Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ radiator

To sell or not to sell

Went thru the same thing myself a couple months ago.

Toyed with selling my 84 K10 to get something more suited for hunting and fishing trips in the bush. Truck was a little too “nice” to be driving thru grown in woods roads.

Anyhow, sold the truck and bought the TJ.

Regretting the decision. Not the Jeep, but selling the truck. Should’ve kept the truck and bought the Jeep.

But your situation is different. Different reasons for the choice you have to make.

I’ll be in the market next year for another Squarebody. But gonna keep the Jeep.

Codfish
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Nice K10. Ive had 5 of them, mostly K20ies though. The last one was $3500 for an 85 K20. Nice truck save some paint falling off here and there. I sold it to a local guy, saw it on CL as a parts truck, what was left of it anyhow, some 2 years later, boy was I pissed.
 
I've been with same person 9 years, aren't married but seems to long to still call her my girlfriend. Either way... I had a lot of dumb hobbies before we got together. The precedent was already there so she can't tell me no about any of them. She's got hers too. It's not about the perfect person, it's the perfect person that can accept and deal with your BS

This is a good post and I have come to the place at a lot of things in life are that way -

One of the worst things we’re doing is telling kids find a job you love.

When you go to work, you’re not looking for a love affair you’re looking for a paycheck.

And you need to find something that suits you well enough, that the parts about it you love will carry you through all the bull crap you don’t.

Realistically, you’re going to love your job maybe 10 or 20% of the time.

Having said all that - people that are gifted artistically, like this member, and are able to turn that into money are highly likely to have a much higher ratio of happy to crappy.

On a sidenote, have you guys noticed that the word incorrectly is spelled incorrectly in every dictionary?
 
It’s not find the job you love.
It’s prepare yourself for the job you love. Most quality high paying jobs require having the proper skills and education and people don’t want to take the time to get that done.

👆 this. I get approached for apprenticeships couple times a week. Industry has changed a lot since I started. See a lot of people now that want the rewards without the work.

Realistically, you’re going to love your job maybe 10 or 20% of the time.
ratio is a little better for sure. I’ve got my dream job but bottom line it’s still a job. Getting a foot in the door was hard, keeping the foot in was way harder.
 
Nice K10. Ive had 5 of them, mostly K20ies though. The last one was $3500 for an 85 K20. Nice truck save some paint falling off here and there. I sold it to a local guy, saw it on CL as a parts truck, what was left of it anyhow, some 2 years later, boy was I pissed.

Whenever I’ve sold a favourite “toy”, I usually don’t advertise locally.

As much as I might love the vehicle, once it’s gone, I don’t want to ever see it again. For that exact reason.

Codfish
 
It’s a classic and perpetual debate. Usually after I drive it (especially top & doors off in the summer) I favor keeping it. After busting my knuckles and snapping off rusty bolts, adding to the to-do list, I’m back to thinking about selling it.

But one thing I notice is that when I’m loving the Jeep I WANT to keep it. When I’m mad at it, I’m only DEBATING selling it. I never really find myself WANTING to be rid of it. Subtle distinction. But that tells me I lean toward keeping it and here I am; Jeep’s still here!

It will never make financial sense to own a 20 year old Jeep so don’t bother trying to square that circle. It’s a lot like pets - and sometimes kids.
 
It’s a classic and perpetual debate. Usually after I drive it (especially top & doors off in the summer) I favor keeping it. After busting my knuckles and snapping off rusty bolts, adding to the to-do list, I’m back to thinking about selling it.

But one thing I notice is that when I’m loving the Jeep I WANT to keep it. When I’m mad at it, I’m only DEBATING selling it. I never really find myself WANTING to be rid of it. Subtle distinction. But that tells me I lean toward keeping it and here I am; Jeep’s still here!

It will never make financial sense to own a 20 year old Jeep so don’t bother trying to square that circle. It’s a lot like pets - and sometimes kids.

Lot of wisdom here. This really ain’t the “Smart Stock Investors Website”.

This is about good times, pride of ownership
and the cost and pains to keep it going.

Sort of like my wife when she would tell me to “be careful” when I went to ride my dirt bike.
Honey, if I was going to be careful, I wouldn’t do something that requires wearing a helmet.
 
Personally, I'd be keeping it. But that decision would be based on the fact I still like doing challenging trail rides despite being the young age of 81. Decent TJ's are becoming more difficult to find and I spent both too much money and time looking for the one I now have, not to mention the 1000 mile retrieval trip.

I don't know about elsewhere but in this state (MT) you can purchase permanent plates for anything over 10 years old for about twice what a one year renewal costs. And the Hagerty insurance coverage agreed upon value ($20K) costs $220/year for the TJ. But then I also still own 3 other plated Jeeps, the 55 CJ 3B and the two 68 CJ 5's, all in Hagerty's fold too and all have permanent plates.

