I Speak Jeep Feb 25, 2026

The Missing Tech Team

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Company

SFJ4x4.com

SFJ4x4.com is a business that sells parts and gear to help make Jeeps better for off-road driving.

Concept

project vehicles

Project vehicles are cars people buy to fix up or change. They might need lots of work to make them look or run better.

Term

buyer remorse

Buyer remorse means feeling sorry or upset after buying something, like a car, because it wasn't what you thought it would be.

Term

coilovers

Coilovers are parts of a car's suspension that help make the ride smoother and let you change how high or low the car sits. They help the car handle better around corners.

Car

Jeep JL

The Jeep JL is a type of Jeep Wrangler made since 2018. It's good for off-road driving and has parts you can take off like the doors and roof.

Car

Jeep Wrangler JK

The Jeep Wrangler JK is a type of Jeep that people like to use for off-road driving. Many owners like to fix it up and add new parts to make it better for adventures.

Concept

vintage vehicle

A vintage vehicle is an old car that people like because it looks cool or is special. It's usually a car from many years ago.

Concept

bargain hunt

Bargain hunting means looking for cars that cost less money than usual, maybe because they need some fixing.

Concept

barn find

A barn find is a car that someone finds after it has been stored away and forgotten for many years, usually in a barn. These cars often need fixing up but can be very special.

Term

lift kit

A lift kit is something you add to your car to make it sit higher off the ground, which helps if you want to drive on rough roads or just want it to look bigger.

Concept

off-roading

Off-roading means driving a car on rough ground that isn't a normal road, like dirt or rocks, which needs special changes to the car.

Concept

restoration

Restoration means fixing up an old car to look and work like it did when it was new, using original parts and paint.

Car

Jeep Cj7

The Jeep CJ7 is an older model Jeep that people use to drive on rough trails and off-road paths. It has a lot of space inside and is good for outdoor trips.

Car

Jeep Wrangler Rubicon

The Jeep Rubicon is a type of Jeep made to go off-road easily. It has special parts that help it drive over rocks and rough ground.

Part

Solex carburetor

A Solex carburetor is a part that helps mix air and gas so the engine can run. It's often found in older cars instead of newer fuel systems.

Term

power band

The power band is the range where the engine works best and makes the most power. Knowing this helps you drive better and faster.

Concept

off-road camping

Off-road camping means going camping in places that regular cars can't easily reach, usually needing special vehicles that can drive on rough ground.

Concept

depreciating asset

A depreciating asset is something that gets cheaper as time goes on. Cars usually lose value after you buy them, so they aren't good for making money by selling later.

Term

V8

A V8 engine has eight cylinders shaped like a V. It makes a lot of power and is often found in big or fast cars.

Concept

project car

A project car is a car that needs fixing or changing, and people work on it little by little to make it better or usable again.

Brand

Harley Davidson

Harley Davidson makes famous motorcycles that many people really like. Sometimes the company was owned by another company called AMF, and some Harley fans didn't like that.

Car

Jeep YJ

The Jeep YJ is an older Jeep model from the late 1980s and early 1990s. It looks different from other Jeeps because of its square headlights and is a bit more modern than the older Jeep CJ models.

Term

454

The 454 is a big engine made by Chevrolet that has a lot of power. It was used in some older muscle cars and trucks.

Term

clean title

A clean title means the car is legally clear to own and hasn't been badly damaged or written off before.

Term

RV

An RV is like a house on wheels where people can sleep and live while traveling. It has beds, kitchen, and bathroom facilities.

Term

gooseneck

A gooseneck is a special hook that connects a trailer to a truck, making it easier and safer to pull big trailers.

Part

V8 engine

A V8 engine is a type of car engine with eight cylinders shaped like a V. It makes the car powerful and fast.

Car

The Jeep Cherokee is a type of small SUV that many people liked because it could drive well on rough roads and looked tough. People often remember it fondly because it was a reliable and fun car to have when they were younger. It's talked about a lot because it’s easy to recognize and can go places many cars can’t.

Concept

junkyard

A junkyard is like a big parking lot full of old cars that people don't want anymore. You can find parts or even cars to fix up and use again.

Car

Infiniti G20

The Infiniti G20 is a small fancy car from the 1990s that was made to be comfortable and easy to drive. People liked it because it felt nicer than regular cars but didn’t cost too much. It’s often talked about because it’s a good car for people who want something a bit special without spending a lot.

Car

Ford Model T

The Ford Model T was one of the first cars that many people could buy because it was made cheaply and quickly. It changed how cars were made and helped lots of people get around.

LIVE

SFJ 4x4 Studios presents

In my oversized four-wheel drive Jeep

A Jeep podcast starring industry experts

Cure monocity

What? Say that again!

