Fondest Jeep Memories?

[VAGladiator]

Who has some good stories from their younger days they would like to share, their fondest jeep memories or events that caused them to get the Jeep disease for life? Mine happened about 25 years ago when we had my dads '64 J200, 230ohc, D53, 4.27 gears, loaded to the top of the cab with 6ft lengths of oak. We were in a muddy ravine and my ford loving friend at the time kept saying over and over the "little" 6 cylinder in that jeep would never come out of that ravine. Well, that "little" 6 cylinder not only came out of the ravine, it came out with a vengence, at about 6000rpm, a rooster tail of mud coming from the co op's and a cloud of carbon from the exhust. Jeep is still running today, a little rustier, but driven almost daily.

[Casey]

Riding beside my grandfather in his CJ-3 (later he had a CJ-5) in the dunes at Cape Hatteras back in the 60s. I was in my first roll-over there when I was 5.
Then later hauling his camper around with my grandma's '74 Wagoneer. Breaking the wag's windshield after I flew over the front seat when he hit a dear in WV.
He used that wag to haul everything under the sun. Boats, trailers, campers, lumber on the roof...

I guess the apple don't fall too far after all! ;)

[mrtazwrench]

I have quite a few, about he earliest was in my Dad's blue 74 J20. I think it was me and my 2 sisters with my Dad driving on a closed road between our house and the nearest town, I remember hitting the roof on a coupple of the bigger bumps. this would have to be pre 78 as my dad bought a brand new 78 J20, we also had a wag for a while around the time the 78 J20 was new.

[Chris P.]

My earliest FSJ memories were riding around with my dad checking cattle in the '74 J10 (pictured in my avatar, and which I still have). One time while chasing cows he did not see a ditch. All I remember was a second of weightlessness and then slamming my head into the ceiling. Another time he managed to hit a well casing fairly hard. Luckily it was the same height as the bumper It destroyed two pieces of the three piece bumper. Any lower and it probably would have needed some engine work.

I was always afraid to ride in the J10 as I was sure it was going to blow up or catch on fire. It finally died around '97 and sat until 2003 when I got it running again and found this forum. It is still used daily on the farm.

[mathman]

Don't really know when I got the disease - as long as I can remember I've always wanted one. Probably had more to do with wanting "dad's truck" than it was a Jeep thing at the time though - dad had bought the 1950 Jeep truck seven years before I was born so I've never been without one. I do remember dad taking myself and my three brothers to school with all of his crammed into the cab of the 1950. And when it came time for hauling hay I was too small to handle the hay bales so he had me popping the clutch and steering the truck from hay bale to hay bale while he and my older brother loaded the hay. We used and abused the poor thing and it rarely missed a lick - including a trip into a ditch on interstate because I had to dodge a semi which had jack-knifed in front of me on ice. At the bottom of the ditch the road bed was higher than the cab and the ground completely snow covered but we drove back out - still don't know who was more shocked. The driver of the semi when we drove out or us seeing the semi still upright (it was a 2-trailer rig) facing oncoming traffic after having made a complete 180 while skidding on the ice.

Probably the overall fondest was at a 2003 car show when we just barely got the truck back together enough to take it. Photo from that day is at the bottom of this page:

http://www.jeep-trucks.com/WOJP/

That was the last time he got to drive the truck - although I did take him for a jaunt around the bottoms on his 80th birthday a few months after the show. We've had the truck for 51 years now and have an untold number of memories. This photo was one dad took shortly after he bought the truck in 1957:

http://www.jeep-trucks.com/WOJP/images/1950Willys473a.jpg

The W-O in my avatar is actually a picture of the tailgate. :)

[james1414d]

my fondest was watching an 18 wheeler trying to navigate through downtown portland with a 68 super wagoneer. I had it shipped from texas. it was just like a parade as far as I was concerned. about 2 miles an hour as far as I could see weaving and ducking through portland streets. I can't express how I felt to drive it off of the trailer. I had never even seen a super wagoneer before. it has come a long way since then, but, I won't soon forget how it arrived!

