"I guess one is never too old to go Jeepin'! Still have a few years left in me." - labyerly.
You're absolutely correct, labyerly.
Hey, all...this is gonna be long 'cause I GOTTA vent - you'll see why in a moment.
I'll be 60 in a couple of weeks and have owned my '00 TJ since Labor Day weekend of '07. Our son and his wife had come over for a golf tournament in their brand new '06 (leftover) Unlimited, all black, compass in the rearview mirror, I'm going..."I had no idea that a Jeep, jeep could be this cool."
As the four of us (our son, daughter-in-law, she-who-must-be-obeyed, and me) drove down to Tunica for the tournament, I realize that we're comfortable (literally 108 degrees that day) as our-son-the-genius has AIR in his ragtop Jeep. I didn't know they
came with air. (This is probably gonna be long but, hey, indulge me - it's about Jeeps.) Here's a Jeep, jeep going down the freeway at the speed limit with four aboard plus golf sticks,
airconditioner of all things and it ain't putting up a fuss. (The ones we had in the Navy would have FUSSED all the way, believe me.)
So, when the weekend's over, they're pulling out of the drive and, as usual, I come down with KILLER sinus problems - runny nose, watery eyes, the whole gig. Once they're out of sight I decide, "What could it possibly hurt to take a quick peek in eBay?" Well...after two or three evenings of just checking eBay, I found my TJ at, of all places, a dealership I know back home in Nashville. (We're empty-nesters here in MEM with FedEx - transferred us over in '97 when the baby left home.)
So, I call my daughter and tell her that I've found a Jeep on Murfreesboro road and, will she go look at it with me Saturday morning as Mama and I are coming home for the weekend. She says 'yes.' Drove in Saturday morning to find a little four-banger, five-speed, SE with a straight body, needing juuuussssst a bit of detailing but showing out good, handed over the money (buy-now price) and followed her in my 'new' Jeep out to her home in Franklin. What fun that was. (She and I test drove it for and hour perhaps, with her behind the wheel the whole time. Talk about a fun father/daughter outing.) Naturally I snapped a few pics after the purchase as I followed behind in her Mama's Accord.
Since then, I've been bringing it back to like-new condition with carpets, freshly painted flares, grinding away frame rust followed up with etching primer, paint, and undercoat, new motor mounts, iginition parts, battery, radiator, water pump, hoses, belt, front sway bar links, poly suspension bushings/cushions, wax, wax, and more wax (good original paint), custom wintertime headliner to kockdown buffeting noise from the top, lighted rearview mirror, Sony head w/XM/iPod and new Infinity Kappa speakers, new inner and outer shifter boots, yada, yada, yada. I should tell you this as an intro to my complaint in the next paragraph - this is a sharp looking little silver Jeep, black accents, bright MT Classic IIs, 31" Goodrichs, you get the picture. (no air, by the way - go figure - MEMPHIS of all places - boy didn't get the genius part from me, methinks)
Now get this (and THIS is what really burns my bootay)...women think it's a TOY. A freaking TOY !!! It's not a toy, it's a ride to the office and back. It's a lousy, plain-jane, no frills vehicle, that just gets me to work and back, or any place I have business - and a few dirty places where I ain't got business. I have a toy (Corvette) and she-who-must-be-obeyed loves it. So let's compare the two: Jeep - no air, Vette - electonic climate control. Jeep - very noisy soft top, Vette - VERY quiet soft top. Jeep - had to buy a radio, Vette - Bose gold. Jeep - one courtesy light on the driver's side, Vette, OPERA lights everywhere. Jeep - ya gotta shift it YOURSELF, Vette - well yah but, that ain't relevant.
So what's the deal? (By the way, S-W-M-B-O loves riding in my Jeep, too so go figure.) I walk into the cleaners a couple of days ago and the woman behind the counter says, "So how's the toy?" I go, "What toy?" Another woman in there just grins. I already know they've got me pegged as irresponsible and self-centered. A few months ago, a woman who knows about the Vette spys the Jeep and says to me, in front of my wife, "midlife, huh?" I wanted to simply reply with "Be-yotch" but since we were in church I figured I'd better keep my mouth shut or get ambushed in the Jeep on the way home.
So anyway, that's the whole sordid tale. Can I post now? (jk) BTW, can you tell that I LOVE this little Jeep?
Bruce
