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I just turned 50. And I just bought my first Jeep. A 2013 Wrangler Sport 2 door. My dad had a Comanche when I was about 19 and I drove it a lot and from then until now I always wanted a Wrangler of my own. It was never really practical and affordable at the same time in my life until about the last year or so and finally the right one came along. I’m loving it.
i'll be 53 in July. been driving jeeps since I was 16 years old started with a CJ5 , then a CJ7, even had a scrambler( shoulda kept that one ) now i have a 2 door JK love em all.
Its rubbed off sort of , my wife had a new Renegade and my daughter has a Patriot. we are a jeep family
I'm in the 60+ category. Bought my first Jeep back in the early 80's, it was a 1977 CJ5. No power brakes, no power steering, had dual front shocks and the AMC 304 V8 with 3 speed manual transmission. It was fast, loud and a handful to drive. The previous owner was pretty handy with fabrication as I suspect they made the tube front and rear bumpers along with the shock mounts, and spare tire carrier with gas tanks.
After I bought it I upgraded the wheels and tires from the old school white CJ style wheels to the chrome ones in the photo as well as better tires. That btw didn't help the crazy handling of this Jeep, it just looked better. I added the popular back then chrome instrument cluster cover and grab bar. Then installed headers and side pipes, it was loud but with the top down it didn't make a lot of difference.
Then one night the next door neighbours ex-boyfriend decided to torch their house. Lucky for me friends down the street saw the fire and came running up to warn me. We pulled the Jeep out of the driveway just in time as the top started to burn. I kept fire extinguishers in all my cars and still do so I was lucky and we got the fire out but not before burning the top and damaging the seats. Their insurance company paid a custom shop in the west end to do a really nice re-upolstry job on my Jeep seats (it also had an aftermarket back seat) and a new soft top.
Years later I shipped the Jeep to a friend out in Alberta and he sold it later. Would be curious as to where it wound up.
A couple of years later I got a great deal on an 86 CJ7. So in the fall of 86 I added the CJ7 to the CJ5. The 7 was a much nicer more civilized Jeep compared to the 5. Also having a hard top was nice in the winter. The slightly longer wheelbase with better brakes (the 5 and non power and drum front brakes) made the 7 a much better daily driver.
To this day it's pretty much remained stock, I did replace the shocks with Rancho brand shocks, and upgraded the wheels and tires. Also upgraded the radio, added an amp and better speakers. The motor is pretty much stock, did install a K&N drop in, and when the exhausted rotted out added a Borla system with headers and free flow exhaust. It's got a nice rumble which is not loud at all.
Then a couple of years ago I picked up a used JK. When we put it up in the air we discovered that one shock and one spring were shot. So I started to price out parts and discovered that I could get a better deal on the Mopar factory 2" lift kit. So we installed that, but of course immediately after doing this we discovered that the Jeep looked 'funny' with the stock wheels and General Grabber tires. So that lead to picking up new wheels and 35" BFG KO2's. And that lead to the discovery that now I had some bad oscillation in my steering wheel so that meant an upgraded Fox steering stabilizer.
Of course now we discover that with the bigger tires and lift and getting older I'm finding it a bit difficult to get into the Jeep (oh did I mention I may be just on the borderline of being vertically challenged) and my older friends are going to have a real problem getting all the way into the back seat.....
So that leads me to the search for a JKU...... I'm already picking up some upgrade pieces for when I find one I like. But no lift! Well at least not the Mopar kit which seems higher than 2"'s. Why JKU, well I had originally been set to buy a diesel JLU but they are near $60k up here while a good used JKU can be had a lot cheaper leaving me room to install the upgrades I really want. So at some point the mini van will be replaced by a third Jeep.
I'm 62. I still own my first Jeep, a 2008 JK. Bought it on a whim, kinda fell into the deal. Of course, being a red-blooded American male, I've always wanted a Jeep.
Not a lot of mods, bigger tires, no lift, new bumpers and a winch. I mostly use mine for heading into the woods for hunting, camping and fishing. Not a lot of hills and mountains in South Georgia.
My only issue is a recent diagnosis of MS making it more difficult to drive the stick. On the good side, I may end up getting another, but with automatic, and 4 doors for carting around the grandkids (3 as of now). I'll give this older one to my lovely daughter-in-law if she promises in writing not to paint it pink like she has threatened.
My wife and I retired back in 2012, we're both a young 63. We bought a motor home when we retired and decided on a Jeep to tow behind the RV. Well, we sold
the RV about 5 yrs later and kept '11 JK Sport it became my daily driver and fishing rig. We traded our Tundra for the wife to drive a '2012 Wife's Mini Cooper
S turbo, I'm not allowed to drive.
The Jeep OEM parts have worn out so the investments started with a new 2.5 lift, new Bestop, new tires and wheels, added rear Lockers. Still undecided about replacing the factory bumpers and fenders. Just got past 50k miles. We have fun exploring the Washington Cascade mountains. New 17x9 Raceline wheels 2011 JK 2.5 lift new 315 ProComp
12-30-2018, 09:13 AM
