Jeep J-10 Honcho grille help!

[Faust]

Hey guys!

I just picked up the Revell J-10 Honcho. They say it's an '80. It could be a '79 for all I know.

Of course, when I get a new car, I immediately spend hours researching the real thing.  Now I'm confused.

I've seen pics of Honchos with several kinds of grilles. They're all shaped the same, but coloured differently.

One is all chrome. One is mostly black except for a chrome "loop" and two chrome bars near the centreline. 

What's the deal with them? The both seem legit. 

This seems like an odd variant on the "Pig Nose Grille" as Jeep folks seem to call them. 

From what I can tell, the mostly black seems right, but then  I'll see a pic of a (supposedly) original vehicle (low miles, too) and it has all chrome. 

I don't know why there are two kinds of grilles, and it's driving me crazy!

Can anyone help me on this?

Thanks!

 

[Mark]

Different trim levels?

[PierreR89]

Probably different styles depending on what year you are looking at.
Dont know when they changed it but honchos has 3 different grilles, like the wagoneer and cherokee had during those years.
But remember, Honcho was just a trimlevel as chevy has for their trucks (silverado, scotsdale etc...) and jeeps more modern "base, laredo limited, pioneer" and some others.
It is still based on either a J10, J20 truck
And Jeep seemed to bee more like "customer can do what they want and add/remove anything they want to their truck regarding of what trim they choose"




And a stepside honcho

[Faust]

Okay...

It could be different trims, I guess, but I didn't yet see anything about it in the literature I've downloaded. 

In the pics above, there are THREE distinct schemes. the one in the colour add has a body-colour surround (looks best, to my mind). The black and white add shows two distinct types in itself - the race truck has the all-chrome, and the civilian Honcho at the bottom has the black/chrome. 

Seriously, AMC? There hast to be SOME reason for this. They're all J10s, and they're all Honchos. So, why the difference???

[Joe Handley]

I'd love to see a Gladiator style conversion for these.

[1930fordpickup]

Back in the day, dealers would do many things to get you to buy their trucks, and cars.  I would say it is more than likely an option checked when ordered. 

[Snake45]

Speaking of this kit, has anyone ever tried to convert it to the military Kaiser M715? I bought it with that very thing in mind, but it might be more than my skills can handle. I might have to settle for a "M715-inspired" Honcho. 

The M715 is just badass. Only got to drive one once, and I loved every minute, every second of the brief experience. 

[espo]

13 hours ago, Joe Handley said:

I'd love to see a Gladiator style conversion for these.

That's the way I remember most of these. I like this look better than the later models. 

[Rob Hall]

Different years, different trim levels, different grilles.  Jeep had a lot of grilles on those over the years.

The kit grille isn't very well detailed but sort of represents this style of grille, I think..

Edited March 31, 2019 by Rob Hall

[Jon Cole]

Friend of mine displayed this @ NNL East:

[Rico]

On 3/31/2019 at 1:35 PM, Rob Hall said:

Different years, different trim levels, different grilles.  Jeep had a lot of grilles on those over the years.

The kit grille isn't very well detailed but sort of represents this style of grille, I think..

Rob, what do you mean by ‘kit grill?’ The image you posted is the first I’ve found that looks like the grill on my ‘76 Honcho. I was beginning to wonder if it was not the correct grill for my truck. Plus, the square headlights don’t seem correct. I don’t think they were introduced until 1979 give or take. 
Thanks, Richard 

[Rob Hall]

9 hours ago, Rico said:

Rob, what do you mean by ‘kit grill?’ The image you posted is the first I’ve found that looks like the grill on my ‘76 Honcho. I was beginning to wonder if it was not the correct grill for my truck. Plus, the square headlights don’t seem correct. I don’t think they were introduced until 1979 give or take. 
Thanks, Richard 

'kit grill' meant the part in the kit.  The square headlights are correct for an early 80s Honcho.  

[NOBLNG]

On 3/30/2019 at 9:21 PM, Joe Handley said:

I'd love to see a Gladiator style conversion for these.

http://www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/comment-image/392683.jpg

There are or has been conversion parts available. It wouldn’t be too hard t scratch build one either….the interior and other mods might be tricky?

https://rmrmodels.com/products/1963-1971-gladiator-grill?_pos=1&_sid=e33fd8e22&_ss=r

 

Edited November 2, 2022 by NOBLNG

[Rico]

4 hours ago, Rob Hall said:

'kit grill' meant the part in the kit.  The square headlights are correct for an early 80s Honcho.  

Thanks, Rob. I think I figured out that you are referring to a model kit when you say ‘kit grill’ and not an actual Jeep Honcho truck grill kit. 
As for the square lights and grill, thanks for confirming they are from later model Honchos. I didn’t think they were authentic to my ‘76 Honcho, so I’ll switch it back. BTW, do you happen to know the year of the Honcho in the photo you posted? The grill and headlights are exactly like those on my ‘76 and I’ve never found them in any other photo until I saw the photo you posted. 

[Rob Hall]

54 minutes ago, Rico said:

 BTW, do you happen to know the year of the Honcho in the photo you posted? The grill and headlights are exactly like those on my ‘76 and I’ve never found them in any other photo until I saw the photo you posted. 

That was a random photo off the internet.   I think it's a '79-80, because '79 was when they introduced the square headlight grille but it still has the old style roof w/ the overhang (which the Revell kit does not have).    The Revell kit appears to be a mix of model years--81 and newer body w/ a '79-80 grille. 

[Jordan White]

The Revell kit is actually only a 1979. Reason being in 1980 they switched the front differential from the passenger side to the drivers side, and the kit has it on the passenger side. 

[Rico]

On 11/2/2022 at 12:17 PM, Rob Hall said:

That was a random photo off the internet.   I think it's a '79-80, because '79 was when they introduced the square headlight grille but it still has the old style roof w/ the overhang (which the Revell kit does not have).    The Revell kit appears to be a mix of model years--81 and newer body w/ a '79-80 grille. 

Thanks, Rob. I appreciate the information and your help. Case closed: for whatever reason, perhaps from a fender bender, my '76 truck has been modified with '79ish grill and headlights. I'll be changing it back.

[Rico]

On 11/2/2022 at 2:45 PM, Jordan White said:

The Revell kit is actually only a 1979. Reason being in 1980 they switched the front differential from the passenger side to the drivers side, and the kit has it on the passenger side. 

Thanks, Jordan. Interesting bit of info about the front differential. I can confirm that my '76 truck's front differential is on the passenger side.

[Rico]

On 3/30/2019 at 9:21 PM, Joe Handley said:

I'd love to see a Gladiator style conversion for these.

http://www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/comment-image/392683.jpg

That's such a cool looking truck! I love the look!

[Jordan White]

27 minutes ago, Rico said:

Thanks, Jordan. Interesting bit of info about the front differential. I can confirm that my '76 truck's front differential is on the passenger side.

I started looking into it because I was looking at the 1980 brochure since they have a nice “cutaway” drawing showing the drivetrain, and I noticed the exhaust wasn’t running next to the transfer case like the kit does.