Advice on purchasing my first TJ
- Thread starter coopnugz
- Start date
Aha! One mystery solved: VIN check indicates originally shipped and sold in FLORIDA
It's tomorrow! Do you own it? If not. I can get you a 05' 6 speed with 37,000 miles on it for $13,000.
also curious if you bought it, from the pictures and the prices I am seeing while shopping that isn't bad at all.
Thank you all for bearing with me and for your super helpful comments and support. I went ahead with the sale. I ran a full VIN check and discovered it spent its first 21 years in Florida and only was registered in Massachusetts early this year. There is literally zero service history on the report, but I take that to mean it had a mechanically-inclined owner doing all their own maintenance versus a life of neglect. At that point I knew I wouldn’t do better for my budget. I went out, did the deal, and had the pleasure of driving her home about 90 miles. $8500 cash. Everything works. Cosmetically there are some things to address. I’m not in love with the wheels or the fender flares. There are a number of little tiny rust spots on the body to address, but the frame itself is truly solid with only surface rust appearing on some welds and hard edges. Shifts great but listening on the way home I picked up on there being a little growl/rattle in the clutch somewhere I’ll have to keep an eye on. Very happy to have 4 disc brakes.
I could NOT stop smiling the whole way home. Feeling very fortunate to join you all with my first and possibly forever TJ. Thanks again!
I could NOT stop smiling the whole way home. Feeling very fortunate to join you all with my first and possibly forever TJ. Thanks again!
Yep,pocket flares,I don’t get them?but awesome score!
Ctdriver86
TJ Enthusiast
Looks awesome and what a great find! What are your plans? If you don't have any you can find some here. The folks here love to spend your money LOL! Congrats!
Hey! Is that one of the new Bronco Raptors?
It at least has the same flares...
Thanks all for the kind words — I do believe this was a very decent score. The more time I’ve spent poking around inside and underneath makes me even more convinced. It’s by no means perfect, but it seems to be in even better shape than I originally thought. I’ve wanted a TJ since I was 16 (34yo now), so this has been a long time coming, and I love love LOVE it even more than I ever thought I would all those years waiting. The TJ is just so effing cool, chiseled out of rock, simple and rugged.
Parked inside my garage all weekend, cardboard underneath etc, she didn’t leak a drop of oil. I mentioned the interior being rough, turns out I’m an idiot and those were seat covers. I pulled them off and lo and behold the original seats are in awesome shape. She has a bolt on U-Haul hitch that needs to get tossed, there’s a leak near the power steering reservoir, and as mentioned before there will be some work mitigating rust and minor paint touch ups.
My plan for now is to drive the heck out of it and see what else pops up. I didn’t get a chance to register before a weeklong work trip, but when I get back I’ll be itching to get her sorted as a daily driver: fluids, brakes, clean up any rust, and fluid film really well. In a perfect world I’ll be getting some stock Moab wheels, a new softop, and stock rubicon flares. In a year or so I won’t need to daily it, so I think that’s when I’ll start spending some real dough and rebuild the front and rear. Looking forward to learning a lot from everyone here and getting ideas for how I can make an already sweet ride even better. Cheers to you all.
Parked inside my garage all weekend, cardboard underneath etc, she didn’t leak a drop of oil. I mentioned the interior being rough, turns out I’m an idiot and those were seat covers. I pulled them off and lo and behold the original seats are in awesome shape. She has a bolt on U-Haul hitch that needs to get tossed, there’s a leak near the power steering reservoir, and as mentioned before there will be some work mitigating rust and minor paint touch ups.
My plan for now is to drive the heck out of it and see what else pops up. I didn’t get a chance to register before a weeklong work trip, but when I get back I’ll be itching to get her sorted as a daily driver: fluids, brakes, clean up any rust, and fluid film really well. In a perfect world I’ll be getting some stock Moab wheels, a new softop, and stock rubicon flares. In a year or so I won’t need to daily it, so I think that’s when I’ll start spending some real dough and rebuild the front and rear. Looking forward to learning a lot from everyone here and getting ideas for how I can make an already sweet ride even better. Cheers to you all.
Awesome man, good to hear! I've also wanted one since I was 16, just got mine 6 years ago (35 now). Also being from the NorthEast I knew yours was in good shape when I saw the frame pics. Nothing from our area is close to being that clean if it has gone through a few winters.
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