My 1976 Jeep CJ-5

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After a few years without a light truck, and having come into a small amount of play money, I decided it was time to shop for something fun. At just the right time a 1976 Jeep CJ-5 became available right here in town! I used to drive an '88 Grand Wagoneer and loved it (see Michael Shimniok's Troubled Child pages for an idea of what I'd wanted to do with mine before things changed for me in the mid 90's and I sold it), but wanted something smaller than that. It was either to be a CJ-5 or a Series III Land Rover (which I'd still like to have). Different philosophies behind those two vehicles. One might say I swing both ways...at least when it comes to cars (I grew up in a Ford family but would really love to have a '58 Chevy Impala!).

In any event, I asked my wife, she said yes (much to my surprise), my daughter and I went to look, and we closed the deal that day, bringing "Bob" home the very next morning. We are now a CJ family!
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As my daily driver, "Bob" is great for around town. Starts and runs perfectly, good for carrying groceries and golf clubs. And the kids love going for rides. My daughter is the envy of her school-mates since I regularly pick her up in "Bob". Of course, like all older Jeeps, "Bob" has its occasional challenges. More specifically, the Carter YF carburetor requires regular attention (the Factory Service Manual specifies a rebuild at each oil change!) Fortunately, the Carter YF is incredibly simple—you can field strip it with a phillips screwdriver. I pay particularly close attention to it living in California, gotta pass smog every two years...

Why "Bob" you ask? When our daughter was younger she was a fan of Veggie Tales - good stuff whether or not you believe in the underlying message. I had a red Dodge Dakota which came to us with a "Bob the Tomato" keyring so the truck was instantly named "Bob" and our green Honda became "Larry" (the Cucumber) - characters from Veggie Tales. The Dakota is gone, so a new red car coming into the family simply had to be named "Bob". So there.