Chuck Brown
06-14-2008, 09:33 AM
Boys, the day has come…and after 4 long months of waiting to take delivery on my 77 Cherokee Chief, the transport truck finally showed up at my place today!
I found it on Craigslist, after months of scouring the local papers and internet following the moment I saw the ol’ Bargain Beater episode last year and after all this time I am only now able to climb inside and actually lay hands on what I bought.
She aint as pretty as most, but she’s an Arizona rig that was hauled East and the previous owner dumped about $7500 in mechanical work including a new 401. He had gone to the effort of having it stripped down at a body shop in his area in preparation of full body and paint work, but when the place folded he spent the next year trying to get it back.
Finally, after he got it back, his wife informed him that a baby will soon be on the way and he had to liquidate.
I watched it posted on Craigslist for about a month, and when he was finally motivated to work on the price, I was able to close the deal, and he was nice enough to hang onto it til winter passed and I could get a transport company to make the long haul with it.
(By the way, if you ever need a rig hauled for a REASONABLE price from Ohio east and southward, the folks at Road Dog transport were second to none.)
All the bolt-ons, bumpers, trim, etc… had been removed by the PO and were nicely boxed away in back along with a new set of shocks in the box, extra carb and other miscellaneous materials he had sunk into the project.
Now that Ive gone on at length about my day, I wanna hit you guys up with a question or two to see what your thoughts and experiences have been.
A.) Has anybody here ditched the back seat, just to run as a two-seater? I’m mostly looking at tool and bush country gear storage, and started to toy with the idea today.
B.) Anybody have any tips, suggestions or pitfalls for when I lift the chassis off the frame and get her on my rotisserie?
I’m going to send her out for stripping and full ceramic epoxy coating treatment that they do about 5 miles down the road from my place. It makes the surface practically impregnable (they tend to use it a lot around here on tractor trailers and heavy equipment).
Thanks as always fellas….
Chuck Brown
I found it on Craigslist, after months of scouring the local papers and internet following the moment I saw the ol’ Bargain Beater episode last year and after all this time I am only now able to climb inside and actually lay hands on what I bought.
She aint as pretty as most, but she’s an Arizona rig that was hauled East and the previous owner dumped about $7500 in mechanical work including a new 401. He had gone to the effort of having it stripped down at a body shop in his area in preparation of full body and paint work, but when the place folded he spent the next year trying to get it back.
Finally, after he got it back, his wife informed him that a baby will soon be on the way and he had to liquidate.
I watched it posted on Craigslist for about a month, and when he was finally motivated to work on the price, I was able to close the deal, and he was nice enough to hang onto it til winter passed and I could get a transport company to make the long haul with it.
(By the way, if you ever need a rig hauled for a REASONABLE price from Ohio east and southward, the folks at Road Dog transport were second to none.)
All the bolt-ons, bumpers, trim, etc… had been removed by the PO and were nicely boxed away in back along with a new set of shocks in the box, extra carb and other miscellaneous materials he had sunk into the project.
Now that Ive gone on at length about my day, I wanna hit you guys up with a question or two to see what your thoughts and experiences have been.
A.) Has anybody here ditched the back seat, just to run as a two-seater? I’m mostly looking at tool and bush country gear storage, and started to toy with the idea today.
B.) Anybody have any tips, suggestions or pitfalls for when I lift the chassis off the frame and get her on my rotisserie?
I’m going to send her out for stripping and full ceramic epoxy coating treatment that they do about 5 miles down the road from my place. It makes the surface practically impregnable (they tend to use it a lot around here on tractor trailers and heavy equipment).
Thanks as always fellas….
Chuck Brown