With mad scientist Scott Brown

I use my drill press as a sort of lathe

Our host, Neil Simpson

If one light goes on they all go out

And Phil was shenanigans

We are really professional with Jeeps

This is I Speak Jeep

Good morning, afternoon, evening, wherever

However, you are joining us

This is the I Speak Jeep podcast

Presented by SFJ4x4.com

My name is Neil

Are you sure?

Well, there's been a lot of question marks this morning

With Simpson Family Jeeps SFJ 4x4

And we, Scott and I

Are flying

Sands any technical person that we've employed in the last five years

We're all alone

We've been pressing buttons and trying things for

I don't even know how long

So if you are hearing us

Either on the live

And seeing us on the book of faces

Which we think you are

So throw us a shout in the comments

Because we see the comments coming in

Or if we are in your ear holes at a later date

Then that means we have

We have produced the show

Produced the show on our own today

Because for those that don't know

Jeff is out trying to do

Tracing a dream

Davey is vacationing

Davey is on vacation

So here we are

This is it, yay!

My 12 year old is at school

He wasn't going to come in and help us

I am a little worried

Because I have not seen anybody comment

That they in fact can hear us

I do have some reservation

Likewise

I mean people aren't saying that they can't though

No that's true

Got Facebook

So David's younger Jeeper says

Facebook is coming in loud and proud

Scott and I have just totally in tune

With our younger year sales

When we actually did tech stuff

Just clicking stuff to see what happens

We got here

We didn't get here by sitting on our hands folks

I am not going to shy away from a little challenge

But I am also not super comfy either

Clicking buttons

And what I am going to tell you

Is we are attempted to transition

To the weekend update as well

Yeah

And not just Scott's do-do-do-do-do-do

Noise

And we just kept adding things

So we got something figured out

And we are like okay

We are going to do the weekends updates

And then we got that figured out

And then we are like okay we want the goat

Couldn't figure out the goat

We can't figure out the goat folks

But that is our goal for you

We have suspicions about where the goat went

Yeah we think Jeffrey sabotaged us

There is no suspicion

I am going to put it out there to the universe

Jeff sabotaged us and he took the goat with him

Yeah

It is his signature

Nathan first says

I don't know what he says

It doesn't

He is

You know what it is backwards

It is

Which should be good morning

But it is backwards

Thank you Nathan

Jack Jeepers says good morning

Jeanie

Good morning everyone

Hope your weekend was great

Nick

Good morning fellow Jeepers

James Highlands

Hey guys

Snowing

Yes James

It's snowing

Enjoy the pool

In the sunshine of Florida

He is building things

I love what he is always building

Brains are always moving there

And obviously we got Facebook coming in loud and proud

Andrew says good morning

Jeanie says we hear you

Nick

Facebook Live is going here

James says we hear you

William on YouTube says gotcha

Jack Jeepers have Scott do the intro

Less buttons to push

And Jeanie says

I think you have to have a class with Jack

Jeanie we did

He gave us cheat sheets

We just threw him away at this point

We ignored him

To be honest

We learned by doing things with our hands

Reading instructions is hard

SFJ has grown to a proportion

That we employed people to provide services

And particular things

So we could do other things

Were we capable of it at one time?

Do we want to add that back into our repertoire?

