Jeep CJ7 Canadian Military *** Wanted ***

This unit is not for sale Looking for the owners of these elusive Jeeps Very cool pieces of Jeeps Canadian history, lots of people would say they never existed. But they did, and it would neat to began a ownership registry and share some pictures. Please reach out if you have one or know of someone who does. The Canadian Forces acquired a total of 195 American Motors Corporation CJ7 Jeeps beginning in 1982 as a temporary measure to enable units operating in Canada to have a reliable vehicle for training and utility requirements.

These trucks were essentially off the shelf, commercial model Jeeps with a straight 6 cylinder engine, manual steering, 205/75R15 tires, and a four speed manual transmission. The interiors were fitted with black, low back seats and a green vinyl soft top and doors. All vehicles were adapted for the installation of the RT524 series radio sets with the inclusion of a 12-24 volt converter under the driver’s seat. They were also fitted with footman loops under the hood for storage of a shovel, and bumperettes and tow rings on the rear cross-member. In 1982 the Canadian Forces purchased 55 new CJ7s from the American Motors Corporation. The initial batch was acquired primarily for use by armoured units of the militia as they were having a reliability issues with the aging fleet of M38A1 jeeps still in service.

A year later, in 1983, there was a second purchase of 60 vehicles which basically conformed to the configuration of the 1982 examples. These vehicles appear to have been used by numerous branches and are seen in many diverse roles. The third and final purchase of 80 vehicles came in 1985 and incorporated minor improvements from the earlier vehicles such as high back bucket seats, a stronger transmission and fasteners to mount a gas can bracket on the left side of the vehicle, in front of the driver door opening. These later vehicles were primarily used by Service Battalions but as time went on, they may be seen in the use of other units as utility vehicles.

All vehicles were delivered to DND painted with the AMC fleet colour “Olive Drab DT7471” overall. In some cases vehicles appear in standard 3 colour camouflage consisting of “Olive Drab 503-321”, “Green 503-319” and “Black 512-301”. The small number of vehicles purchased outside of these three groups were finished in gloss green DND fleet colour “Dupont 1753” with Tri-Service decals on the doors.

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