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YJ Headlights

Mccorm67

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The first time I started to notice and appreciate the Wrangler was back in the 80s, and it was because I would see 2 different styles on the road, the CJs and YJs and it was because of the different headlight shapes. I loved the look of the round headlights and couldn’t imagine why Jeep changed them to rectangular. Needlyto say I cheered when they brought back the iconic round shape. Is the YJ considered a joke now? Kinda like the “new coke” debacle?
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macintux

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I would be appalled to see the YJ headlights added to a modern Jeep, but it's also appalling to see round headlights thrown on a YJ (or angry grilles making a mockery of the Jeep legacy, but that's another thread).

AMC really struggled to figure out what to do with the Jeep design (see also the Jeep Commando), but they knocked it out of the park with the XJ, so it's a mixed bag.
 

jaymz

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I always thought that the Jeep purists hated the YJ because the round headlights went away. I personally don’t care for the styling, but to each his own. My peeve is with Jeeps that have leaf springs.
 

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RubyRubi

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The YJ was an awesome Jeep that was 100% needed at the time. Like the JK unlimited did for the wrangler brand, the YJ did the same for Jeep back then too. It expanded the market by creating a new looking Jeep, one that appealed to more buyers with more “comforts” with new priorities. It shed the past and moved the brand forward. There’s so much talk about Jeep evolving too much. Without the evolution the brand would have been dead decades ago. The YJ is a classic now and deserves a place in Jeep lineage.
 

dapipp

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You know what they say about the YJ, "It's hip to be square!".
 

Sparty

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The YJ sums up the 80s perfectly. To me, it's very time-period correct and it just fits.

My preference is round headlights....along the purist lines. The square headlights belong in the 80s - and is another good reason to just forget the whole decade :)
 

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Renegade

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Square headlights were frowned upon during the YJ build era, and Jeep rightly went back to round headlights. Now YJs are cool though because they're nostalgic.
 

four low

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The square headlights were a deliberate design decision, to differentiate the YJ, with its many safety improvements over the notoriously unsafe CJ7.
A totally different "look" was needed, without being too un- Jeep like. This worked, today the YJs are a sought after
" Classic". Last of the leaf springs, very nice to drive, simple to maintain. Hopefully, my 1993 will out of the chrysalis this Spring. Best of both worlds, a 2018 2 Dr Sport, and a 1993 YJ, also 4 cylinder.
 

Reinen

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Is the YJ considered a joke now? Kinda like the “new coke” debacle?
No. The YJ was a great Jeep and perfect for me at the time. I have to laugh when people complain about the steering of the JL, they need to drive a YJ for some perspective! The JL is rock solid on the highway. The YJ was... a seat of your pants adventure ride. However this was back in the days of 55 MPH speed limits (with some rural 65 MPH stretches). The YJ made 55 feel like 75 and 65 feel like 95. Saved me from a ton of speeding tickets. 55 MPH in a topless YJ was a blast!

The only thing about the YJ was the square headlights. Nobody liked them then and nobody likes them now. But we didn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. We still bought YJs. We still look back fondly to the YJ. And we still groan about the square headlights.

To me it's the TJ that was the red headed stepchild. They were made much more like cars but were still very much Jeeps. It just wasn't right IMO. It wasn't until the JK where that started feeling right and it really got dialed in with the JL.
 

NMPirate

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The "Y" in YJ actually means "Y the hell does this Jeep have square headlights?" :)
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