[mcjeep80]

i fell in love with jeeps when i bought my first one in '99 when i was 19. i was the second proud owner of a '77 jeep cherokee with just under 78,000 miles and for only $2000 it was cherry. garage kept its hole life. now i have bought more than one vehickle that i had grand plans for. but this was the first one i actualy did anything to. first came the headers, intake, carb, and exaust. next was the real fun stuff! i was feeling my inner fsjer before i even knew what that was. i took some rear springs from a galaxy 500 for the front. and a 67 mustang for the rear and rearched them and the originals with a shop hammer and a piece or rail road iron. good for 4+ inches. i even lost a piece of shin bone in the process!! :eek: that and a 3" body lift and i was good for 35"tires. when i finaly took it to show the original owner he literaly cried! to this day i dont know if it was from joy or sadness? 1 week later i rolled it with a girl in it with me. it was sold to a friend who put all of my goodies in a wt frame and sold it back to me. rearched springs and all. this one had a short life span. an old lady hit me square it the rear tire. bent the rear axle, twisted the frame and all! it was lost to the wrecker service for 5 years. one day i was going to ride a 4 wheeler somewhere i wouldnt usualy go. i see this jeep, head and sholders above everything else. i turn arround to have a better look........ SOB its my cherokee!!! btw its the one in my avitar. i buy it back along with an '81 with a bad motor . wich happens to be the one i am working on now. it has my original motor with about 85000 miles on it now. so i guess the original cherokee lives on :thumbsup: another BTW: the girl that was in the cherokee when i rolled it, has since become my wife and given me 2 children! now that is what u call an exciting first date ;)

[fireman91186]

My love for FSJ's started when I was a young child. My parents bought there 1978 cherokee chief brand new right before I was born. I remember driving with my father in that jeep all trough out my child hood. When I turned 16 my dad gave me that jeep to drive and I have never looked back since. I rember going 4 wheeling down the trails pulling the trailer camping the horses around to work cows and just plain ol driving it around town. All of my life I have loved these things despite the weird quirks they have about them. To this day I still own that jeep which at this time doesnt run but i plan to restore it someday and give it back to my dad who was so graicous to give to me when I was 16. I now own a 79 W/T that does run and at every chance i get i call my dad to help work like we used to do (ALOT) when I was a child on that old 78.


79 cherokee W/T 360 T-18 trans dana 20 transfercase with custom 1.5 spring hangers in front 4" springs in rear 33" swampers
78 cherokee chief W/T stock not running right now
84 chevy c-30 454 sm465 np205 dana 60 14 bolt also not running
2002 stock chevy 4x4 1500 hd

[cavalryman40]

For me, I was 17 years old, and working at a tire store after school. The boss comes out one day, throws me a set of keys, and tell's me to go get the "old mans" Jeep out of the warehouse next door. I didn't even know there was a Jeep in the warehouse. Anyway I go over there and look around, and over in the corner it sits. A bone stock CJ-2 (not sure what year it was). We had to drag it out, and put a battery in it, and some fuel to get it started. It was in perfect condition we cleaned it up, new tires, changed the oil, and it was ready to go. I was a lot of fun to drive around the lot, and the first time I had ever drivin a Jeep. The old man drove it one month a year, hunting season, and after that it was put back up. I wish I new what happened to that Jeep. It sure made me want one.

[Chris Langdon]

like all of you i have many; BUTTT
when I was about 5 my folk and i drove from hm on Long Island to Pa's hunting camp in Susquehanna PA. Mom & Dad had a station wagon so where the snow plows stopped so did we. We had to walk in through thigh deep snow on my Dad with me on his shoulders and my Sister in his arm about 500 yards. Dad poured a shot and a beer and mom a glass of wine. Nanny & Pa left late because he ran heavy equiptment and was on snow removal. As we sat at the table i remember seeing the head lights dancing through the Helmocks and that old wagoneer drove right up to the front door covered in snow like it was nothing.

there is nothing tough looking than a Full Size Jeep.

[dlowrance]

Like many on this site I was weaned on AMC...Granddad and Dad both worked at the AMC plant in Kenosha, Grandpa for 25 years. Almost all of my first memories of my dad was hanging with him under the hood of one of the various jeeps he had throughout the late 70's and early 80's.

Here's one...Dad's pride and joy was a 70 Wag we called 'Old Yeller'...it was a real psychobilly cadillac sort of rig. He was always swapping this or that out on it when he'd run up on something he liked better...drivetrain, powerplant, seats, you name it. When he finally sold it in 86 it had the front end still original, but from the B post back he'd replaced the body with a 77, engine was a '69 Pontiac 400, power leather seats out of a Chrysler Cordoba, hand made solid stainless duals from the manifolds back. It was a real machine, and I remember not being happy at ALL when he traded it for a moving van to move us from Waukegan IL to WAY down south by Carbondale....but my entire youth was colored by working on that rig among others...and it stuck. He's almost 70 now, but he still comes up to visit and sits out in the shop while I tinker with one of my Jeep projects...still gets his hands dirty too...and he will always know more about these rigs than I will...

[JCruz]

Its not much of a memory, but, my wife did not like my wagoneer very much. It was old, noisy and always muddy.

She always called it the hunk of crap, or some other mean name. But one day, she asked me;

Hey, when are you going to put those new tires on the waggy?


