How & why did you get into MJ's ?

[86bamamj]

I bought a dark blue '86 4x4 2.5L new off the lot when I was 19. I had been working at UPS making a ton of money (to me) and had just wrecked my first car (a '78 Monza). It was very plain - no A/C, no carpet, bench seat, steel wheels. But it was new and it was mine. I eventually put some aluminum wheels off a wrecked XJ Laredo with bigger tires and added carpet - but that was about it. Eventually I sold it to an older gentleman at my church so I could put a down payment on a XJ Laredo of my own. After he died several years later of cancer, I knew his wife kept it around for a while but I never really paid much attention to it and pretty much forgot all about it.

 

Now recently I picked up a YJ project I've been working on with my 15 yr old daughter and I got to thinking what a cool project that old MJ could be. I contacted the daughter of the guy who I sold it to and she said it had been gone for several years now and she didn't know who bought it. Of course I was dissappointed, but the bug has bitten and now I want to either find it or find another one for my 13 yr old son and I to work on together as a project.

 

Here's a pic of it just before I sold it in '92. This was in the gravel pit behind my house, and the kid in the picture was a spanish exchange student who was staying with me at the time.

 

[Ron]

Long story short.

Never drove it.

Step son blew the side of the block out. Wife wanted it fixed. Didn't want any thing to do with it.

2 days later wife had anouther engine on my engine stand.

Installed engine, drove it to work for 2 days with for sale signes in the windows.

Came home from work and sold he miny van.

Some one on here said look under the carpet.

Looked and found out why it wouldn't get worm in the winter. "No floor".

Just cross supports.

Now I'm restoring the whole thing.

Never drove a 4 cylinder that felt so strong and never drove a car the road like it.

It's been in her family since day one and well be around for a long time to come.

[90MJext]

Bought a '89 Sport truck new, 4cyl 5 spd. Let my (ex)wife talk me into trading it for a Pathfinder. I said if I ever found another one, it would not get sold, traded, etc...

[carnuck]

My FSJ ('84 J10) was going to be down for awhile for EFI upgrades and a stroker (still not done!) and I picked up the '86 4 cyl with TBI for $1,000 from a dealer who was scared because there was no clutch (they wanted $2800 before that) and a few other bugs were in it.

I drove it 5 years, then sold it and got it back (motor pretty much blown at 400,000+ miles) put a motor in and sold it back to him. (in exchange for tree cutting)

[1989 Eliminator]

My dad worked for a medical supply company and he got to know a guy that wasnt doing too well but had a 1989 garage kept MJ Eliminator with 32k on it. I at the time was 16 years old and looking to get my first truck. I actully was looking for an MJ becasue I seen one on the road and got really interested of how unique it was. Well, the old man that owned the MJ died from health and his wife now owned it. But she had her own car so she had no use for the MJ. She was also very old and well... did not know what to sell the Jeep for... I went and looked at the MJ for the first time and it was PERFECT. When I asked for a price I could not believe she said $2000 for a brand new MJ Eliminator. My jaw dropped! I basically stole it from her. So of course I bought it and my first truck was an MJ and I bought with my own money.I have been driving it ever since and couldnt be happier.

[86customanche]

I had always wanted a truck, but my parents strongly pushed me into getting something small with good gas mileage. All of my friends owned Jeeps, whether it was a XJ or a YJ, I knew Jeeps. So I did some research. I wanted a truck for the truck privileges (a bed) but also wanted a Jeep for the ease of working on it and abundance of parts. Low and behold I found my dream vehicle . :MJ 1: . . I looked and looked all summer and finally right before I went back to college in 08 I believe, I bought my first one and have been hooked since. 

[RubberDuck]

Back in 2007 my dad bought a pair of XJs off craigslist, one without an engine, and one that was wrecked. He was going to use them to make a decent one for a hunting vehicle, but he got bored before we had the transmission pulled out. Dad told me that if i wanted to finish the project, i could have it. After adding a 91 to a 89, i thought to myself, "this would be cool if it was a truck." he passed away in late 2008 and I left it at that. I eventually sold it because I was between jobs. For a while I was just riding a bike back and forth to work until I saved up enough to start looking around again. One day I was just cruising craigslist and came across Little Red Truck $1400, interested, it was the about the size i was looking for, Ranger or similar, i didn't even notice it was a jeep until i called the guy and talked to him, we met about an hour later, i test drove it and the deal was done. I was going to offer 1200 for it, but he offered me 11 right off. later, I found out that my uncle used to have one just like it.

[87MJTIM]

I married into mine.

 

I graduated college in 86. The following summer (87) I was looking for a new vehicle (my Datsun B210 lost the exhaust system). At that time I really liked two vehicles: Mustangs and CJs. That was the year Jeep changed to the YJ. I really didn't like the look of it. (As a matter of fact, compared with the CJ, YJ, TJ and JK, it ranks only slightly higher the the JK).

 

So, I got the Mustang 5.0 GT. That car could pass everything on the road...except a gas station.

