ha ha this is hilarious. First of all let me say that im not trying to "defend" colby, more justify....i would never pay 22 grand for something that is almost a trail only rig (even though hes driven it halfway across the country). Hes moving back to washington soon and doesnt wanna bring it with him. The willy's was mostly built and the PO lost funds to complete it so colby bought it and finished it and has continued to work on it/upgrade it since hes owned it. Spidertrax custom built the whole frame/cage which are all tied together and into the bumpers and sliders, 4 link rear, 3 link front, spidertrax samurai axle housings with ARB's, bfg crawlers, trailready beadlocks, chevy 4.3 vortec, yata yata. Like mike said its pretty much a buggy with a willy's tub. As far as his driving, he has been wheeling a long time and has owned that truck for over a year, closer to 2 i think. All of his wheeling before moving here has been in washington state and nothing like colorado, so patriot was definately the hardest trail he has done in the willy's but he definately wasnt scared ha ha and that definately wasnt where all of the trail damage came from, the tub was plenty beat up before this weekend, the little flop only damaged the rear quarter a little. the flop was silly, but i saw a lot of things happen last weekend that were much dumber situations. All and all a good time though, he really wants to wheel penrose again, and i cant wait to bring my jeep next time too.
seth