Looking for a decent TJ in the northeast is depressing

Geetarz

Geetarz

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Joined
Nov 27, 2019
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Looking for a decent TJ in the northeast is depressing. I lose a little more of my will to live every time I see one listed. “Not a lot of rust” = this Jeep will be sold for parts in a few years.

And, NO, you’re not fooling anyone installing diamond plate fender and body panels to cover the rust.

The worst part is that clean, well-maintained TJs do retain their value. The problem this creates is that everyone selling a high mileage TJ with some rust issues now has an unreasonable idea of what it should sell for, because they see the rare clean examples listed.
DE779872-8BFB-4810-B865-8BBF84E8FFF1.jpeg


Oh, and see these guys? They’re STYLISH and ... THEY KNOWZ IT. This is everyone who has destroyed a sweet stock TJ with their nasty aftermarket mods. Yeah, you’re strutting around thinking you look cool, but in reality, it’s a little sickening!

I’m losing hope here. Looking at Jeeps is just depressing me.
 
Go south or west. Rust will cost you 4X what a rust free will cost. Rust free Jeeps can still be had. Don't worry about mileage, you live in an area that is flooded with low mileage drivetrain donors (because of the rust).
 
I hear y’all, I’m just old school. It *amazes* me that folks will buy cars unseen off eBay or whatever. So many scammers and ripoff artists. It’s a cesspool out there.

“no check engine light” = you cleared the codes so they won’t pop back up until the miles or start count trips over

I’m just kicking myself. I should never have sold my babied TJ. Time to realize it ain’t coming back. I hate white, I will NEVER own a black car again, I’ve had red and it fades, I just want my stock yellow sport back. And no automatic, I know how to drive. Knowing what I want is very limiting. There are a number of “screw the color“ TJs for sale locally, but they’re insane. Okay, I’ll buy your rusty Jeep in a color I don’t like for a few grand and drive it until it collapses. But they won’t take a few grand. They see clean jeeps listed for 10 grand and think their rusted panel hoopty with 200k miles is worth 6 or 8 grand. Ooooh,you put on a k&n filter and ghetto wheels, I’m so impressed. NOT. Lol.

if y’all want the laughs, I did find an out of state yellow 01 sport, exactly what I want. Wanna see how that went? Lol. I may be dumb .., but I ain’t STUPID 🤪

—-

Thank you for your reply. As I explained in my previous email I was accepted for a new job and I moved to my hometown Billings, Montana. I am a regular eBay user and for this sale I decided to use their services. They won't give me any money until you receive and test the vehicle for 5 days. The vehicle is at the shipping company, ready to be delivered. We also benefit of free shipping, it will be delivered to your address within 3 days and you have a 5 days inspection period to test and inspect it. Please provide me your full name and address so I can register you as the buyer and after that eBay will send you an email with the terms and conditions, with no obligation on buying it and also they will confirm the fact that the transaction is conducted through them and I'm a legitimate seller. Waiting for your email with the requested details.Thank you.
 
They're out there! I found my Rocky Mountain TJ absolutely MINT with 94k on it for $8700. An older gentleman in northern NJ had it garage kept since he bought it off the lease. Bone stock and not a spot of rust, it also took me months to find one in that condition and I immediately pulled the trigger on it.
 
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Omg, wait, WHAT?

someone put a CAR in a GARAGE?

in my neighborhood,everyone parks their nice cars on the street, and stores a pile of junk that won’t bring $50 at a yard sale in their garage 🤣
 
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I promise you that you can get scammed in the south and be just as depressed with a TJ that might be rust free but have quite a few other issues.

Best advice is to use an inspection service, forum member willing to check out vehicle or fly and check it out yourself. It will be money well spent in the long run.

I did LOL at the diamond plate, wonder how many hundreds of people that has fooled.

Some pretty nice looking TJs have popped up on the "Finds" forum. but I would never buy one off a picture only.
 
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Time to drive south a little bit. There’s a decent amount of them around my area. No major rust and under 150k miles isn’t too hard to find.
 
OP, depending on what you're looking for, I have a nice rust free TJ I'm selling. It does have high miles, but I've put a lot into it to ensure reliability. I'm betting you wouldn't be disappointed in what you see.
 
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I got kinda lucky with mine. It came from down south and has a solid frame and decently solid body. Wasn’t well taken care of mechanically though. I think it sat for quite a while. I got it from a guy down towards Philly who buys fixes and sells Jeeps. I crawled all over and under mine, lifted the carpets, left it run for a while, looked for leaks or anything broken or missing. It needed a couple repairs and I’m currently having an issue with the heat, (when set on defrost/floor it blows hot out the defrost but barely luke warm on the drivers side and cold on the passenger side), but for the most it was drivable and I feel the price was fair considering what I’ve seen in asking prices lately. I’ve looked at a lot of TJ’s before this one and like you said here in the Northeast people are asking crazy prices for high mileage rotted out junk. On the other hand I’ve seen really clean nice low mileage TJ’s with asking prices in the $16000 + price range.
 
Geetarz said:
Looking for a decent TJ in the northeast is depressing. I lose a little more of my will to live every time I see one listed. “Not a lot of rust” = this Jeep will be sold for parts in a few years.

And, NO, you’re not fooling anyone installing diamond plate fender and body panels to cover the rust.

The worst part is that clean, well-maintained TJs do retain their value. The problem this creates is that everyone selling a high mileage TJ with some rust issues now has an unreasonable idea of what it should sell for, because they see the rare clean examples listed.
View attachment 128538

Oh, and see these guys? They’re STYLISH and ... THEY KNOWZ IT. This is everyone who has destroyed a sweet stock TJ with their nasty aftermarket mods. Yeah, you’re strutting around thinking you look cool, but in reality, it’s a little sickening!

I’m losing hope here. Looking at Jeeps is just depressing me.
Click to expand...

+1 on mods and not just for TJs. I was browsing first gen Camaros (1967 - 1969). Finding so many for sale referenced as "pro-street". Which basically means messed up for regular driving. Often gutted rear passenger areas, welded in oversized wheelwells, and huge slick-like tires. Blowers and huge engines with cams that make the engine run like cr*p. Hate that pro-street stuff, they cut up and destroyed these Camaros, and lost money in the process because the mostly stock Camaros are worth more these days.

Buying from a warmer/dryer areas is best, but a bit easier said than done. I would have a hard time buying a TJ without first seeing/driving it firsthand. That means taking a long trip from Chicago area and maybe not liking what I find. I lived in Colorado and there were lots of low rust vehicles there. Next time on an extended trip back, I might send a few days looking for a nice TJ, in the event there happens to be one for sale during that relatively short window. I'd be driving a rust free TJ right now if still living in Colorado, would be easy to find. Not so easy here in Chicago area.

Also I've had best luck over the years buying stock unmodified vehicles. Less headaches and SPOTs (stupid previous owner tricks).
 
they're are out there, just gotta have your cash stashed and be ready and jump when you locate it, they go fast. and tend to be priced above average.
 
Geetarz said:
Omg, wait, WHAT?

someone put a CAR in a GARAGE?

in my neighborhood,everyone parks their nice cars on the street, and stores a pile of junk that won’t bring $50 at a yard sale in their garage 🤣
Click to expand...

In my town that's because of zoning laws. Anything that even kinda looks like a project and they will fine the **** out of you.

I had the hood of my TJ open just last week doing spark plugs and a cop hassled me about it. This wasn't even in the street, it was on my property behind my house.
 
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