It warmed my heart. :D

[draglink]

When I was about 5 probably till I was 15 or 16 we would take my dads '67 Wagoneer down to Hatteras NC every weekend. He would fish all day, when my brother and i were young we'd play, explore etc. We fished more as we got older. It was the first vehicle I drove by myself. As soon as I could touch the pedals I was driving that thing on the beach. Some of the best childhood memories I have involved that old Wagoneer!

My dad and I laugh about it now, the first and only time he laid a hand on me was in the Wagoneer on the way to Hatteras. Typical "are we there yet" from a PITA little kid yelling in your ear for hours....well he finally had enough and left hooked me. Bloodied my lip....but I was quiet the rest of the trip!! Ha Ha Ha!! No permanent scars!!


Some of the last memories right before he sold it. Late in my high school years we used to maybe drink one or fifteen to many beers(That hasnt changed!!). I swear he knew we were hungover! He would get us up at the crack of dawn and make us go cut wood and fill the back of that thing to the top. God that was the worst....but still GREAT memories!!

[frank_c]

my dad worked at the Jeep plant since he was 18. was out a couple years when he was in the Army, then went back after. took one of the first buyouts that DCX offered, he was old school and didn't want to go work at the Liberty plant with all its "computer Great Googley MoogleyGreat Googley MoogleyGreat Googley MoogleyGreat Googley MoogleyGreat Googley Moogley."

we always had CJ's. we lived in Michigan not too far from Toledo and would go offroading with a bunch of guys he worked with. i remember one day when someone waded across a creek (maybe a river?), hooked up his winch, got himself across, then winched the rest of us over. came home with dirt all in my teeth and ticks in my hair, mom would sit me on the bottom step and sit behind me, pick them little f-ers out and light 'em with a match. POP! :D

the rest of the time i remember banging my head on the diagonal roll bar and keeping my feet warm on the seat belt bolts 'cause they were always warm for whatever reason.

we'd also go to the Jeep races on the weekend and watch 'em tear through the woods.

i know we had a Cherokee, i was with my mom when she wrecked it on her paper route. actually that's not fair, some woman backed out of her driveway and nailed us. to this day my mom hates to drive in the winter.

dad brought a couple Cherokee head emblems home, i attached them to a cork bulletin board i had. i think i kept that until i was in high school. don't know what happened to it.

so yeah, it's always been in my blood and i always wanted one. didn't get my Wrangler until '99, now i have that and the two SJ's.

[mic63]

I have many good memories of riding around with my Grandpa in his '64 Wagoneer. It was his DD and put to good use on the farm. Crossing muddy fields and some hill climbing were great times. My fondest memorie is when I was 12. Grandpa put me behind the wheel and let me take a shot at plowing the farm driveway and barn yard after an 8" snowfall. I graduated from shoveling sidewalks. The next snowfall and many more thereafter, he let me take it solo.

[fulsizjeep]

Mathman - That is one fine story on the 50! :thumbsup:

My dad had a 51 Willys Overland Wagon (http://www.jubileejeeps.org/history/willysyears) that we used for beach fishing in 1960 and 61. I have been driving FSJs since 1976 (http://www.jubileejeeps.org/history/sharkyears). There are lots of Jeep memories like several have stated...

One that stands out this morning is from when I was 5. We were coming home from a fishing trip on Padre Island on a Sunday evening and it was after dark. Dad never drove the old Willys very fast on the beach. We were down along the water's edge and saw schools of bait fish in the shore break. One wave pushed up high on the beach and Dad stopped the Jeep to wait for the water to recede. A school of finger mullet were splashing around and the next thing we saw was a 3 foot blacktip shark ripping through the mullet. The water retreated and left the blacktip high and dry, flopping around all pissed off. My dad jumped out of the Jeep, grabbed up the shark and tossed it in the cooler in the back. That thing was banging around in there most of the way home and tasted mighty fine for supper. :fsj:

[cfg7613]

I had to take my Golden Retriever with me to college my junior year due to the death of my mom. I rented an apartment with two friends and whenever all three of us would go somewhere in my 77 Wagoneer...the dog sat up front with me and the two roomates sat in back. My wife, whom I hadn't met at the time, lived in the same apartment building and used to laugh when she saw the three of us and the dog take off in the Wagoneer...with the dog riding "shotgun". Maybe that's what caught her eye as we have just celebrated 25 years of marriage this past summer. THis is probably the reason I once again tool around in a Wagoneer (88) with my 3 yr old Golden Retriever sitting right up front...reliving the good ol' times !

