Sunday, November 22, 2009

The CJ 9.5

So, after a rare Happy Hour at the Kid's house on Thursday, on Friday we adjourned there once again to take advantage of the fact thesungoddess and the Kid's sister are up in the Ozarks for her folks 50th wedding anniversary.

When we arrived on Friday evening, thejeepjunkie proudly displayed the new texture on his driveway which he had installed that day to cover up the multitude of oil stains emanating from his ole 2A and the Kid's CJ5.

It turned out right nice and thesungoddess should be happy when she returns late this evening.

Well, Friday's Happy Hour ended and this olelongrooffan headed back to the Taj Mahal and wander around these tubes.

Early Saturday morning, my entire phone system lights up indicating the receipt of a telephone call.

It was thejeepjunkie.

Whatca doing longroof?

Sleeping. What about you jeepjunkie?

Waiting.

Whatca waiting for jeepjunkie?

Waiting for you to get to the Kid's house so we can go pick up my new Jeep.

You're not right, jeepjunkie. You have an addiction and TheGoodAttorney is an enabler. But I'll see you in ten.

That's right Counters, thejeepjunkie had purchased his ninth Jeep CJ in the past two years.

Yes, thejeepjunkie has a predilection towards old Jeep CJ's and just keeps on finding them.

Now on past purchases, most of the Jeeps never made it to the Kid's house and thesungoddess, outwardly, never acknowledged their existence.

Well, this time around, thejeepjunkie got to bring one of his prizes home to the Kid's house and play around with it.

So, as I said, this olelongrooffan headed over to the Mainland on Granada Street and turned onto Nova Road to get to see another much lusted after Jeep.

By the time I arrived, TheGoodAttorney and thejeepjunkie had retrieved that new toy and it was parked in the side yard of the house.

Well Counters, it was not a pretty sight.

Rust everywhere,

Crumpled fenders,

More rust and it even had those little steps much maligned by BBB here.

and the windshield frame was beyond repair.

Mismatched seats, raked roll bar.

Modern steering wheel and a four speed.

jeepjunkie, what are you thinking?



So I head in to the Kid's garage, seeing thejeepjunkie for the first time since he became the owner of this

rusty ole CJ5.

jeepjunkie, what are you thinking? That ole Jeep is a piece of crap. It'll take a fortune to get that body in shape.

No sweat, longroof, I got a nicer tub, hood and windshield frame. You, TheGoodAttorney and I are going to get them now.

And we head off down Nova Road and pick up the trusty flatbed trailer at thejeepjunkie's shop and

head on down to that shop where these parts are located. You can see thejeepjunkie above on the phone talking to the previous owner of these much needed parts to ascertain the specific warehouse they were located in.

Well, he rolled up that overhead door and this is what we saw.

Tub, extra seats, roll bar rear axle, seat frames, windshield frame. Everything thejeepjunkie needs to modify that rusty old Jeep into a merely slightly rusty one.

We got it loaded up and headed on back to the Kid's house.


This is an image of TheGoodAttorney backing that parts trailer into the Kid's side yard with all three of the Jeeps in thejeepjunkie's family parked out front. Yeah, you can tell thesungoddess is out of town.

Well, I need to head out to see Manuel Labor and thejeepjunkie starts stripping ole Rusty down to its frame.

I returned to the scene of the rebody and found that TheGoodAttorney had gotten in on the action.

thejeepjunkie put me to work removing the body bolts. Yeah, flat on my back with an angle grinder in one hand and a sawzall in the other removing those rusty old bolts.

Well, we finally got those bolts off and we wheeled that buggy out onto the Kid's newly, formerly, pristine driveway and, with the help of a neighbor and the Kid, we got that body off of ole Rusty.

thejeepjunkie and TheGoodAttorney inspect the frame while neighbor Paul looks on and this olelongrooffan got these images.

ole Rusty's tub sits on the ground while the new tub is still resting comfortably on that parts trailer. You can see that bright white driveway of the Kid's house in the foreground.

thejeepjunkie debated the merits of washing down the frame but ultimately decided to merely lawn blower it off.

We got that new tub installed and rolled the soon to be desirable Jeep back into that safe haven, out of view of the entire neighborhood.

I can only imagine should thesungoddess be talking to one of her neighbors and she gets wind of this happening. But I know thejeepjunkie, in typical BBB fashion, already has a story lined up.

Well, I spent a short time longer there and left in that vehicle you see in the background, heading back to the Taj Mahal in time to shower and join a friend for dinner.

I had left my sometimes trusty Polaroid with thejeepjunkie as his digital was in the hands of thesungoddess some 17 hour for him, three days for this olelongrooffan, drive away in the Ozark Mountains, I used to call home.

He took these shots and you know how I know. There is not one of them with a complete shot of the entire "new" Jeep.

Now, I have to tell you this about that.

thejeepjunkie worked like a Mexican over the weekend



both on that driveway and on that Jeep.







and while it is all back together and running sweet,

there is just one minor problem with the wiring.

So this morning, the thoroughly worn out jeepjunkie, yeah, he even commented, "No more Jeeps for a while!" TheGoodAttorney and I just started snickering. Anyway, we loaded all those no longer needed parts on that parts trailer

and headed on down to thejeepjunkie's shop which will provide storage to them until they are

either sold or recycled.

And you know the easiest way to unload a Jeep tub from a trailer. Get the two strongest guys I know and have them just roll it off!! Damaged be D*amned!!

thejeepjunkie unhooked that no longer parts trailer and

this olelongrooffan took one last image of ole Rusty as the "Street Gremlins" will probably pick this up tonite to feed whatever habit is in vogue these days.

And yeah, I just got an email from thejeepjunkie with the text he wants in the Craigslist ad I am placing for him so he can move this one along and, I am confident, get another.

Oh, and the title of this post, The "CJ 9.5"? Well, thejeepjunkie purchased his ninth and half ole CJ.

It was fun to spend some quality time with thejeepjunkie in his own home and by him getting another CJ up and running, we are both able to

Celebrate Life.

2 comments:

Horse-farmer said...

Bravo to the five of you

Good Attorney, Jeep, The Kid, Longroof, and of course Paul....

Thanks for the narative on 9.5, wish I was there to help out, but the Barngoddess had me painting the kitchen.....

got it done anyway..

tom

Busplunge said...

Must be a jeep weekend. I spent all day putting a new top on the CJ2a.

I got it off of ebay about a year ago.