1942 in your driveway

[Gregg Axley]

To comment on the quote above, I had a 99 Cherokee with the 4.0l motor. The one based on the 1963 AMC design? Still running like a horse at 198k when I found myself going backward on black ice... I'd drive one of those in a heartbeat over the '83 CJ-7 my dad and I are restoring. Granted, it's not an OLD jeep, but it certainly isn't a Chrysler model. That thing is a tin can. It doesn't have the stones to drive in the 5th gear it offers, the frame is weak and will crack at the steering box when stressed with larger than 35" tires, and it's brakes are...lacking.

Speaking of my dad, he owns an auto parts store, and he's kinda spoiled me...he's a walking computer, and is where I've learned most of my auto knowledge (bought an Oldsmobile at 14 and was racing at 16). Whenever I'm forced to go into another parts store, I find I must come to terms with the great wave of idiocy and poor customer service that is common nowadays.

With the jeep in question, it's nice looking...I guess...I'm glad they went with the two door, as it's just my humble opinion that no wrangler should have four doors, as nothing in the model history ever had four doors. Other than that, it appears to be more of a visual package than a performance one. Would have been better as a package for the rubicon. Either way it would have been powered by a minivan motor. Blech.

Mine is a 4 door, and I'm glad it is.
We had problems with the 2 doors years ago.
My agency bought a lot of those, and the hinges got weak, causing the doors to sag, or worse...fall off.
The solution? Weld the hinges. Sounds like a backwoods solution but it worked.
No sliding across the hood, no running from Roscoe P Coltrain, just a more solid design where Chrysler had failed.
Same engine and probably same AOD transmission.
Mine has no options on it, other than 4wd and electric mirrors. What an odd combination that is.
I have good size tires on it but not over sized.
They are the BF Goodrich All Terrain T/A KO tires, and they are awesome.
No cracks that I can see, but it's using coolant. I have a pin hole in the head gasket from what one of our mechanics has told me.
I'll fix it when the time comes, but right now I don't feel like throwing out $1500K to fix it.

 

[p51]

The four-door Wranglers look to me like they're begging to be painted up like a '46-'62 Willys station wagon.

Wow, you make a good point there. I like that!