I remember my first ride in a Jeep...it was my friends yellow 1981 CJ-7 with a burnt-out inline 6. We went offroading with no top in 40 degree mist and I was hooked. The thing burned oil in our faces and wreaked of gasoline but it is still my favorite Jeep ever. Not too long after that, my friend Hall bought a Jeep Cherokee with a 4.0L, auto and NP242 Xfer case. The first night he had it we took it to a large construction site near our neighborhood. Regan's cousin John was there too and drove his Isuzu Trooper (the freakin death trap that it was). My friend MJ and I jumped into Johnny's Trooper and off we went. It was pretty dark but we could see okay as we climbed small hills of dirt and sprayed sand and gravel everywhere. After a few minutes though, John started up this small hill with some speed 15-20 mph (offroad, thats way too fast). At the top of the hill was a section of street curb about 2 feet high, we hit it head on and it felt like we went straight up in the air. We heard alot of mashing and scraping and that indescribable sound that sheet metal makes when scraping along rocks. We drove slowly out of the construction area to a nearby parking lot to check things out. The undercarriage was bent and had a few deep scars but there were no obvious leaks or serious damage...COOL! What other kind of car could do that? or at least do that and survive with that little amount of damage? And even after being beaten, bruised, dented and scraped was still cool? "Adds character..." YEAH, IT DOES!

Most of my friends had Jeeps or a 4x4 vehicle of some type too. Hall had his Cherokee, Barry had a CJ-7, John had a Trooper, JT had a YJ Wrangler....blah blah blah. I had enough influence from our adventures in offroading that I began looking for my own Jeep. I already had an 88 Olds Cutlass S 2 door that I bought off my grandmother for $500 before this whole Jeep thing started. I was only 15 at the time too so I didn't even have a permit yet. After that first time offroad in Regan's yellow CJ-7, I knew that a car would be more than "just a way to get from A to B" (as my parents liked to put it).

So with the help of the dad, we sold the Cutlass to a friend of the family for $1000 (hey, a $500 profit, not too shabby, eh?) And, on January 19, 1999 I bought my first Jeep: a red 1984 CJ-7 with an inline 4. I bought it from a dealer for $2900 and man, did I get ripped off! (although I didn't know it at the time) I thought I was getting a great deal because the engine only had 79,000 original miles and it ran great. Plus, it had a new clutch, fuel pump and a few other random things and I figured that if anything broke the dealer would fix it for free! Hahaha, ignorance is NOT bliss! - As I would soon realize...

So here's basically what I started with:

1984 Jeep CJ-7
AMC 150ci, I-4, 1 bbl carb
T-4, 4 speed
D30 (open), AMC20 (open)
Full hardtop and doors
Manual brakes, steering
All gauges work (exc. temp)
Stock suspension
Balding 31x10.5-15 Bridgestone Desert Duelers
15x8 Painted stock rims
Lots of "custom" bodywork to cover areas of rust
No radio or speakers

Basically I had a bone stock, base model 84 CJ-7...It was a lot of work to drive, the steering was way loose and the suspension was hard as a rock. The clutch and transmission shifted flawlessly tho and the manual choke worked well even in cold weather. For pictures, click here.