jwalker
RCC Addict
When my dad past away last October he left behind a great project that he did not get finished. My mom got him this 1980 Jeep CJ7 sitting in the garage unfinished. I was supposed to go up to Colorado last Thanksgiving and work on it with him as father and son like we used to do when I was a kid but plans changed when he took his life. My mom did not go into the garage at all during the time of mourning but she told me to go in there if I needed too. I have never seen the Jeep in person until that day. There was his Jeep sitting there just waiting to get worked on. The body is rough but I look past all that. I got it to start up but it was running rough but the motor sounded solid, I am guessing that there was old fuel in the tank. After sitting in the garage for a while and do some body work, it felt like my dad was sitting right next to me teaching me what to do like when I was a kid and he was smiling down at me with joy and I felt it. We finally got all my mom's stuff loaded up in the Uhaul and got the Jeep on the trailer to bring back home to Texas. She was wanting to get it fixed in a hurry so she took it to a body shop but they told her it was going to be about $10,000+ to fix it right and she just took it back home and put it in the back yard. It has been 10 months we lost my dad and my mom has been here in Texas, she is now going back up to South Dakota(thought she was going to Colorado at first) to be with her friend that is going to help her get back on her feet. She was always happier up there and I support her decision. My mom told me that as soon as she gets the loan for the Jeep paid off that she will sign the title over to me so the Jeep will be mine.
Sorry for the long story but it is what makes this Jeep awesome to me. It will never be sold and it will be kept in the family since it was my dads. My first plan is to get the motor running good and then start the body work. I am thinking of painting it a flat desert tan with black diamond plate panels and black tube bumpers and rollcage, it has the original hardtop which is awesome. I have a set of 33" mud tires I will throw on there for now. I am going to use YJ leaf springs and do an axle flip to get a better ride and lift. The jeep will not see any hardcore trail riding for a while but it will see some trails. Well here are the pics that I took with my phone of how it sits rights now.
Sorry for the long story but it is what makes this Jeep awesome to me. It will never be sold and it will be kept in the family since it was my dads. My first plan is to get the motor running good and then start the body work. I am thinking of painting it a flat desert tan with black diamond plate panels and black tube bumpers and rollcage, it has the original hardtop which is awesome. I have a set of 33" mud tires I will throw on there for now. I am going to use YJ leaf springs and do an axle flip to get a better ride and lift. The jeep will not see any hardcore trail riding for a while but it will see some trails. Well here are the pics that I took with my phone of how it sits rights now.