Not really

I don't want to produce the podcast

I want Jeffrey to come back on Mondays

He still is not revealed to the world

Where and who his restaurant is

Soon enough

They are technically closed on Mondays

In the future

And so his hopes are to come back

And be part of the podcast series

Because if you weren't familiar

Jeffrey and I had a leadership

And a self-improvement podcast

Called the American Hustle

That's paused at the moment

That's taken a big backseat at the moment

But there is value

There is value in continuing that

We have this beautiful space

We have the equipment

We want to continue to produce

Have a following

Right, we have a following

We've got great downloads

We want to keep all that going

But he had pretty much no time

To initiate the opening of this property

And he was trying to open by early March

Best of luck to him

And so we'll

Oh, Kristen is on

Big projects, give it a couple weeks

So, yeah

That's Kristen, his Jeffrey's wife

And Kristen would often times help out

If there was sound or video issues

I'm glad she's still here

We can count on her

Clearly

Jeff has left us high and dry

But Kristen, we can count on

She would be in his ear

And they'd be comparing tech notes

I love their little tag team thing

That they were doing

And I would just sit over there

And be able to host

And Jeffrey would be over here

With a flurry of clicking buttons

And pushing buttons

He's doing it so fast

We couldn't really keep track

I didn't even try

I don't care

I employed him to do that

He did it exceptionally

But here we are

So, hopefully it continues

And that's a great intro

To our topic of how to pick your project

It is

And today we're going to be talking about

Picking your perfect project

You know, for now and beyond

Additionally, if you want to hear about

How our weekends were on a personal level

You want to stay through

Through the outro credit

If you couldn't give two figs

Then that's your sign off

And so be it

We don't mind that one bit

I do want to take a moment to say

That Bradford says, good morning folks

James tells us that this pool water temp

Is a chilly 83 degrees

I'm so sorry

Water temp is 83

Then we have Lucky McDeerhead

Says good morning

And is Bill

So I'm assuming that might be

Bill McWilliams

But I don't know

Lucky McDeerhead

I love some of these screen names

Anyway, so today

You had a bit of this brainchild

Of picking a project

We've talked on tidbits of this

In the past

But I think it's a valuable topic

To resurface

Especially because we have a number

Of new project vehicles

Into the shop that

Also with Jeffrey leaving us

High and dry

We haven't done a live

In about a month

Totally just fault

And so nobody actually knows

That we have things that are moving

But they are obviously

And so we're going to be

Kind of talking about that

How do we buy that dream?

We've certainly used that phrase

Before

Absolutely

And so purchasing the idea

Of the dream

So what was your conception here?

Well, I kind of came to

Come to Jesus moment

Over the weekend

And you have to listen

To the weekend updates

To find out what that is

I'm not going to reveal

But something was dropped off

At my house

And old Scott would have been

Like excited

It's fresh

It's new

He would have dropped 14 other projects

To go play with this new thing

Yes

And at this point in life

I can look at that and go

It's not a great project

Sure

It doesn't match my dream

Of what I want the next project to be

I can see value in it

And I can see where someone else

Could use that as a project

And purchase that dream

At the same time

I can see some pieces and parts of it

That I can use in other projects

You and I had talked briefly about this

Prior to you receiving it

In its physical form

And then I saw you receiving it

I was completely disconnected

To be honest

I was like

That is a hunk of crap

So we'll talk about that in the weekend updates

That was a good picture too

That was a good side

How many times have we done that in life?

Absolutely

We're like

Oh, this is going to be great

Yes

And really what it comes down to

You know

You got the itch

You want a new project

Something's gotten in your face

On Marketplace

Which we completely understand

We have zero

Financial

Pocket book money

To go look at

Marketplace fine

We have no business starting a new project

Either one of us

What

How was the last time you were on Marketplace?

Was it last night?

Was it this morning?

