What was your Journey to Owning a Jeep? Post your first Jeep pic!

[txj2go]

My wife had a Grand Cherokee that we did a lot of trails with, and I've rented Wranglers in Colorado and Utah 3 different times. I was planning to work less and spend more time camping so I had initially planned to get a small economy SUV. Then I started thinking about where I wanted to go and only a Wrangler would do so I bought what I could find and afford. In 14 months of ownership I've been on 6 long road trips, 5 of which involved doing trails.

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[Rscx4]

In the Army, started driving an M551 in 1985, in 86 we switched to the original HMMWV, another blast. Married in to a 95 YJ in 96, got my own CJ and then displaced both with an 05 LJUR. Bought a 21 JLUR in May and realized that day that I would never get to drive it, ordered a 392 that evening, 5/14. Sold the LJ today, have to make room for the 392. She is in KZ and should be here soon.

 

[Hinckle21901]

Owned a 92 YJ, and then a 93. Baby on the way wife said we need to trade it. reluctantly I did for a VW family jetta. Family does crazy things to a man! In 2006 I brought home the last year of the 4.0 wrangler because it was the last year of the 4.0 Wife was angry as hell, but kids loved it, and eventually she came around after the fun we had!

Brought my kids up in it, and made them fans! I gave the TJ to my daughter so It's still around! Not going anywhere.

 

[zw470]

Bought a new JKas a second vehicle back in 2010, quickly installed a Teraflex lift kit and 35s.

Traded it in 2012 for a Charger.

Traded that in 2015 for a Mustang.

Traded that in 2017 for an F-150.

Traded that in 2018 for a 4Runner.

And here we are in 2021 with the JLR.

 

[Austin23]

My journey started when I was a kid. My father worked for the US Postal Service and when I saw him driving that Blue Jeep with the sliding open door, I was infatuated. For my birthday, I got a little bank in the shape of a Jeep to save up my coins. In High School, a friend of mine gave me a ride home in an open CJ and the hook sunk in. After admiring them from afar for 2 decades I finally rented one for a family vacation in Colorado. That stock JL Sport took us through a blizzard on back country roads covered in 8 inches of snow and the hook was set. A week later I had a Jeep sitting in my garage, a lifelong dream come true. Best decision I ever made.

My first Jeep.

 

[Punknhed]

2015 I bought a used 2005 GTO. Had a blast with it, put grandson in it as a little tyke, he loved it along with my son loved it. Wife loves going to the beach, her escape sucked, and the Goat sucked going to the beach, and my brother had a jeep and i said we need one so we can do jeep things. well, long story short, i decided to order my Jeep, and the next day the wife left. Against the advice of friends, and brother i went ahead with the Jeep order, and got rid of the Goat. I figured id have a brand new vehicle, my first for me since 06 and if it snowed i could still get to work. Since i got my Jeep my son now 12, has fallen in love with it, and loves going to the beach, and into the mountains and getting dirty. Life has a strange way of working it self out sometimes. The Jeep is almost paid for, and i have a feeling if all goes well i will add a "speedy" car to the stable once again.

 

[DOOKEY]

My first Jeep was a 99SE. It taught me quite a bit. Basically I'd never own a 4 cylinder again. Or a Dana 30.

I went to work when I owned my own flooring install business. A 14 year old girl ditched class with her older BFF and totaled my 93 Honda Prelude while it was parked. They took a corner going too fast. She got scared and hit the gas instead of the brakes. Smashed my car to bits. So a friend suggested I get a Jeep. I started the search.

Little would I know that choosing a Jeep would lead me to meeting my wife. Gracing the cover of Crawl magazine. Owning my own double beadlock company. And now chatting with you. So I don't regret the 994bangeroffury 1 bit. But never again.

And how that Jeep ended up.

 

[TimJL]

I think I've been wanting to buy a Jeep for the last decade... and finally pulled the trigger, so glad that I did. Definitely what I was dreaming about and was hoping for!

Little guy off the lot didn't look much but the grin on my face was telling me I made the right decision.

 

[jbcrane]

The opposite of an impulse buy: I'd wanted a Wrangler since 2006 when the 4-door Unlimited was announced. The 4 doors moved it from something that would be fun to have to actually being practical for me at the time. I was in the market for a new vehicle and looked at it hard, but in the end went with (another) Subaru. No regrets - it was a great car. For 15 years. During that time the Wrangler evolved, and I began looking seriously again in '18 when the JL was announced. I drove it, loved it and returned from the dealer with the beautiful JL Booklet/Catalog Jeep produced for the launch - but the Subaru was still running reasonably well so I nursed it a while longer. For 4 more years I thumbed through that catalog in anticipation... until this April when it was finally time. I began configuring one on line and knew what I wanted (manual transmissions are rare sitting on the lot) - but was deliberating over whether to order or try to hunt one down. I test drove a couple more found on the lot - a 2 door, a 2.0L Unlimited (auto), but having waited so long already there was no sense of urgency - it had to be the right one. One day a visit to the dealer lot connected me with James, the sales associate I'd spoken with before. He said there was one coming in that fit my build almost exactly - the only thing missing was the LED headlight package. The rest is history. Going on month 5 and about 5K miles, getting ready to take him on his first real road trip this month... really looking forward to it. Feel like I've got a buddy for life when I drive him. This is shot a month after I drove him off the lot, and the day I installed the Rock Rails.

