 brochure says the bar and guard are factory check-mark options for the J20. The GE option was never on the J20s I do know that. But I think you had to order them separately and have the dealer install them.
Here's a stock-ish 1979 J20 with the guard installed.

I had another 1979 with the guard installed also , but it was junk when I got it.

The guard...
[/IMG]

The truck...


The link to the grisly dismantling of that J20...it was a Levis interior too, just like my first tan/brown 79 J20.

http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthread.php?t=153809

[Bill Moore]

I thought GE packages only began in 1979. Same with the Levis interior.

The roll-bar and brush-guard were both J10 options. The wheels may have been too. Are there remnants of the tape/sticker lines on the rear cab-wall and front bed-wall in the bed-to-body gap? Sometimes if the vehicle is a quicky reshoot they wont pull the bed off the chassis to prep between the cab and bed and some of the wrapped around stickers stripes can bee seen under the new paint. Same for in the door jambs/inside lip of the doors.

I'm curious to know more about the history of this vehicle.

I cant remember if my 79 brochure says the bar and guard are factory check-mark options for the J20. The GE option was never on the J20s I do know that. But I think you had to order them separately and have the dealer install them.
Here's a stock-ish 1979 J20 with the guard installed.

I had another 1979 with the guard installed also , but it was junk when I got it.

The link to the grisly dismantling of that J20...it was a Levis interior too, just like my first tan/brown 79 J20.
http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthread.php?t=153809

They made the GE for sure in 78, not sure if earlier.

[mud89]

95% chance that it's a Golden, all is there except the decals and striping : beige Levis interior, tan carpeting, Bright arms overlay, chrome front bumper, rear step bumper, wheels painted gold with black accent, black roll bar, black steel grille guard, tan sports steering Wheel, Bright doors Windows mouldings..

[Tinkerjeep]

I'm not saying you're wrong...

But all of the above was separately optioned. My first 1979 J20 had all of that (or it was available) except the tilt column, sport steering wheel, and the gold 15" wheels, obviously. 1979 J20s only had 16.5wheels available.

The Gold wheels are likely the most suggestive that is could have been a GE. But again, the truck, unless you owned it from brand new, could have had stuff swapped onto it at any time, wheels, grill guard, and rollbar.

[serehill]

It's 50 /50

More than likely an GE as stated the interior package is correct the wheels & accessories are correct it's a good chance. Can anyone say for sure besides the original owner NO. There's nothing to prove it is or isn't easy to clone.
It's my understanding the eagles started in 76. Paint it white or brown & stripe it & no can dispute whether it is or isn't. No one can say it isn't either.
it's simple an undocumented package.

[Tinkerjeep]

^ True.

[mdill]

A lot of the Golden Eagle, J-10, Chief .. packages were sticky paper and paint, not much more.