Moabite
CJ-8 Member
- City
- Moab
- State
- UT
Hey kidz. My name is Frank and I'm just another Scrambler junkie. I have been since I proudly drove a shiny new 1982 SR home from a dealer in Monticello 34 years ago. It was blue with a white hardtop. My new mechanical friend and I spent 14 years exploring the backcountry trails around Moab, where I've lived since early 1974. Moab was a sleepy little mining town back then and rock-crawling meant getting down on your hands and knees. We traveled just over 100,000 miles together before, like a complete fool, I sold it in 1996. It looked virtually new when I sold it except for a bit of oxidation on the hood. I keep my vehicles like I keep my camera gear...in perfect, pristine condition.
Through the years, I would gaze longingly at every Scrambler I happened to see...remembering the times we scrambled over Elephant Hill (before the Park Service smoothed it out), the trips up Poison Spider Mesa, the adventures in the remote Maze district of Canyonlands, the trips around the White Rim (long before you had to reserve campsites a lifetime in advance), and so many more.
Seven years after losing the Scrambler, I bought a new 2003 Rubicon when they first came out. As people do with the newer Jeeps, I put a ton of money into modifications...about $20K. I sold it 10 years later with 23,000 miles on it and picked up a 2013 Rubicon Unlimited. That was my second foolish mistake. The JK also cost me nearly $20,000 in personalizing and performance-enhancing modifications. When the JK design first came out, I assured the Jeep reps at the annual EJS in Moab that I would never buy one, since they had made the windshield virtually impossible to lower. I should have listened to myself.
After putting 20,000 miles on the '13 Rubicon, I finally had enough. It was just too big, too fancy, too computerized, too curvaceous, and the fun-factor was seriously compromised by a windshield that required the removal of 18 bolts to lower. I traded it for a 2016 GMC Canyon SLT Crewcab, which I absolutely love. The '13 is currently on the dealer's lot for $44,000.
I wanted to get back into a CJ so I started looking. A few weeks ago, I was in the barber shop getting what little hair I have left trimmed and ran into the ex-wife of the fellow who bought my Scrambler. She told me that he lived just 90 miles away. I contacted him and we agreed on the ransom for my CJ-8. Two days from now (Saturday), I'm driving it back home. This guy is a collector. He has several other vintage Jeeps, including one that was born the same year as I. He is getting up in years (as are many of us) and is considering letting his entire collection go. The 1947 has had a full frame-off restoration with just 900 miles put on it since.
It turns out he has put a grand total of about 10,000 miles on my Scrambler in 20 years. He assures me that it has sat outside for perhaps a week in that time and looks NO different than when he bought it. It has been garaged or in storage for most of the past 20 years, driven a few hundred miles a year to keep it healthy. It still has the SAME tires on it that were on it when it I tearfully watched it drive up and out the driveway away from my cabin (I live 26 miles outside of Moab). It is an all-original, unmolested, completely rust-free, Southwestern desert sample of the genre. He admits that there is a rust spot about the size of a quarter on the rear bumper. During my initial ownership, I added a leaf to the rear springs, a light bar to the top of the windshield (stupidest mistake I ever made with a Jeep), and a winch. That was it. He added a leaf to the fronts and 20 years of impeccable care and maintenance.
I have numerous photos of the Jeep taken when I owned it. He has sent me a few old-fashioned images on paper since he does not do digital imaging. I'll start posting photos once I figure out how that is done on this forum.
I can't wait. Is it Saturday yet?
Through the years, I would gaze longingly at every Scrambler I happened to see...remembering the times we scrambled over Elephant Hill (before the Park Service smoothed it out), the trips up Poison Spider Mesa, the adventures in the remote Maze district of Canyonlands, the trips around the White Rim (long before you had to reserve campsites a lifetime in advance), and so many more.
Seven years after losing the Scrambler, I bought a new 2003 Rubicon when they first came out. As people do with the newer Jeeps, I put a ton of money into modifications...about $20K. I sold it 10 years later with 23,000 miles on it and picked up a 2013 Rubicon Unlimited. That was my second foolish mistake. The JK also cost me nearly $20,000 in personalizing and performance-enhancing modifications. When the JK design first came out, I assured the Jeep reps at the annual EJS in Moab that I would never buy one, since they had made the windshield virtually impossible to lower. I should have listened to myself.
After putting 20,000 miles on the '13 Rubicon, I finally had enough. It was just too big, too fancy, too computerized, too curvaceous, and the fun-factor was seriously compromised by a windshield that required the removal of 18 bolts to lower. I traded it for a 2016 GMC Canyon SLT Crewcab, which I absolutely love. The '13 is currently on the dealer's lot for $44,000.
I wanted to get back into a CJ so I started looking. A few weeks ago, I was in the barber shop getting what little hair I have left trimmed and ran into the ex-wife of the fellow who bought my Scrambler. She told me that he lived just 90 miles away. I contacted him and we agreed on the ransom for my CJ-8. Two days from now (Saturday), I'm driving it back home. This guy is a collector. He has several other vintage Jeeps, including one that was born the same year as I. He is getting up in years (as are many of us) and is considering letting his entire collection go. The 1947 has had a full frame-off restoration with just 900 miles put on it since.
It turns out he has put a grand total of about 10,000 miles on my Scrambler in 20 years. He assures me that it has sat outside for perhaps a week in that time and looks NO different than when he bought it. It has been garaged or in storage for most of the past 20 years, driven a few hundred miles a year to keep it healthy. It still has the SAME tires on it that were on it when it I tearfully watched it drive up and out the driveway away from my cabin (I live 26 miles outside of Moab). It is an all-original, unmolested, completely rust-free, Southwestern desert sample of the genre. He admits that there is a rust spot about the size of a quarter on the rear bumper. During my initial ownership, I added a leaf to the rear springs, a light bar to the top of the windshield (stupidest mistake I ever made with a Jeep), and a winch. That was it. He added a leaf to the fronts and 20 years of impeccable care and maintenance.
I have numerous photos of the Jeep taken when I owned it. He has sent me a few old-fashioned images on paper since he does not do digital imaging. I'll start posting photos once I figure out how that is done on this forum.
I can't wait. Is it Saturday yet?