Yeah, my best friend in high school had a 1969 Road Runner convertible with a 440 six pack. Awesome car.
You and I have this in common, I hate the computerized bs. even tpms sensors drive me out of my mind, and don't get me started on infotainment crap stuff.
Even the TJs, though basic, still is computer controlled for fuel injection and ignition (esp later models w/o distributor). The early cars were amazing, you had to always tune em' up, but you could always get em' to run on the side of the road short of a catastrophic failure. We drove a 72 challenger home once with a motorcycle tank we held on the roof and a long rubber fuel line running thru the cowl to the carburetor when the fuel pump died. Can't do that with fuel injection.
Like I've said before, the CJ guys probably look at us like we look at the JK/JL crowd.
No matter, I think the TJ has the best of both sides of this equation, reliability, road worthiness, some safety features, limited computer control, old school jeep capability, and classic good looks. There won't be another one like it.
I agree completely.
My buddy bought a brand new CJ7 in the mid 80's, and I went with him for a 100 mile ride to the Poconos.
He told me to put on my seat belt, and hold on. When he hit the brakes, the seat belt kept me from sliding onto the floor.
It was a manual, and I was wore out after going 100 miles in it! I actually rode a motorcycle back daily back then!
Owned many different kinds of cars, including 2 mid engined sports cars, over the years.
When I started my new job, I was driving my second van. Trying to get to work in the winter snow, though rural winding, hilly roads in my van, was not working out. Almost got fired for being late, during my first 90 days...
I needed 4WD, to get to my new job, they never close, not even with a foot of snow on the roads!
My first Jeep was a 02' Liberty. And I had no problems getting to work in the snow with it.
I put a few thousand of repairs into it. About 8 months later, it dropped a valve, and I was beside myself.
My father gave me the idea, buy another Liberty and swap over all the new parts.
(I stripped the 02" for every part I could get off in 6 months, which I saved a ton of parts)
Bought a 04' Liberty, and was able to swap 90% of the new parts, as it changed slightly.
Drove it daily for 5 years, and all those spare parts from the 02, saved me a lot of money.
Like power window motors, and door locks, and everything that fails close to 100K miles.
Well My wife's Impala blew a head gasket, and wasn't worth fixing.
Gave my Liberty to my wife to drive. About 220K on her, and still running strong...
Jeep was in my blood, at this point in time!
Wanted a Wrangler. New ones were way out of my price range.
Spent a lot of time researching, and with some help of a friend that owned a TJ.
It was a long search, took me over 6 months to find a unmolested TJ.
Everyone I found was highly modified, or rusted out. In my neck of the woods.
Finally found a decent 01'. Not perfect, no hardtop, but a 4.0 and totally original, and a Sahara
Automatic, because I live in the city. Had many manual cars before, so I'm fine with that too.
Very basic, like you mentioned. And that's just fine for me. Tired of replacing window motors and engine sensors!
What sold me on it. Is the bullet-proof motor and mine had a rebuilt trans, and was well cared for, as for as I can see.
I owned very few cars that never leaked oil. Not a drop used on this 20 year old jeep.
Yeah, the ride in nowhere near as nice as the Liberty. Sloppy steering and noisy. Not as fast either.
Built like brick sh*t house. I love it...