It’s a classic and perpetual debate. Usually after I drive it (especially top & doors off in the summer) I favor keeping it. After busting my knuckles and snapping off rusty bolts, adding to the to-do list, I’m back to thinking about selling it.

But one thing I notice is that when I’m loving the Jeep I WANT to keep it. When I’m mad at it, I’m only DEBATING selling it. I never really find myself WANTING to be rid of it. Subtle distinction. But that tells me I lean toward keeping it and here I am; Jeep’s still here!

It will never make financial sense to own a 20 year old Jeep so don’t bother trying to square that circle. It’s a lot like pets - and sometimes kids.

I'm assuming you didn't purchase a 2012 JK. The one my wife and I purchased new was an absolutely unreliable POS. It did well on difficult trails as far as the mechanics go (aside from the usual death wobble, tinfoil axle brackets, bent axle tubes, etc) but if there is zero reliability on the electronics functioning sufficiently to even keep it in limp mode, is it something you want to pilot 50 miles in the sticks? I did come to hate that vehicle and did sell it. And I now have enough love for fiat/stellantis that I will never again purchase anything they even breathed on.

As for financial sense, I look at Jeeps in the same light as a golf membership or a season ski pass. They don't make financial sense by any metric, period. Very poor choice for a daily driver. Just entertainment.
 
Personally, I'd be keeping it. But that decision would be based on the fact I still like doing challenging trail rides despite being the young age of 81. Decent TJ's are becoming more difficult to find and I spent both too much money and time looking for the one I now have, not to mention the 1000 mile retrieval trip.

I don't know about elsewhere but in this state (MT) you can purchase permanent plates for anything over 10 years old for about twice what a one year renewal costs. And the Hagerty insurance coverage agreed upon value ($20K) costs $220/year for the TJ. But then I also still own 3 other plated Jeeps, the 55 CJ 3B and the two 68 CJ 5's, all in Hagerty's fold too and all have permanent plates.



I'm assuming you didn't purchase a 2012 JK. The one my wife and I purchased new was an absolutely unreliable POS. It did well on difficult trails as far as the mechanics go (aside from the usual death wobble, tinfoil axle brackets, bent axle tubes, etc) but if there is zero reliability on the electronics functioning sufficiently to even keep it in limp mode, is it something you want to pilot 50 miles in the sticks? I did come to hate that vehicle and did sell it. And I now have enough love for fiat/stellantis that I will never again purchase anything they even breathed on.

As for financial sense, I look at Jeeps in the same light as a golf membership or a season ski pass. They don't make financial sense by any metric, period. Very poor choice for a daily driver. Just entertainment.

Yep- most education and adult fun will cost money.
 
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Quick story one day some guy asked me to come by a house he had just purchased in the middle of the summer and let myself in and take a look at the rooms he wanted to change the tile in-

Well, unbeknownst to both of us his wife decided to do the same thing and the house didn’t have the air-conditioning on and she didn’t want to perspire on her blouse so she took her top off

I didn’t know women randomly did that

Anyway, I didn’t know she was there and she didn’t know I was there and I come walking through the house and there she stands and we both screamed like women-

You talk about an awkward way to get started with somebody…
 
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Two situations I can see selling mine:

1. If I stop going wheeling. If I ever stop going out with it, I'm sure I wouldn't want to pay the insurance for long. I have been slacking on wheeling for the last few years. Though I did go wheeling last Saturday and had a great time. If I found myself only going out once or twice per year, I might consider it.

2. If myself or a family member needed money. School, medical, etc. If I didn't have money to give/loan them, and I don't see another way around it, I would sell.

Just don't take this lightly if you don't need the money. I've seen many people regret selling. They either track down the buyer and try to buy it back, or start on a new project Jeep.

Depending on money, the next Jeep may never reach the build level of the current Jeep. My example of that is that many of my parts were purchased when I got a bonus at a previous job. My anniversary date was early January. So I also had the option of cashing out vacation time. This led to me not taking much vacation, which can be a bad thing.

My wife didn't like that because I never wanted to take days off. So I'd get a Christmas bonus, then get my vacation payout at the same time. No bonuses or vacation payouts at my current job. So if I had to start over, my build would take a lot longer.
 
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I was just enjoying the post above and thinking there’s some kind of attachment.we get to these things-

I’ve always kind of had a bend that way, and I would just keep something I mean to my own detriment sometimes- I had a 7.3 diesel Ford van that I guess I was going to drive until it broke in half

But you do have to remember what you put into these things and if you do it right you’re not gonna go out and buy one that’s really built off the street most of the time.


And I’m not saying it can’t be done because my black one is proof that you can get one, but you’re probably going to pay

On my White TJ I did it really the way I wanted to do it all the way through and I went pretty far on a few things for my level of ability and I don’t want to get rid of it because it would force me to be dissatisfied by not having what I wanted

I had a tough tough time with my small business the last 20 months, and there were some serious consideration to selling one or both of them and not being able to re-create what I had was a big part of my decision to work through it and hang onto them.
 
Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ radiator