America’s 250th birthday is here, and the automakers have let us down. Most of the America 250 special editions they have released have been quite lackluster, even compared to the Bicentennial Special Editions of 50 years ago. When Thomas Jefferson wrote about “the pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence, he wasn’t talking about a Dodge Durango with black tape stripes. The true vehicle embodiment of the American spirit exists on Facebook Marketplace.
It is located in Cherryvale, Kansas. 2003 jeep liberty The freedom of its roof has been taken away. According to the seller, the roof was damaged and was cut off instead of repaired. A roll cage was installed to provide some protection and (hopefully) restore some of the structural integrity lost with the roof. The seller is only asking $4,500 or trade, and considering that the Liberty Convertible had been listed for 11 weeks at press time, you might be able to negotiate that.
What’s not to love about this unconventional open-top jeep? Well, a few things. It is being sold with a rebuilt salvage title and has 165,000 miles. The seller claims it “runs great” and the air conditioning and cruise control work, but there are a lot of unknowns with a 23-year-old Jeep that has been modified in this way. The roll cage is probably better than nothing, but it’s hard to judge the workmanship from the Facebook Marketplace photos.
Despite a name that appealed to the Founding Fathers, the Liberty is not most people’s favorite Jeep. The The boxier KK Liberty arrived just in time for Chrysler’s bankruptcy, which may explain why Jeep retired the Cherokee name, while the models it was attached to diverged even further from the XJ ideal.
But if you just want a cheap beater, this is great. The seller claims it has a three-inch lift, and from the photos it is clear that the tires are larger than stock. The 104.3-inch wheelbase is shorter than the JL Wrangler Unlimited, and a two-speed transfer case was standard on the four-wheel drive KJ. The engine is not specified in the listing, but early KJ models were sold with either a 2.4-liter inline-four or a 3.7-liter V6 (a diesel was available later in the production run).
The Liberty looks surprisingly good even without a roof. It’s a more interesting alternative to the obvious Wrangler, and it costs less than half a decent Wrangler to boot. For once, the price of freedom is not high at all.
Got any tips? Send it to: tips@thedrive.com
