Yup. AM General was officially the General Products division of AMC. Just before AMC bought out Kaiser Jeep, Kaiser had separated their government products division from Jeep...that hadn't even been completed when AMC took over the operation. The 1970 Postals were officially products of "Jeep" - not even "Jeep Corporation"
The division was easier in that the only products made for the government were on separate lines and plants from the Jeep plant in Toledo. Kaiser had a plant in South Bend, Indiana, which was where it made the M38A1 and M151; and when the M38A1 was phased out the line was converted to Postal Jeeps. Which is one reason why the Postal didn't get the wheelbase-stretching that the CJs did in 1972.
As a condition of Renault's (brief, as it turned out) ownership of AMC, the company had to sell AM General...the government couldn't stomach French government ownership (which was what Renault was) of a vital defense contractor. Which is why it isn't Jeep selling the Hummer today...
Nope. The Postal rig was built on an entirely different line in a different plant from any of the CJs. 4wd wasn't something the P.O. wanted.
As well, the driveline's different than any CJ. That rig has an 81" wheelbase with a 232 six and an automatic. There isn't room at the rear of the tranny for a transfer case; the driveshaft's only about 12 inches long with CV joints.
The frame's identical to M38A1s (or nearly so) but the drivetrain's vastly different.
Actually the postal came with more than one engine over it's years. They changed that thing around a lot so when people come with questions it's hard to know what they have unless they tell you. Everyone wants to convert one to 4wd but I think most people would tell you they're not worth it. Jeep has made 4wd vehicles for use as postal vehicles though. There was a CJ-8 with a full hard top used in Alaska with right hand drive. They also had an option in the TJ for right hand drive for postal use.
Actually the postal came with more than one engine over it's years. They changed that thing around a lot so when people come with questions it's hard to know what they have unless they tell you. Everyone wants to convert one to 4wd but I think most people would tell you they're not worth it. Jeep has made 4wd vehicles for use as postal vehicles though. There was a CJ-8 with a full hard top used in Alaska with right hand drive. They also had an option in the TJ for right hand drive for postal use.
Yes...the Postals were ordered in "batch" and apparently the line was idle between batch orders. The first two batches were when Kaiser was running things...they used a Chevy II engine and a Powerglide two-speed auto tranny. The third was when the operation was renamed AMGeneral, and they shoehorned the 232 in there with a Borg-Warner "Mickey-Mouse" Rambler transmission (which had been discontinued a few years earlier; apparently AMC had a stockpile)
The next batches had the 232 and later the 258 with TorqueFlites.
After the 1979 fuel crisis the Post Office demanded a four. First a VW four was used (same one that was tried in the Gremlin) and then for the last couple of years the Pontiac Iron Duke. Don't know the tranny but probably a TorqueFlite.
The AMC four was born about the same time the Post Office went to Grumman for aluminum postal vans.
The Postal CJ-8 was a special order; and sadly, none of them were ever sold to the public. As the Post Office was changing over to Grumman, a decision was made to stop selling postal jeeps to the public for "safety" concerns. In true bureaucratic idiocy, the Post Office couldn't differentiate between the tippy DJ-5 and the totally compliant CJ-8, so those were scrapped as well.
The right-hand TJ is not connected to the Post Office. That's a D-C project...they make right-hand drive units for export, and they've taken a few and made them Federally compliant for letter carriers who have to provide their own vehicles, for sale in the States.
4 wheel drive in a postal is possible. I've been wheeling with a wicked postal. The roof line can get in the way in off camber trails and steep hills can get crazy but he had lots of fun with his postal.
Well, anything can be done with enough money. It would be no challenge at all to dump a pre-1972 CJ-5 drivetrain and axles into a Postal. The frames are just about identical.
But set up as it is, I know perfectly well he went with a different tranny or engine or both.
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