moabian
Active member
In 1982, I proudly drove a shiny new Jeep CJ-8 Scrambler home from the dealership. 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 was the best expedition Jeep I ever owned and by far the most fun vehicle I ever had.
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 expeditions in the remote Maze district of Canyonlands, the adventures 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. I sold it 10 years later 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 Easter Jeep Safari in Moab that I would never buy one, mainly because 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. For an off-road vehicle, 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 still 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. I was able to convince him that he wanted to let me have it back. We agreed on a fair ransom. It turns out he put fewer than 9,000 miles on it in 20 years and it has been garaged or in storage for almost that entire period. It still had the same tires on it that it wore when I sold it to him. It is an all-original, unmolested, completely rust-free, Southwestern desert sample of the genre...a rare survivor. I drove it home last Saturday.
It ran perfectly all the way home...very smooth...no vibrations....even on the interstate. But the most bizarre thing happened when I started to turn into my driveway. I felt a jerk on the steering wheel (NO...not the jerk AT the wheel!) so I let go of the wheel. The Jeep proceeded to steer itself all the way down my rather long, winding, steep driveway and almost into its old parking spot. What a memory.
Here are a couple old photos taken many years ago. The first is a polaroid taken in The Maze District of Canyonlands.
And here is one on the way to town yesterday to get new tires. Twenty-five-year-old bias ply tires are not recommended if you want a smooth ride:
And on the way back from town yesterday:
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 expeditions in the remote Maze district of Canyonlands, the adventures 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. I sold it 10 years later 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 Easter Jeep Safari in Moab that I would never buy one, mainly because 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. For an off-road vehicle, 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 still 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. I was able to convince him that he wanted to let me have it back. We agreed on a fair ransom. It turns out he put fewer than 9,000 miles on it in 20 years and it has been garaged or in storage for almost that entire period. It still had the same tires on it that it wore when I sold it to him. It is an all-original, unmolested, completely rust-free, Southwestern desert sample of the genre...a rare survivor. I drove it home last Saturday.
It ran perfectly all the way home...very smooth...no vibrations....even on the interstate. But the most bizarre thing happened when I started to turn into my driveway. I felt a jerk on the steering wheel (NO...not the jerk AT the wheel!) so I let go of the wheel. The Jeep proceeded to steer itself all the way down my rather long, winding, steep driveway and almost into its old parking spot. What a memory.
Here are a couple old photos taken many years ago. The first is a polaroid taken in The Maze District of Canyonlands.
And here is one on the way to town yesterday to get new tires. Twenty-five-year-old bias ply tires are not recommended if you want a smooth ride:
And on the way back from town yesterday:
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