What the story how you got your xj/mj?

Well I had a 92 S-10 tahoe ex-cab 4 banger 5 speed and beat the crap out of it. It was black and I really liked it but it started to get rusty and the motor started making nosie. So i sold it and bought a 82 amc 4 door concord with 40,000 miles on it. At the same time my GirlFreind had a 91 Larado with 189,000 miles on it. I started lookin for a replacement for her and found a 94 sport with 120,000 miles for 1,800 dollars. I went to look at it and bought it on the spot. Now I have to mention its black.... Well I started driving it some and fell in love with it. We lifted that one 3 inches and put 31's on it. I got the itch and started looking for a jeep found a 93 sport, Black (twin to hers) with 73,000 on the clock. Sold the Cord (lost money) Bought it for 3,500 and drove it. Now it has one inch lift in the front and 3 in the back soon to be 3in all the way around. The moral, buy what you want its cheeper in the long run.
Ps somewhere in there I also bought a 71 Amc gremlin and stuffed a jeep 360 in it. That helped me want a jeep too. The xj and gremmy look good in the same garage.
 
OK, I actually have a good story on this one.

I was looking for XJ's and found my 92 on Autotrader listed for $4200. After work, I headed to the lot and took it for a test drive. It was in pretty good shape. Asked the salesman how much, and he had to look it up. Came back and told me it was on special that week for $2400. I decided to get it and wrote him a check on the spot and left with it.

Got a call the next day from the salesman, he told me he screwed up and the numbers were reversed, and he wanted me to bring the XJ back and renegociate price.....I kinda laughed and told him that the paperwork was signed and the check was good.....the deal is done. Never heard back from him again.
 
In early 2000 we made reservations to fly from Nashville to Salt Lake in early June so that our family could try out some 4x4ing. I had previously done some but they hadn't. We rented a Montero and drove down to Moab and there rented a TJ. I decided that (after 5 days) I didn't like driving a Wrangler and that a Cherokee would be the ticket. Came home and discovered NAXJA while doing research on XJs. Went to the first Moab Fall Fling that Fall and have been going there ever since.
When the youngest daughter needed a car for college she got a 2001 because they were not being made anymore after that year. Oldest daughter went to grad school in SoCal in 2001 and needed a car (thank goodness I have no more daughters, I luv them to death but they are EXPENSIVE! :kissyou: ) so she found a 1997 XJ Sport. Both the '01 and the '97 have the 3" Rubicon superflex lift. My '00 now has a front D44 and rear 9" HP NASCAR style free floater both with ARB and Atlas 4.3. I also built a 41 foot trailer to haul the fleet to Moab. Then HAD to have a F250 diesel to tow the trailer :laugh3: which has since been sold to daughter #1 and replaced with a Freightliner M2. I'm going to tow the trailer behind the M2 after I build a sleeper this spring. Oh, also have a '88 MJ/ buggy project involving mog axles, LS1, Atlas, etc. Have the parts but not much time to build it. If my wife had known what we (me) were getting into back in 2000 she probably would have insisted that we take a cruise instead of going 4x4ing! Too late now!!!!!!!!!!!!
NAXJA is the greatest!
 
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August 1998

Wanted a 4x4 but didn't have much money.

Never much cared for YJ's (mostly by looks, also heard of reliablitiy issues) plus they were out of my price range.

Also decided I wanted a more versitle vehicle that could serve me for work (fixing printers at the time) if necessary (still had my '78 Courier as my primary transportation) but didn't want a full sized vehicle.

Explorers were kinda fugly and too expensive being so popular.

My dad had an '84 Bronco II for awhile so those were immediatly ruled out (too damn tippy feeling).

Don't like 80's GM vehicles so an S-10 Blazer was out of the question, any later models were out of my price range.

Liked the look of the Cherokee, found one on the AutoTrader for $4,600 with 123k and a PERFECT interior. Similiar vehicles were going for $6k - $8k at the time.

Bought it. Been beating he hell out of it since.
Then:
stock.jpg

Now:
wipeout_tuesday_021.jpg
 
suburban was passed down to me by my parents, i put 33's on it wheeled it till I blew a rearend and cracked a trans. drove my dodge 2500 shop truck for a year after that, and once i had that right where i wanted it one of my employees totaled a store truck and i had to press it back into service, day after i found my xj at a used car lot and bought it outright
 
These are great stories. Thanks for the replies. It has been very good reading. I sometimes wondered the stories behind how people get thier cars, especially used ones. I am glad I asked.
 