 

[The Fixer]

Been a Jeep fan for a long time, starting with XJs. When I was in high school, my mom got an '87 XJ, and I eventually learned how to drive in that in 1990. Then, my buddy got a new '90 YJ as a high-school graduation gift, and I have fun memories of riding with the top down and doors off, going to shows, and wrenching on it.

My mom had her XJ for 12 years, then got a WJ in '99. My wife liked my mom's WJ a lot, but felt it was just too large. So, my wife started her Jeep journey in September of '02 with an '03 KJ Limited. The only mod I eventually added was a set of '06 KJ 17" street wheels.

As our own family grew, I had to sell my daily driver '87 Monte Carlo SS and get something a bit more practical. I went back to my Jeep roots and bought a slightly used '01 XJ in 2006, and it was my daily driver for 5 years.

I did a lot of upgrades to this over the years, including a rear disc conversion, TJ Moab wheels, and the addition of rear-seat headrests. I believe those writeups are still over on jeepforum.com .

My wife used the KJ as her daily for 15 years (!!!) until our son finally convinced her she should get a new vehicle as the KJ was starting to develop some problems. He got her to test drive a JLU, and she was hooked. We ordered her Firecracker Red Sport S in April of 2018.

Here it is in front of the Thomas Hill Standpipe in Bangor, ME. Stephen King fans will recognize this location. It's been a great family road trip and daily driver, and currently has 22K miles.

I enjoyed driving her JLU so much that I leased a JL for myself in 2019. I love this little Jeep! It's got a few mods which you can read about in my build thread if you're interested.

And, we still have the KJ. After my wife got her JLU, we took it off the road and made a father-son project out of all the necessary repairs it needed (brake lines, calipers, pads, rotors, cooling system overhaul). After those repairs were completed, he drove it stock for a while. Right before he got his license, we installed the Rough Country lift, new KYB springs/struts, and tie rod ends. We handed my son the keys when he turned 17. Here's how it looks now.

This was an action shot from Rausch Creek taken by Kyle from Off-Road Consulting. It's lifted now on TJ Moabs and 31's, and he also added Skid Row front skid and gas tank skid, along with OEM tow hooks up front. We also adapted JL halogen headlights.

 

[DKAwildcat]

Although I’ve loved Jeeps since I was a kid, I didn’t buy one to use as my daily-driver until I retired. Here is a picture of my first and second one.

 

[en480c4]

I don’t have any good pics of Jeep #1, an ‘83 DJ-5 Dispatcher. Gotta love the mail Jeeps!

Jeep #2 was a ‘78 CJ-5 Golden Eagle. Loved that thing.

And with a few more CJ’s, TJ’s, LJ’s, JK’s and WJ’s mixed in there, Jeep #16 just arrived.

 

[DenaliDan]

I went on a business trip in 2019 and got a brand new Wrangler for a rental. By the time I reached the hotel from the airport, I wanted one. A number of months later, I had my Moab ordered and built and traded in my Audi S5. No regrets.

Trade in (loved this car)

Mabel the Moab (LOVE this Jeep!)

 

[Sparty]

I was out of college and living in the middle of nowhere Iowa with a 2WD Chevy S10. I really liked the truck, but hated being restricted to minimal traction issues with it during the winter. I wanted to be able to go anywhere if needed.

Enter the 2004 TJ. I special ordered it and bought what I needed at the time (wasn't rock crawling - didn't need a Rubicon). I got the optional 30" tires with 3.73 gears and limited slip After about a year I went up to a easy 2" lift and 32" tires.

After playing with some bigger rigs, I decided 35's with a 4" lift and lockers and a regear to 4.56 were a new requirement. Added a little extra to the internal roll cage for the wife and kid. I quickly found out how useful a 4:1 transfer case on a Rubicon would have been when using a manual.

After 17 years and 165K miles, I decided it was time to sell and take advantage of the used car market (and I still regret it time to time).

This year I put order in for a Rubicon 2-door and really like it. I still miss the hell out of that TJ.....the new JLs are almost too nice.

Keeping it stock for the most part now. May get a little bigger in the future

 

[Bee-Rad]

I loved the CJs when I was in high school in the 80’s, but I couldn’t afford one. I got a ‘65 MGB instead and loved it despite it being a POS 20 year-old LBC (Lucas!).

Fast forward juuuuuuuuust a few years and I had a couple Miatas—an NC and ND. Those are fantastic cars, but the ND seating position and the stick shift weren’t working for me (crap shoulder).

My husband had a JKUR, which I loved and we had many great adventures.

He sold it. I missed it. So I got my own JL (you can see my ND in the background)!

That JLR was bought back and now I have Ranger:

@sourdough — I named Ranger after one of my favorite characters: Aragorn. I love your avatar.

LOL Lucas! I had a friend in high school with an MGB, and he spent way more time fixing electrical issues than actually driving the car.

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