Hard To Post This ...

Mighty.Mighty_XJ

Mighty.Mighty_XJ

NAXJA Forum User
Location
VA ... in the dark
Sadly, NACFEST 2016 was the last year for my beloved red XJ at Rausch. I haven't been able to bring myself to share the news until now, and even now it's super hard. RIP '92 XJ, (got her) 1/2001 to 12/2016. Those of you who have seen us go, know. Hope y'all will never forget her ... I certainly never will. :bawl:

A Few Memories:
All dressed up for the show ...

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Wheeling @ Rausch

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Oddly I have no pics from Nacfest 2016.

Dec 17, 2017

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That I'm sitting here writing this post after having been in the driver seat of that wreck, speaks volumes. My XJ went out saving my life.
 
Damn. glad you are alive after that.
bummer about the XJ.

now you get to build another one.
 
billyjp2 said:
wow, thats a hell of a wreck. Were you hurt at all?
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Minor injury to my neck which has since almost completely healed. I ended up on my head with the roof pressing my head into my chest, holding my neck at an odd angle. Had it rolled one more time I might have broken my neck. Seatbelt kept me suspended there until I figured out how to release it.
 
Holy hell that is one heck of a wreck, glad you are OK. I am sure many of us are wondering the details of the accident if you care to share them.
Any plans for another XJ?


Sent from my SM-J700P using Tapatalk
 
Good lord! The things you get up to when you aren't closer! Thank god you are OK, I'm sorry to hear about this so late. Rest up and fill us in later.
Rich
 
Hate to do a sales pitch at a time like this, but if you want to do a part swap I do have a clean 01 shell. Just so you know. Love you, Lavern, glad you're still in one piece!
Rich
 
Damn, what a mess. I'm sorry about the XJ, but I'm relieved to hear that you basically walked away from it.

Maybe you should cut the VIN plate out of the driver's door and keep it in your next XJ as a good luck charm - that Jeep died a hero.
 
pajeepman said:
Holy hell that is one heck of a wreck, glad you are OK. I am sure many of us are wondering the details of the accident if you care to share them.
Any plans for another XJ?


Sent from my SM-J700P using Tapatalk
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Well the details are pretty boring and humbling. One of those situations where all the defensive driving you know how to do go out the window real fast. It was a week before Christmas on the icy day that a semi hit a barrier on I95 and killed a bunch of people. I had gone to MD to see ehall. On the way home my GPS re-routed me due to the traffic resulting from the tanker accident. It ended up being just me vs a winding, icy, downhill back road with a never-ending S curve. Picking up speed (downhill, remember?), the slippery conditions kept me from braking hard, and an auto locker in the back did not help. Don't judge me ... no thought of down shifting or putting it into 4WD ever entered my head. All I could focus on was trying to brake and steer the damn esses. Thought it was over, breathed easy for one second then I saw that the S curve wasn't done winding. I knew then that there was no way the Jeep was going to be able to navigate the last curve. It was still picking up speed. The rear end slid sideways into the left lane and the best I could do was keep the driver side from smashing into the fast approaching telephone pole on the other side. That's why the passenger side took the brunt of the impact (corner of my Hanson bumper is bent). I'm glad Mo wasn't in the Jeep or she would have been killed. It hit the pole and flipped into its roof. I did not lose consciousness and the seatbelt kept me in place.

"Airbag" you say? I don't need no Shtinkin' airbag!!!

Oh ... I finally found what I think is a worthy successor to my '92. Picked up a decent '99 Limited that so far seems great.
 
Rob Mayercik said:
Damn, what a mess. I'm sorry about the XJ, but I'm relieved to hear that you basically walked away from it.

Maybe you should cut the VIN plate out of the driver's door and keep it in your next XJ as a good luck charm - that Jeep died a hero.
Click to expand...
That's an interesting thought Rob ... I bought it back from the insurance company. It's certainly easy to get to the VIN plate now (morbid chuckle).
I toyed with the idea of morphing it into a chopped, caged crawler. The entire drivetrain, floor and interior (dash, gearshift etc) appear to be intact (well the Currie broke off at the knuckle, but it looks like a new one could be threaded in. Not sure). A bit of beefing up & larger tires, could turn it into a formidable crawler. Already has armor, skids, lockers, RCVs, 8.8 etc. ... a decent platform to chop & build. It was a tempting thought (still is!), but I don't know anyone here to do that type of work - and it would be real pricey.

In the end, I have decided to simply get a different XJ and swap parts - with a lot of (paid) help! I can't do an axle swap myself. I recently picked up a nice '99 that is looking good so far. It has a Limited pedigree just like my '92. Hoping that's a good sign!
 
Yeah, I got the idea because I had the two left-side doors replaced back in '07 due to rotted skins and the body shop that installed the front door for me cut that bit of the old door out, put masking tape around the edges, and left it in the truck for me. It's in the house somewhere these days, but I know I still have it.

If it's worth anything to you, I know I'll be paying even more attention to slippery, winding downhills after reading this thread.

Oh, gotta know - is the 99 you picked up red with gold lettering?
 
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