When did you fall in love with overlanding and can someone tell me when the Madness Ends

[MarioT'sCJResto]

When did you fall in love with overlanding? Well speaking for myself I had my eyes set on my first rig – a 1980 CJ5 with an AMC 360 back in 2008. Super Bowl XLII was in town as the Giants vs. Pats was about to kick off my good friend and mentor asked me to go for a Jeep ride in his CJ.

I recall that weekend; we had to rush to Glendale during the week for the Pre-Super Bowl events and we had blocked off Saturday for a Jeep ride. Little did I know that my friend had never taken the CJ off-road, and letting me drive was the biggest regret for both of us. After that day I really had no interest in watching the SB (Giants Fan) I was hooked and I remember waking up that Sunday morning wanting to go for another ride in the AZ desert.

Well Fast forward to 2015, my friend calls me – Do you want to buy the CJ. From that day forward the Madness took over, the famous Adage – JEEP – 'just empty every pocket' was one that I would shake my head at to 5 years later I still find myself mapping out new mods. As if the 4-year resto wasn’t enough, and now I find myself looking into the R2.8 or at the very least a Edelbrock or Holly Sniper EFI for my newly rebuilt 360.

Now I have always said I don’t have an addictive personality, I gave up drinking in 1996 (Haven’t had a drink since) and yet here I find myself mapping out Mods for my CJ and my RAM with one main goal – Overlanding Adventures with the Pups towing a Scout Trailer from the East coast to the West. Please let me know if there is a cure…

 

[Billiebob]

Only one cure, the mods will never quit til you say, Its 40 years old and I should restore to stock spec... Then you'll have time to drive it, plus you will be the high point in every campsite.

 

[Correus]

Are you going to keep the mods and such true to the era it was made though? I have a '63 Land Rover, keeping it as true to the era as possible with very, very few modern mods.

 

[MarioT'sCJResto]

Are you going to keep the mods and such true to the era it was made though? I have a '63 Land Rover, keeping it as true to the era as possible with very, very few modern mods.

For my CJ5 - it's more of a Resto Mod with a rebuilt AMC 360 with less than 2k miles. I'm going to swap out my Dana 30 and 20 for Dana 44's with Detroit Lockers, the new Omix Ada Gauges will be replaced with Speed Huts GPS set, and I might pull the string and pick up the R2.8 crate. If I keep the AMC 360 I'm going with a EFI setup. I added a LoD rear bumper and tire swing. My goal here is set her up for Winters out east - coming from AZ she hasn't seen snow and I have some rust proofing to do before winter. My Ram will be my primary RIG since I have 3 overgrown pups.

 

[RMCM]

Are you going to keep the mods and such true to the era it was made though? I have a '63 Land Rover, keeping it as true to the era as possible with very, very few modern mods.

For my CJ5 - it's more of a Resto Mod with a rebuilt AMC 360 with less than 2k miles. I'm going to swap out my Dana 30 and 20 for Dana 44's with Detroit Lockers, the new Omix Ada Gauges will be replaced with Speed Huts GPS set, and I might pull the string and pick up the R2.8 crate. If I keep the AMC 360 I'm going with a EFI setup. I added a LoD rear bumper and tire swing. My goal here is set her up for Winters out east - coming from AZ she hasn't seen snow and I have some rust proofing to do before winter. My Ram will be my primary RIG since I have 3 overgrown pups.

My 89 YJ is definitely not period era true, except the body.

 

[Correus]

For my CJ5 - it's more of a Resto Mod with a rebuilt AMC 360 with less than 2k miles. I'm going to swap out my Dana 30 and 20 for Dana 44's with Detroit Lockers, the new Omix Ada Gauges will be replaced with Speed Huts GPS set, and I might pull the string and pick up the R2.8 crate. If I keep the AMC 360 I'm going with a EFI setup. I added a LoD rear bumper and tire swing. My goal here is set her up for Winters out east - coming from AZ she hasn't seen snow and I have some rust proofing to do before winter. My Ram will be my primary RIG since I have 3 overgrown pups.

Cool....

The plan for mine is to keep it as era specific as possible in order to participate in events along the lines of the 'Relic Run' out of Utah. Been talking to a couple of people about putting together a similar type group, but with a cut off date of 1979, maybe a bit newer. Main thing we are looking at is that all rigs be those that rolled out before on board computers really got going.

The 'Relic Run' philosophy would extend to equipment and gear as well. Guess you could call it 'vehicle dependant living history'.

 

[Joey83]

It's a never ending journey.

 

[caswanson]

Nice to see another 5 on here.

 

[caswanson]

 

[smritte]

Lets see 1977, I progressed from backpacking to vehicle exploring. Unfortunately, no one has ever made something that fit what "I" needed. Ending up modding every vehicle to suit my needs.
Now I have a modded Cruiser and a stock 2019 Tacoma. I swore when I got the Tacoma, I wouldn't mod it...."EVER"

Well, except for power mods, communications, tablet and phone holders......

You guys seen some of the new gear for Tacoma's?
SIGH........

I would like to restore an early Jeepster convertible.
Have you seen those with 33's???
OMG...here we go again

Its an addiction. There needs to be a "Vehicle Modding Anonymous"

 

[472HemiGTX]

No cure, it never ends. Been wheeling and camping, now called overlanding for 40 years. There's always cooler, better stuff available. It's constant high grading and improving of your vehicle and gear. But there are worse addictions.

 

[MuloChico]

Started with motorcycles at 8 years old (1970). Then went "Exploring" in my 1976 Datsun 2wd longbed in 1979. Shackle lift, turn up torsion bars larger tires, etc, man I had fun in that truck. Got out of it for many years with kids (daughter had medical issues so $ were scarce).

Picked up a 1990 Ford F250 supercab diesel about 10 years ago. My son and I had fun (and still do) with that. Picked up a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee last year. Finally got it to a place to use it this year (needed some work). Now the adventure resumes!!! So much easier to maneuver than the Ford.