I got my 95' Xj as a graduation present back in the spring of 03', i drove her for a year with no problems then after that it's been all down hill. since July of 04' she's only been on the road for 6 months, she's sceduled to return in full force in the spring of 06"with a fresh motor, 3" lift and 31" ltb's
 
My 89' Was ordered from the factory by my grandfather in late 88' at a staggering $21,810 (yes, i still have the original window sticker) and was driven by him once or twice a week until the late 90's, at which point his vision began to go down hill. In late 2000 he was declared legally blind and the truck came off of the road, as my grandmother had not ever gotten a license and had no intention of getting one then. We kept the truck up, changed the oil once in a while, made sure it still ran, until he passed away in January of 2003. At this point, the truck had a little bit over 38,000 on the clock, obviously extremely low for a vehicle of that vintage, however it did have some dry rotted hoses and such that we slowly replaced over the next 2 years. In January of 2005 i started to gather everything i needed for the suspension, and we had the job complete by late August. In September i got my license and the XJ became my DD, doing a great job thus far, all thanks to the initial investment by my grandfather. I have no plans to ever sell the truck, it will be in my name until one of us dies (and i dont mean just the motor, i would want it DEAD before i could justify getting rid of it) , hopefully it kicks the bucket before i do. As it stands, the truck still has just under 40,000 miles, and im loving every minute of it, ill be joining NAXJA as soon as i turn 18.
 
We've had TJs and YJs in the family when I was a bit younger. When it came time for my first vehicle, I decided I wanted a Jeep, and I really liked the XJs. I found NAXJA, did a bit of searching. Dad's relatives had an 88 with 170k miles, we bought it for $700. It had lots of problems, we worked on it all the time. I got a job the year after I turned 16, worked all summer, dad called and said a friend of his had a lot with a 97 country. I went to look at it, and now it's in the drive. They gave us $3k for the 88 w/ $180k miles......
 
I was driving around one day in the Intepid, and saw a lifted XJ on 35's, all done up, thought to myself, man that thing is fawkin cool looking. Got to looking around for a 4x4. Didn't want a full size, didn't want an import truck, had to be straight axle, so I went to look for a Jeep. Didn't like the 4 corner leafs on CJ,YJ's, TJ's maybe. But I wanted something that actually had a real roof and could haul things and friends. So a Cherokee was the only option. Liked how the suspension was designed, they are plentiful, and came with a 4.0L and a 5spd. So after looking at a dozen or so, I came across one that was in my price range, and was in excellent shape. So, I snagged it up for 1800$. 800 miles later, I can't be more pleased with its capabilities. First mod was removing the rear sway bar, then a tune, a CB(ch. 34*), Wally World lights, now getting a 3" lift and some 31's. The D35 has to make way for a locked, Yukon'd 8.25 or the 9" I got laying in the shed.
 
I was looking for my first car/truck. Almsot bought a Dodge Lancer (Turbo 5speed 2.2) thankfully i passed on that one. Then I decided I really didnt want a car (never really did) and started looking at trucks. Didnt want a s-10, definatly didnt want a ranger and that left a cherokee. THEN IU discovered the all mighty MJ. Realized that is what I wanted, looked for months and found one with new paint, new wheels, only 103K and no rust. All for $900, it needed a tranny.

I bought it two days after the ad was run.
 
well, got tired of dumping money into gas in my moms Jeep, so I started looking harder into jeeps for me. I wanted something with the 4.0 in it. 4X4 was a must, and automatic was preferred, but would have gone with a 5 speed. Didn't want a ZJ cause they were too big and too Chrysler.....a TJ woulda been cool, but I needed somethin to haul stuff in (thinking down the road to college at the time). So I decided on a XJ. As to which year, I was really open to anything. Didn't have any money, so i was limited as to what years I could look at (pretty much nothing newer than a 93 or maybe a 94. Then my mom had the idea to take out a loan (in her name since i'm not old enough yet) and buy a newer one. The way we both saw it was buy and old way and dump a bunch of money in it, or buy a newer one, spend the money now, and get a reliable one. Stopped into Carmax just to see what they had. They had nothing on their lot, but the one in the next town did. We used their computer to look it up, and they agreed to drive it over for free, that day, so i could look at it. Looked it over good, and it looked sharp. 4X4, automatic, 4.0, and LOW miles....even for a 99 (62K at the time). Took it for a spin and I was sold on it. Brought my dad back the next day to have him look it over and drove it again and he said (this from the guy who is a Honda nut and HATES jeeps) that it was very soild and in great shape. Took out the loan, put 3 grand down, and then began the monthly payments...ontop of HS and a job where I work 20 hours a week on average.

This was a year and about two weeks ago (jan. 05). Have put about 13K on it since with absolutely NO major mechanical problems. Valve cover gasket, front and rear diff. fluid change, brakes all around, new rotors on the front, and new better tires are all i've put into her. I'm not complainin! :)
 
Dad bought it new in the fall of 95, it's a 96 model. Dad drove it till 99 with 180k miles on it. My sister then got it as her first car, till they bought her a new mustang in 2003. That's when I inherited the jeep, and it didn't even last a year in stock form.
 
Fall of 2002 I was looking for a 4x4 to drive to Colorado for a snowboarding trip. A dad of a friend of mine was selling an 88 with 180k miles for $1800. I ended up paying him $1000 for it.

Truck lasted me about a year and a half, until I sunk it in a lake and hydrolocked the SOB.

I was so impressed with the power and the places I could go, I decided I needed another, so I started saving. (Of course, I'm a college student)

After 2 years, I had the money and after months of looking I found the perfect one on eBay. (It had to be a red, 1996, 4-door, automatic)

Paid $2200 for it, sight unseen.

On the ride back, the engine was acting horrible. I thought I got screwed big time. Turns out the 02 sensor was bad.

I wish they still made the XJ... :(
 
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