I started my off-road lifestyle probably like most people, when I was a teenager. The thought of working on cars and building something with my own two hands has always intriged me.
So I started to look for my first jeep. Being a broke teen at the time $4000 to spend was a lot of money. So I kept looking and looking, with some Jeeps being sold the day I called on them and some being in some many pieces, they weren't worth the money being asked for them.
One day I was out with a friend looking for a car for him and I came across a jeep. A 1979 CJ-7, still in one piece and only $900. The engine still working, transmission functional, transfercase still holding fluid. The body in not so good shape, and in need of a new cluch, wait in need of a cluch. The body looked like it was put together with bondo, super glue and silicone. It was so bad that if you punched the gas to hard you would be flinstoning every where you went. Also it didn't come with a top, any top. So I did what probably some others have done and used a tarp with some tie downs and rope to hold it in place and keep somewhat dry.
So the search was on for a new body, a top and a cluch. Not a problem finding the cluch, Napa for 50 or so dollars. The body not so easy when you're new to this whole world of 4x4's and rebuilding. So I did what anybody would naturally do. I turned to the news papers and scoured the ads (this was before the days of craigslist) for someone parting out a jeep CJ-7. So after a few days I finally found someone selling a decent '78 body tub. Luckily the guy also had an original soft top for that jeep. Score! two birds with one stone. I believe I paid about $800 for the body and the top. As of total I paid $1750 for the whole jeep.
Since the body was from a '78 and all my heater and under dash components are from a '79, there was some fire wall trimming and modifications that needed to be done. There was also some rust hole patching and the whole back end needed to be rebuilt. So I set out to find some metal and luckily my dad wanted a welder at the time. So that worked out in my favor. Being a novice welder and somewhat skilled with the construction of pieces and parts. I very curdly put together the back end and patched the holes. By the end of the whole ordeal I was pretty good with welding.
A couple months went by and I was able to drive the Jeep. I eventually got tired of driving a "normal" jeep, and the off-road preformance was lacking something. So it took me a couple of months but eventually I saved up the money to buy my first lift kit. It was a pro-comp 2.5" sprung under lift. I believe I bought it from 4wheelparts for around $700 and luckily at the time a buddy was workiing at discount tires, he got me a killer deal on some 31's free with wheels discounted to $15 a wheel. I couldn't pass that deal up. So I was off and wheeling again. Stay tuned for the next modification...
