I recently did a trade of my street legal xr400 and a sum of cash for a 1977 Jeep CJ5.
While the xr400 carried me through many a fun adventure over the last several years and many miles, the last adventure sent me on a nasty spill down a waterfall with shale embedded in my arm, and an alleged fracture which now gives me the super power of being able to tell when the weather is changing by way of a dull ache. I'm 33, have a small family and have come to the realization that my offroad riding skill hasn't matched the increased recovery time from the spills. My son is 5 1/2 years old, and my girlfriend has a 2 1/2 year old son, and while I have a sidecar mounted to a hardtail bobber, we we all want to go together on some open-air adventures that are beyond the scope of what I am comfortable with hanging either of them out in traffic for.
The jeep came from a really cool fella about 1.5 hours from me just south of Columbus. He had worked on the jeep with his father, who had unfortunately passed away mid project, and while he eventually got it on the road, he had also understandably fallen out of love with the project. We both got what we wanted out of the trade, which is always the best that things can go.
It has all the things I'd want in an old jeep, being as I have an archaic soul myself. It is motivated down the road by a plain Jane 258 straight 6 with a carter single barrel mated to a 4 speed manual. No power brakes, no power steering and it's sitting on a set of meaty 32's wrapped around a set of steel wagon wheels. The frame is really solid, which is no small thing in the salt lands of Ohio winters. The tub has had copious amounts of patch work done, and the whole thing is finished in a surprisingly respectable aerosol overhaul paint job, including the graphics, which the p.o. laid out and painted himself. It's the epitome of a 30/30 vehicle. At 30 feet away and 30 mph, it looks perfect
While the xr400 carried me through many a fun adventure over the last several years and many miles, the last adventure sent me on a nasty spill down a waterfall with shale embedded in my arm, and an alleged fracture which now gives me the super power of being able to tell when the weather is changing by way of a dull ache. I'm 33, have a small family and have come to the realization that my offroad riding skill hasn't matched the increased recovery time from the spills. My son is 5 1/2 years old, and my girlfriend has a 2 1/2 year old son, and while I have a sidecar mounted to a hardtail bobber, we we all want to go together on some open-air adventures that are beyond the scope of what I am comfortable with hanging either of them out in traffic for.
The jeep came from a really cool fella about 1.5 hours from me just south of Columbus. He had worked on the jeep with his father, who had unfortunately passed away mid project, and while he eventually got it on the road, he had also understandably fallen out of love with the project. We both got what we wanted out of the trade, which is always the best that things can go.
It has all the things I'd want in an old jeep, being as I have an archaic soul myself. It is motivated down the road by a plain Jane 258 straight 6 with a carter single barrel mated to a 4 speed manual. No power brakes, no power steering and it's sitting on a set of meaty 32's wrapped around a set of steel wagon wheels. The frame is really solid, which is no small thing in the salt lands of Ohio winters. The tub has had copious amounts of patch work done, and the whole thing is finished in a surprisingly respectable aerosol overhaul paint job, including the graphics, which the p.o. laid out and painted himself. It's the epitome of a 30/30 vehicle. At 30 feet away and 30 mph, it looks perfect
