Claude Reeder
3/18/98


Hi, my name is Claude Reeder. I'm a high school
art teacher here in Ligonier, Indiana. I've been
around four wheel drive and off-road type vehicles most
of my life. My father was a bush pilot for a small
non-profit organization that did alot of relief and
disaster area work in third world countries. I was
born in New York but grew up primarily in Indonesia.

Most of the time, while growing up, we lived in
very remote locations. More often than not, the
roads that existed were primative at best. Toyota
Land Cruisers, "Series" Land Rovers and WWII vintage Jeeps
were the vehicles of choice when it came to negotiating
the trails and "roads". If you've seen pictures from
the "Camel Trophy Challenge" that took place in
Borneo(Kalimantan), you have an idea of what
the terrain is like in Indonesia.

I had always dreamed of owning my own Jeep. Our family
usually had a Land Rover but I always loved the open air
look of the Jeep. They were rather scarce on the island
that I grew up on, but it was always on the back of my
mind that I would have one some day.

My golden opportunity came to me about two years ago while
I was in search of a "new" vehicle to drive, (my trusty
old '64 VW bus just wasn't cutting it anymore) I found
a beautiful bone stock, steel wheeled (a little rusty)
1979 CJ-7 with a 258 motor. I was hooked, I took that
thing everywhere! I drove it with the top down in 30
degree weather as long as the sun was out...

Now, two years later, a two and half inch Sky Jacker
lift, 31x10.50 BFG's and much abuse and more rust,
she's a little tired. It's cold and rainy outside
while she sits quietly in my garage, one back tire gone
flat and the dog-house removed. Meanwhile I'm saving
up the buck's in preperation for doing a fresh
rebuild. This weekend (3/21) Troy is coming over to my
place to help replace hoses and rebuild the carb. My
goal is to be at Silver Lake Dunes on Memorial Day
with new body mounts, seats, paint, tires, exhaust,
locker, fenders, a repaired frame and a warmed over motor.

Look for the build-up under“TECH STUFF” and my
trail experiences under “STORIES”



Thanks for visiting our site, Claude


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