Original story: http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f57/tale ... e-1561194/
Like mentioned abouve, I'm no stranger to cars and car forums...my history includes several aircooled and diesel VW's and a '66 GTO. My ability lies somewhere between being able to change my own oil and replacing my own timing belt. My wife jokes that I'm not done working on the car unless I'm bleeding. Which to this day is pretty darn accurate.I've been a lurker for about 5 years [at JeepForum] with a dream of one day owning a jeep. My join date [for JeepForum] is back in 2007...and we've added 2 kids to our family since then, which made my dream of a CJ7 move further away. However, a month ago I talked my wife into a Grand Waggy ("It's for the FAMILY!"), IF we could find one that was in good condition and left some money (after selling our Pilot) to pay off some medical bills.
Our budget was around $4,500, so I knew I'd have to put a little work into it but started searching for that guy who needed to get rid of it or didn't know what it was worth. I'm no stranger to working on cars...have owned several VW's and a 66 GTO, but this would be my first Jeep! So, I started scouring CL and Ebay, calling on a few, but waiting for that perfect one to pop up.
Then about 2 weeks ago, I stumbled on a guy in Flagstaff selling an '88 for $800, no pictures. Said it ran and 4WD worked, so I emailed him asking for pictures. Pictures showed a rattle-canned FSJ but interior didn't look too bad, and he said he was sending it to the junkyard for $375 that week. I offered to give him the $375 and come pick it up and he accepted.
Grabbed my buddy and his trailer and made the 3 hour drive. I showed up and it was...rough. Leaked oil, but it DID run, and even had a new radiator. She was way more rough than I expected. No headliner, big tears in seats, no carpet in back, broken back window. Bad spray paint job, scratched and dented, caked in mud underneath...just a real piece.
But the car guy in me was thinking, for $375, the radiator and mag wheels alone could cover it. So I told the guy I'd take it and heard his wife mumble "thank gawd" as she went in to get the title. That should have been my hint as to how my wife would react.
Now, keep in mind, I had been showing my wife pictures of really nice waggys...WagoneerWorld type waggys, the kind that would be reliable and good for our family because I needed her on board with this dream. So you can imagine what happened when I left to go "Pick up our Grand Wagoneer" I showed up at home with this:
She was livid. I tried to explain what I got for the money and she wanted nothing to do with it. It was really my own fault for not discussing with her, but I was digging a hole fast and had to do something to recover. To be honest, once I saw it in person, I never thought that fixing up the Batmobile was an option...it was just fun to drive and worth more than I bought it for. But alas, it was not to be.
So I tinkered with it for a week under the assumption I was getting it ready to resell and I kept looking at CL. Four days after buying the bat, found a 1990 I loved but it was listed at $6,800. My wife agreed it was beautiful but out of our budget...until two days later the description said he would drop the price to $4,800. BINGO!
I called him to see if we could come see it only to find out that it wasn't in Scottsdale, AZ, like was posted...but rather was in Boise, ID. His friends told him he would get more for it in a bigger market...afterall, cars go for 10x their value at the big auctions in January! Nevertheless, we agreed on the price, he agreed to split shipping, I sent him my deposit, and set up the shipping company (being sure I didn't send the money until shipping company confirmed it was on their truck). It is now on its way to me:
Shipping was kind of a mess for a day, but I'll spare you that story. Oh, and I sold the Batmobile for $600 a day after I bought the new one, which basically covered gas, road trip meals, a few parts, and some cash to my buddy for helping me out.
While the new one is still in transit, I have high hopes for this being the welcome addition our family has been looking for...and another toy to get greasy and bloody with.
Since my wife hesitates to let me work on our modern cars, it was time for something older and I look forward to many more stories.
Oh and it don't have those orange and black strip on the front