 

My (then) girlfriend bought an 87 Laredo, fully loaded a month after I got the 'stang.

 

Three years after marriage, we sold the Mustang and bought a 91 XJ with the 4.0 HO. She got the XJ and I took over the MJ.

 

The MJ was my DD until 98 when I bought a new TJ. The MJ was religated to a weekend and hardward store trip vehicle.

 

The XJ was traded for a '00 Dodge Durango (not my favorate), then a Chevy Silverado (my least favorate), then on to an '03 Suburban 8 liter (somewhere in between the Durango and Silverado). We use them for towing a 34' travel trailer.

 

When our daughter came along in '00, the wife said the TJ was not "child friendly." So, the TJ was traded in for a used Subaru Outback (a really nice car). When the Subaru blew the head gasket, we bought an '05 Honda CRV (another nice car).

 

With her driving the CRV, I was driving the Durango/Chevy/Chevy and hated it. I then started driving the MJ more often and remembered how much I LOVE that truck. In the approximate 10 yrs it was not driven much, it started to show its age. Some years, I only filled the gas tank twice!

 

In '09, I made in DD once again. I decided that I will show the MJ the love it deserves. It is getting restored to its original condition. I expect it to last an additional 25 years.

 

PS - I am looking on ebay and craigslist for a CJ7.

[Minuit]

I didn't buy it but I'm very lucky to have it. My grandparents bought it new (they were originally going to look at Fords, glad they stopped at the Jeep dealership) and proceeded to put about 90k cross country miles on it by 1996, when my granddad died. My grandmother then drove it until she fell ill in 2002, when it was passed on to my dad. The fuel pump died in early '03 and it sat until I started it for the first time on April 29, 2012. I've done a lot of work to it since, but it's been a very faithful vehicle and it's given me next to no trouble as my DD. I won't quit until it looks like it did the day it rolled off the line.

 

[carnuck]

I needed a daily driver I could afford to feed gas while I fixed my FSJ and haul stuff with.

[JeepcoMJ]

don't think I ever posted here.

 

 

I learned to drive on a J-truck when I was 11, and learned to drive on the road in an 86 Renault 2.1l turbo diesel MJ. So ending up with an MJ with odd engine choice seemed a natural progression

[Nobles41]

Back in '92, I was car shopping and accidently came upon this Comanche at a dealership. I didn't know that Jeep made pickups. Was only familiar with XJ's since my uncle worked for AMC back in the 80's. He and my Aunt would always have the newest model when they came for visits. That is what hooked me on Jeeps. The first time I saw an MJ, I thought it looked alot more rugged than the little Ford Rangers I had been test driving. Anyway, I ended up buying it, loved owning it all these years and enjoy knowing it's the only one in the town.

[Spectormj]

I got in to jeeps with my TJ but one of the guys on here that I went to school with got me into Mjs with his and having me help strip it some for his rebuild

I never had the cargo space with the TJ but the MJ hauls everything for me..next I'm gunna see if I can fit a 4 wheeler in the bed with the bars there

[87jeepmj]

My uncle told me he would give me a jeep if I helped him fix it, I said sure and thought I was getting his yj. He then told me about his 87 longbed 4.0, 5 speed, 4x4 that he had torn down and began rebuilding. We still haven't done any work to it but I am currently driving a zj and hoping to work on the comanche this summer. My uncle is the reason I got the comanche and jeep bug.

[SW86]

It seems as if Ive posted my story somewhere on here in one of these threads before... :hmm:

 

 

 

Anyway, the short version is, I was looking for a two door cherokee 97+, which isnt an easy task around here. I looked and looked but nothing. Then one day I stumbled across the MJ on CL. It was camo'd out but I liked it. I contacted the guy and he said the ad should of been deleted but he still had it. It was 4 hours away but I was hooked. The following weekend I went and picked it up. It actually made the drive back home and with all the looks I got, I knew I had something special.

 

I will own at least one more in the future!

[PEEJ]

Seen it go up for sale on a Friday.Blew up my Mazda on Saturday,Bought it on Sunday.Just meant to be.The P.O. bought it new Oct.13 1988. I bought it Oct.13 2013, 25 years to the day. 105.000 miles no rust few dings 4.o no major issues.Drive it every day.so far Ive put on 9.000 miles on it.Love it.

[lil_loco]

Back in the days when the MJ was in it's prime the school bus drove past one every day..... every day taunting me. Then over 20 years later when I finally had my own toy money kijiji helped me find mine.

[dj5]

my dj5 was my first vehicle, got it when I was 15 and loved jeeps since.
got an xj for a baby hauler and loved it and wanted a truck version for work and thought of chopping an xj, but didn't wanna do the work...
so I looked for an mj and couldn't find one...bought a gmc Sonoma 2.2l and it doesn't do it for me, even tried aftermarket parts to make me happy with it and didn't work...so I finally found a Comanche 3 hours away, bought it and towed home . :MJ 1: .