I wish I had my old AMC Jeep CJ-5 back. It had the 304 AMC V-8 in it, and no extras. Not even power steering. It would go way faster than you needed to be going in something with that short of a wheelbase. I got it in 1986 with 22,000 one owner miles on it . It still had the factory Goodyear Suburbanite tires on it, hard as a rock with age. I put a new set of 7.00x15 mud tires on it, got a back seat for it, and put a new soft top on it. Handyman jack and a shovel bolted to the front bumper, flax water bag on the mirror, and i was ready to go. We had a world of fun in that Jeep. Kids were Littles, we'd put them in the back on a blanket and off to the desert or mountains. I know, how did they survive such dangerous stunts, right?
Here's the rest of the story: I got it from an old Texan who spent his summers there in the New Mexico mountains where we lived. Reckon he kinda took a liking to me and my little family. When he got ready to go home one winter, he asked me if he could leave the Jeep there at my house so he didn't have to tow it back to Texas. I said sure, and he said "drive it all you want, better than it just sitting." Next summer when he got ready to go back to Texas, he asked me if I wanted to buy it, said neither his dog nor his wife really liked riding in it anyway. I said I'd love to, but didn't have the money (he wanted $3000 for it). He said "can you pay me $100 a month?" I said "yeah, I can do that." So the deal was made. I made the payments as agreed through that winter, and the next year when he got there, he handed me an envelope. I opened it, inside was the the title to the Jeep. He said "it's yours, you've paid enough." So I paid $800 for that Jeep. If you have had even one or two friends like that in your life, you've been blessed. Thanks Coleman. You were the best.
