***Warning - I have figured out my post get long - and this is no exception ****
It all started with me falling asleep while watching MotorTrend's Dirt Everyday in October 2019. The episode where the hosts take an old school Jeep and stock square body Chevy up the Rubicon Trail. I fell asleep while my wife was reading. The next day, I hear some grand words - "Lets get a jeep".
Now some quick background - I have been into cars/truck etc all my life. In my adult life though, I always leaned towards relatively quick vehicles (Trailblazer SS, 2014 GT, 2019 GT) but always wanted a third vehicle - most likely a full size truck. I would see Jeeps, never took a 2nd look at stock jeeps, but always respected well built, trail worthy jeeps (not the ones on 20" + wheels with tiny sidewalls).
My wife could care less - a car with good gas mileage and one she does not have to worry about keeping clean and she is content (with the car that is). On occasion she enjoys driving my car but we certainly are worlds apart from sharing the same passions over cars.
To the build title - - I enjoy cars, she enjoys being outdoors, riding horses, hiking/camping etc. Enter the Jeep scene where the outdoors/camping crowd merges with the car crowd that enjoys spending way too much money knowing it makes no financial sense.
Fast forward and the day I heard those words that we need a Jeep - I was 100% into it. Now what to get? Started looking at JKs but we did not want to invest a lot and be scared to scratch it, damage it break it - that was not what we were going for. Ultimately we wanted a Jeep we were not concerned with taking to the beach and to the mountains of NC, and something we could learn to drive in the sand, mud, and rocks. I quickly learned of the Jeep TJ and had heard stories of how great the legendary 4.0 was. On top of that there is chance a fairly non mechanically inclined idiot can fix it if/when it breaks, Sold - Jeep TJ it is. As I started looking I quickly learned there was the LJ that was produced for a couple years. A bit longer, more room in the back and rides better - what could be better than that? The last real Jeep.
That was it - started the search for a Jeep LJ - it just needed to be clean inside and out and without rust. We did not care about color or transmission. Fast forward a few weeks later after we had looked at several TJs and a few fairly beat up LJs, I came across a silver 2005 LJ with 132K miles, single owner and clean. It was at a Hyundai dealership less then an hour away and they were only asking $10,250. It was a Saturday, I was in the office catching up, and pinged my wife - she simply said swing by and pick me up - will have a sandwich ready.
A few hours later we were practicing our Jeep wave returning home. A pretty good November day.
It all started with me falling asleep while watching MotorTrend's Dirt Everyday in October 2019. The episode where the hosts take an old school Jeep and stock square body Chevy up the Rubicon Trail. I fell asleep while my wife was reading. The next day, I hear some grand words - "Lets get a jeep".
Now some quick background - I have been into cars/truck etc all my life. In my adult life though, I always leaned towards relatively quick vehicles (Trailblazer SS, 2014 GT, 2019 GT) but always wanted a third vehicle - most likely a full size truck. I would see Jeeps, never took a 2nd look at stock jeeps, but always respected well built, trail worthy jeeps (not the ones on 20" + wheels with tiny sidewalls).
My wife could care less - a car with good gas mileage and one she does not have to worry about keeping clean and she is content (with the car that is). On occasion she enjoys driving my car but we certainly are worlds apart from sharing the same passions over cars.
To the build title - - I enjoy cars, she enjoys being outdoors, riding horses, hiking/camping etc. Enter the Jeep scene where the outdoors/camping crowd merges with the car crowd that enjoys spending way too much money knowing it makes no financial sense.
Fast forward and the day I heard those words that we need a Jeep - I was 100% into it. Now what to get? Started looking at JKs but we did not want to invest a lot and be scared to scratch it, damage it break it - that was not what we were going for. Ultimately we wanted a Jeep we were not concerned with taking to the beach and to the mountains of NC, and something we could learn to drive in the sand, mud, and rocks. I quickly learned of the Jeep TJ and had heard stories of how great the legendary 4.0 was. On top of that there is chance a fairly non mechanically inclined idiot can fix it if/when it breaks, Sold - Jeep TJ it is. As I started looking I quickly learned there was the LJ that was produced for a couple years. A bit longer, more room in the back and rides better - what could be better than that? The last real Jeep.
That was it - started the search for a Jeep LJ - it just needed to be clean inside and out and without rust. We did not care about color or transmission. Fast forward a few weeks later after we had looked at several TJs and a few fairly beat up LJs, I came across a silver 2005 LJ with 132K miles, single owner and clean. It was at a Hyundai dealership less then an hour away and they were only asking $10,250. It was a Saturday, I was in the office catching up, and pinged my wife - she simply said swing by and pick me up - will have a sandwich ready.
A few hours later we were practicing our Jeep wave returning home. A pretty good November day.
