Tncdrew
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Tom
- Joined
- May 3, 2022
- Threads
- 20
- Messages
- 1,273
- Reaction score
- 2,476
- Location
- East Tennessee
- Vehicle(s)
- 2022 JL Willys, 3.6L - 8spd
Great story!!!Its about change. In my world, for many years jeeps had not doors, no tops, not much of anything. But they bulletproof. Unless you blew a clutch or a radiator, you could get back off the trail or back home.
Then came the YJ, what killed it was the square headlights, no one liked them, even I did not like them. So I ordered a Sahara anyhow and I ordered one with an auto trans and AC. Well the dealer wanted me to put down $3000 deposit, $1000 nonrefundable due to the auto trans. It was a good jeep, but ugly.
Then in 2003 I ordered a Rubicon and still today there is no better rock crawler than a TJ Rubicon and that straight 6 engine! What a combo. It was that which lit the fire under Jeeps and then the 4 door in 2007 and the world went crazy for Jeeps because it opened the market to families for the first time ever...and this is a good thing.
For those of you that have been Jeeping for 55 years, here is a little tidbit: The ONLY reason why Jeep stayed alive over all these years and from CEOs and buyouts by companies that HATED the Jeep (MB) was that Jeep was the most profitable vehicle sold in America as an individual car. I do not know what it cost to build a jeep pre-2000, but I worked for a Big 5 Audit and Consulting company and they were auditing the Corvette division, this would have been around 97. One of the auditors saw my corvette and asked if knew what the dead cost was to build out the assembly line door? He sald average cost was $19,xxx. when it rolled off the line. The base price was $37,345 and you add on to about $44k max. If Vette was built for $19k you can only imagine a Jeep I would guess about $7-$9k at that time.
Now its 2023 and I will order my 2 (TWO) door Rubicon when I get up to my dealer next week. Its going to cost me MSRP $60,XXX...I paid $21.XXX for my 2003 Rubicon (OK, I was consulting for Chrysler and got a special deal thrown in in my pay package).
Do we have a better Jeep? Yes and No. Yes its a GREAT rig, leather seats and heated too and the list goes on and on of goodness. Is it a better off road rig, perhaps if you get the right model but try this: My '03 Rubicon crossing a raging river in Table Mesa Az. It was almost dry river when we drove over about 7 am and by 5 pm going back home it was raging and getting higher due to a major storm up N that we never say. The group leader decided to try it and he got shut down. I went out my Jeep to get him, water is splashing over my windows and I had to roll them up, water in the Jeep almost to my chest. I winched with almost 2 full pulls to get him out (note to all: YES my Warn 9.5 Ti winch worked UNDER water). TJs did not have much in the way of electrics so I could make it.
Sidebar: There were 7 more Jeeps that did not cross, even tho I said I would get them if they faltered or got stuck, but they would not do it. This was Sat and me and the guy I winched out (his started) we headed home. The other 7 did not make it home until Monday. The sheriff's office sent a helicopter that dropped food, and water to them. They could cross the river until Monday afternoon.
The weak point on the high-end 2 and 4 dr is all the electronics IMO.
I agree with you about old vs new Jeeps. In the 80's & 90's I had a couple of early 80's CJ-7's. Loved those Jeeps! Especially the highly modified '83 I had.
I just purchased a new '22 2dr Willys. Drove 5hrs to a dealership to get it. It had 99% of the options I wanted.
When I arrived at the dealership, the owner of the dealership had 2 older Jeeps inside the showroom, a 2004 Hardtop Rubicon absolutely gorgeous with 30K miles on it, and an '81 Grand Wagoneer equally nice with ultra low miles...
It was all I could do to not walk out of there with that red '04 Rubicon instead of the '22 Red Willys!!
Sponsored
) ONLY contained stuff that related to MY Jeep (no Unlimiteds in those days).
