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It is hard to put 6 months of blood, sweat, and tears into words in one page on a
web site that exists in this little area that we call cyber space, however, I will give it my best shot. The Jeep
depicted below is an idea that I had about 6 months ago. The idea was simple, take someone else's project that had
been abandoned and take it to the level of where the owner would have wanted it to be. Basically, take someone else's
dream and make it a reality.
I started out by looking in the Jeep Forum's that are abundant on the Internet and I got in contact with a bunch of
people and I started asking questions to see what was available and what kind of shape the Jeep was in and at what
stage of the project that the previous owner had taken it to. After talking to a bunch of people, I settled on a
project that was located in Massachusetts and I set out to pick it up and start the long process of getting the Jeep
back to the level that it once was and improving on the design where Jeep didn't realize it back in the day.
After a long trip up and back and renting a trailer, the entire contents of someone else's garage were sitting in a
bay at my girlfriend's parent's house. This added a bit of urgency to the process, as I felt very bad about having
my crap in someone else's garage. I wanted to make sure it didn't take more then 6 months to finish the project and
at the same time, I wanted to get it to a level before winter that the Jeep could be moved elsewhere it deemed
necessary due to space constraints.
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After much research and many calls to various people, junkyards, the project was
underway and we went at it full bore. Many nights and weekends were consumed in the process and at times, my
relationship with my girlfriend, family, and friends seemed somewhat strained as I never tire of a challenge or
in this case, something that I set out to do. I am a perfectionist and I love to do this as my hobby and I would
work on it day in and day out if time and money allowed me to do so.
I sit here on 11/20/05 after a very long weekend and in reflecting back on the project and process that was
undertaken to finish it, I realize a lot of things, but the main one that I keep coming back to is that I will
never get anyone to realize how much time, effort, and sacrifice went into building this Jeep. I love working on
projects, but I realized that when you try to do something as an idea, that turns into a business, and finally
try to keep up the work schedule that you need to pay the bills and at the same time juggle family and relationship
issues, something has to give. This is something that anyone that has done this will tell you was the hardest
part. At times you have the money, but not time. Other times you have plenty of time, but no money, and then there
is always that family functions and work that you have to do in order to satisfy many other areas of responsibility.
I am in no way trying to make light of the situation or am I trying to get anyone to feel sorry for me. I am not
trying to do anything but put the facts out there as I have done for the entire build-up. If this had been a reality
show, you would have seen all the bloopers and blunders in clear site as I was trying to document the entire build-up
from soup to nuts on this "idea" that I had.
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I really want to see how this is going to turn out. I mean anyone can take a pile
of bolts and piece it back together given enough time, energy, and money. It takes a little bit more to listen
to the previous owner and incorporate their ideas and your own to come up with a Jeep that not only looks good, but
performs as well.
In comparison to other Jeeps that I have built, this one went extremely smooth and really was quite a learning
process. I spent way more time in some areas that I won't spend in the future because now I know how to do those
things. Also, tools... in the process of this project, I was able to obtain a bunch more tools that helped the
process to go quicker in many areas of the project. I set out each and everyday in my life to learn something new
and this project was no exception. I learned quite a bit about myself in the process as well. I also learned that
in order to do this, you couldn't forget the people that helped you out during the project as well as the people that
have helped you out in life along the journey. I can't say enough how thankful I am to Jen and her family for
allowing me to realize the "idea" that I had and again for all the help (and food) that they provided me with.
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I am not going to re-cap all the parts ordered or how much each individual item
cost, because that is listed throughout the
Third Project Write-up as well as
a complete cost analysis in the
Customize It! section as well. In
these sections, one can get a glimpse of everything that went into this project and what it takes to finish the
job.
One area that I want to mention however is eBay. I don't have this reflected anywhere, but I sold A LOT
of parts to help offset the cost of this project. If you plan on doing something like this, DO NOT throw
anything out. I was able to sell things that I never thought in a million years that someone would buy. To
give some context, I sold off a lot of the original parts that I wanted to replace with new ones. In all, I sold
about 50 things on eBay and various Jeep Forum "For Sale" sections at a total of approximately $1600.00 that I
took in the door. Shipping came out of this total at $500.00 that I charged people up front for a grand total
of about $1,100 to help offset the cost of the overall project. Trust me, this helps a lot when you need to get
new parts and you don't want to run up the cost of the project.
It is true that the overall project was about $9,000 to complete from getting the Jeep, to transporting it down
to Connecticut, to stripping it all down, getting the rust areas repaired, converting the Wrangler tub to look
like a CJ, hunting down CJ parts, and finally getting it all straightened out, painted up and reassembled, however,
no expense was spared in the process (I sound like that old guy from Jurassic Park). But in the end, I wanted
a Jeep that was done the way it should be, the right way!
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| With all that said, the Jeep is almost completed and I am happy to say that this
experience was one of the best I have had. I set out to do something and I did it exactly the way I wanted to with
no compromises whatsoever. The Jeep has an aggressive stance and the Yellow Mustang paint is definitely bright and
one of a kind. There are many "Yellow" Jeeps out there, but this one stands alone and is quite unique. Whoever gets
this Jeep has a solid foundation from which to build upon and can do whatever they feel necessary to take the Jeep
to new heights and beyond.
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Along the ride I have gained a new appreciation for working with metal and it feels
like something that I was born to do. I only regret that I started building Jeeps so late in life. If I had any
advice to give to someone that was thinking about doing something like this, I would say to read as much as possible
and go out and get yourself a rig and start tinkering with it. The beauty of metal is that it can always be repaired
and shaped into something cool as long as you have enough time and patience, not to mention money as well. Anything
can be achieved, it just takes time and money and a whole lot of work with a BFH (Big F%*^ing Hammer).
Thanks to all that have helped and to the people that have asked questions, it helped all around with
the write-ups and the modifications that have been done to the Jeep!
I look forward to the next challenge and if anyone wants a Jeep built, just let us know! I am sure that Jen would
be overjoyed to start a new project with me. Just kidding, thanks again for all your patience Jen :)
cb (11/21/05)
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