My 1980 CJ7 Golden Hawk
I wanted to share where my love for Jeeps began. The guy who was dating my sister (I am pleased to say, my brother in law now) when I was a kid had/has several brothers. One of them had just purchased an older Jeep CJ7 for a friend of his who was heading out to Arizona, luckily for me, that friend had already found another 4WD and my "soon to be CJ" went up for grabs. Scott sold it to me exactly as he found it for a fair price and the rest was history. It needed some work but drove well and I loved it.
It had two different colors for wheels (Black in front and Gold in the rear), quite a bit of rust, and reverse was a very elusive gear but it was mine. This was really before I knew much about off-road driving (not that I am any expert now) so I would mostly play with it on trails but left it pretty much stock. If my memory serves me correctly it had:
- 258 cu in (4.2 L) AMC I6 99.4 PS (73 kW; 98 hp), 261 N⋅m (193 lb⋅ft)
- Borg-Warner T-4 four-speed
- Dana 300 Transfer Case
- Dana 30 Front narrow track axle
- 2-Piece AMC 20 Narrow track rear axle
- Manual Locking Hubs
- 3.73 gears
- Wheelbase 93.3 in (2,370 mm)
- Length 148 in (3,759 mm)
- Width 68.5 in (1,740 mm)
- Height 67.7 in (1,720 mm)
- Curb weight 2,707 lb (1,228 kg)
I had more than one occasion where I needed the help of "Shop Buddies" to fix this or tweak that and I was lucky enough to always have good friends willing to pitch-in and help me. I only had this Jeep through my college years and sadly traded it for a pickup truck when I got a "real" job out of school but this is where the Jeep Bug bit me all those years ago. As it is today, I think it represented freedom and capability. It always brought a smile to my face when driving it and I loved the Jeep Wave when I passed by others equally as lucky as I.
My best memory with my CJ was that I would park it in the faculty parking lot when the student lot was too crowded which was always. The two lots were separated by two long telephone poles lying on their sides. The faculty lot had a gate that you needed a key card to use so I would pull into the student lot and when no one was watching drive over the telephone poles and park it! I miss the days before traffic cameras...
What's your fondest memory of your first Jeep and when did the "bug" bite you?
Dan I love this post so much! I didn't remember that you got your CJ from Scott! That's very cool- I remember how much you loved it and that you always were the coolest member of our family :-D
ReplyDeletePS- those photos are a blast from the past! I remember you taking your God-daughter, Sarah, out for drives in your Jeep, with the top and sides open. Cool memories <3
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