[CustomWag]

Great stories! I wanted a CJ since I was in high school, but it didn't happen.
When I got out of college, I worked an internship with the Ohio Div. of Wildlife at a research station in central Ohio. They had two 1951 Jeeps, don't know what model but they were military surplus. Got to bomb around in the fields and woods in those things and had a blast. Got sent down to SE Ohio in the "mountainous" area for a couple weeks on a project. They had a couple of the same Jeeps down there. Four of us were in one way up on a ridge when a thunderstorm came out of nowhere with a deluge of rain. We hightailed it out of there & it was pretty dicy, coming down the muddy mountain roads almost sideways at times but that thing just kept on going. Thought "I GOTTA get one of these someday!".
Never did get a baby jeep, but found the wag 11 years ago and it's the best rig I've ever owned. My son just got a 92 YJ, now I may just get to live out my baby jeep fantasy vicariously through my son.

[pineymike]

:fsj: I remember rideing in a wag in the '60s that belonged to my uncle we were just kids had to be '66,67?any way they had it long enough for one of my cousins to turn 17 & it was his he did a spring over and instead of moving the spring pads he fliped the rear upsidedown and had 3 speeds in reverse!I bought a willyswagon'53 the 4cly"F" head was stuck from sitting so bad that I had to remove the head and beat the pistons with a block of wood and a hammer! got it runnin'and drove it all over south texas,next wagon was a '70 wag 304/3spd stock goodyear tracker at's hung my '75 Can Am dirt bike on the back and went racin' allover south tex good truck never had any problems took many miles of abuse with minimal maint!after that back in jersey bought a '76 cherokee 258 I6/4spd wife drove it to work and saw snow for the first time in her life&called me to tell her how to put it in 4x4!Then came the ex phila police twins found them at auction 1200$ for the runner&400$ for the"parts"car the runner became a great comp mud bogger 3 years on NOS in the bog about destroyed it:( the 'parts'car went to my bro for a while then I bought it back 3 yrs ago and thats my current driver!There's many more but thease are the best ones!:drivin:

[azwagoneer80]

Awesome stories:thumbsup:
My parents bought my current one in 1990 after we left NYC, and moved to Boise Idaho (culture shock anyone). My Mom despised the waggy, she used to drive a Cougar and was afraid to tip over and it looked like a box. Our first Thanksgiving we got hit with a huge snowstorm and -10ish temps. My Mom was a nurse at the time working the graveyard shift. When she got out of the hospital; there were cars being jump started, pushed, and towed out of the parking lot. She made her way out to the waggy, first turn it fired up and plowed through knee deep snow like nothing. When I took it over, my mother made me swear that if I ever decide to sell it, she had first dibs.
So 18 years, two siblings being taken home from the hospital, countless rescues, and repairs later. Its a keeper.

[drlocke]

My first memory of Jeep was that of a wee tot getting a ride home from school courtesy a friend of my father. The guy drove an early Willys Overland utility wagon. I remember being totally fascinated by this ride--one that was a far cry from the 1960 Plymouth 9 passenger, city-block-long, tail-finned station wagon we had at the time. :D

Later in my early teens I worked in a stables owned by a friend of the family. He had a '68 Waggy. To me it was vehicular love at first sight. I vowed one day to have one. During that time I got to see my first professional fireworks show, sitting on the tailgate of that very car. The deal was sealed at that point. I now have a Wagoneer the same year, same exterior color. The interior of mine is black while the one belonging to the horse farm owner was fawn IIRC.

I've had other Jeeps over the years, and still have 'em, as my sig will bear.

[DerekTJeep]

I've had plenty of FSJ memories. My Grandpa had a Brown '79 Cherokee 4 door, white '88 Grand Wagoneer, and a white '89 Grand Wagoneer. I've had plenty of them myself and I've been out of the game for awhile. I would like to get back into the game.

[chrisnsarah]

My first FSJ experience was in 1984 when my dad bought a white de-wooded '75 Wagoneer because we were getting into skiiing. We remember laughing our butts off because it was "so old and dorky-looking".

That summer, we took it to Disneyland. He removed the rear seat and the 4 of us kids all sprawled out in the back. I don't think seatbelts were a big deal yet. The trip was uneventful except for a horrible gas smell from the rear. Only 5 years later did I realize it might be a common problem for '75s.

We use it for skiiing for the winter of '84 and '85. He sold it to a friend in Tahoe in '86 and bought a Suburban.

[FSJ-Earl]

Has gotta be the trips to Camp Jeep and Harlan, KY with my wife and kids. I never had any experience with trucks or jeeps when I was a kid. Mom and dad drove boring cars. I hope I am creating some great memories for my kids. I alsi cannot forget all the great times I have had with my Jeep club and all the marathon wrench sessions with Zack from ZM Jeeps!

[janie]

I've got a bunch, but the one that stands out is when Lance got his learner's permit. That's when I sold him Peso for 5 bucks. The look on his face was priceless.:)