It was this morning

So one of the things I do

I wake up and I look at Marketplace

And we're like

That's cool

I could do something with that

And the cool thing about Marketplace

Is all of our interests are on there

The algorithm

However you say that

It knows us very well

So there's tractors

And there's

Random buildings

And there's

Equipment for the tractors

And then there's this

Ramp

Sackle

Piece of crap

Your words hurt me

This is some property

I saw a trailer

I was like

I should send that to Neil

No I shouldn't

We understand

Yes

And

It's very easy to get addicted

To just looking

Across the

Market scape

Yes

And I'll even justify it

Like well then I know

Where the market is

You know

Where our used vehicle

Values at

Yes

That's my excuse

I tell everybody

I'm a professional when it comes to that

Because I spend so much time looking at it

We have our fingers on the pulse

Of the market

Yes

But

So something gets in your face

And you're like

Oh I've always wanted

X, Y, and Z

And it can be a Jeep

It can be a

Piece of land

It could be a house

It could be anything

Right

And you think

I'm gonna go all in

And then you have to do the reckoning

And most of us in that situation

Don't have a pile of cash

That we can just go

Rob the piggy bank

And go buy that

Especially me

I'm always like

Well if I leverage this

You're playing chess

Clip that

And then I can do this

And what that means

Is I've gone all in

On this project

And then I have to then

Have the reckoning

Once the shiny newness

Wears off

And sometimes that's before

It's even on the trailer

To haul it home

The buyer's remorse

As hits

And I am one of those people

Like once I say

I'm gonna do it

I don't back out

So even though

I might be like

Man I was not

That was a bad move

I'm still gonna purchase it

Right

Right because that integrity

Takes over

Right

I've now open mouth

Insert foot with that individual

That I said

Yes I'm gonna do this

I'm gonna come out my pocket

400 bucks

Where am I gonna get that 400 bucks

I don't know yet

But I'm gonna figure it out

Right

But now I've said it

Now I'm committed to it

Yes

Right

With that integrity

And that's a pit

Of your stomach experience

I'm like

Wow how can I

How can I turn some fast cash

You know

What can I scrap

Or sell quickly

That's laying out

And if you really bought a project

If you haven't scrapped for it

But in any regard

Now there are

I do think we need to

Expand the conversation

To a number of

Well executed individuals

Who do go

Hey I am saving this money

Over here

I don't know how they do that

Well I mean

Factually I do know

A number of our customers

Do that

My dad specifically

Does that

Because it is his Jeep fund

I appreciate their constitution

Yes

To be able to see that through

Well and I do think

That that is a remarkable piece

Now with that said

Once they have established

That piggy bank

Of resources

Now it becomes this

Arduous challenge

Of finding the right project

Within that piggy bank

Absolutely

A lot meant

Or the right qualifiers

And that's also part of this conversation

Is how do you know

When the project is correct

So you don't have that buyer remorse

Or you're going into it

With appropriate expectations

Right

Can I put

A $10,000 piggy bank

For a new Ferrari

Right

You can't

It's not realistic expectation

I saw it on YouTube though

You got it at an auction

Twice removed

Yeah

It's only taken them four years

To rebuild it

Yeah but it only took 45 minutes

In a YouTube video

But also what made me think of this

Is we had two crawlovers

Vintage crawlovers last week

And while on paper

They were very similar

In reality they were so broad

They were 180 degrees from each other

And I don't think these people

They kind of just rolled the dice

And got lucky

On one

And

And unlucky on the other

On the other one

And I think that

I love how you're associating it

And I

Both people are great

You know individuals

And

They both had a dream for the project

They did

And I think we're going to be able to

Talk about how the two projects could be

Similar or dissimilar

Yeah

But you're absolutely right

They both had a healthy budget

In mind

Same budget

Yeah

This was not chump change

This was not the scrapping

You know for $400 conversation

This is the

I'm going to go

Purchase something I should be able to use

And tinker with

Project budget

This is not the I went and scrapped

Like Neil said

And bought a hunk of crap

To put in my yard

Which we would do

Quite literally

Yeah

We have gone to

And it was a family owned

It was a pastor

Yes

And pulled a rotten body

That my grandfather had

Discarded

And it's still

Here

It's still with us

We have given it back and forth to each other

Two or three times

We have

What's sad is

I'm actually at the position

I could fix it now

You are

You absolutely are

And I hope that someday you will

And we also

Support each other

By holding

Our dreaming

Projects

On each other's property

We hide these things from each other

We hide each other

Hide things from each other

And our spouses

Yeah

So long

That he's forgotten about them

Sometimes

I absolutely have forgotten

About certain things that are

Sitting on your property

That's so true

And that's also part of the project

Where are you going to put it?

Okay

I love that idea

Right because

I was on the phone with

Another manufacturer this morning

And they're going to a show

And out west

And they called up

They said

Well, we're just going to stick it

At this Rep's house

And somebody else in the

In the office goes

Do they even have room?

Yeah

Can he park it at his house?

Do we know that?

Right

Just because like

It sounds good in your head

Right

It doesn't actually mean that

Have we done the follow through?

We've made the phone call

We, as he over promised

Is his wife going to divorce him now?

Right

Because now there's an extra vehicle

Sitting around on their property

Absolutely

Is there an HOA involved?

We all have seen the shorts

And right now I think

A lot of it's clickbait

Absolutely

But there's

You know, there's shorts

And there's YouTube videos

Regarding HOAs

But HOAs are a real thing

They are

Within the broad home owner community

Spoiler alert

Neil and I could not live in an HOA

There's no spoiler

I don't think there's a single

Listener of ours

Who for one moment

Who's now shocked

I don't think anybody's shocked and dismayed

That we could not live in an HOA

And our properties look pretty nice

From the front

I do

You know, I might have something

Kind of junky in the driveway at the moment

But you know

I've become really skilled

At trying to hide mine

Behind buildings

Absolutely

And like just out of

Out of the direct line of sight

Fences make friends

That's right

Well, that's true

Fences make good neighbors

That is how it works

So as far as

As far as picking that project

And what we like to call

Buying the dream

I do think that there is merit

In expanding upon

These two vintage crawlers

Now, I do think that there is

The same concepts

Are for individuals who

Have this notion

That they want to own a jeep

Maybe they are new to owning a jeep

Or they've always wanted to own a jeep

And they're going to buy

Maybe they can't exactly afford

A brand new JL

But they're going to buy a JK

That they can work on a little bit

That they can do some up-fitting too

So I think that the principles

The concepts are similar

While the content might change

And as you painted that picture

While they are

Specifically this situation

We talked about

The individuals were

Automotive enthusiasts

They knew enough

I think they're the average

Automotive consumer

Who thought a vintage vehicle

Would be cool, vintage jeep

I think everyone at some point

Likes the bargain hunt

The idea of I got more

Than I paid for scenario

Of things

I think everybody does

Nobody wants to be like

I really got housed

In this process

So it's a little bit of like

Will it be the winning lottery ticket?

Will I be the one

That's going to find the one of three

In the barn

And it's going to take little

No work and make it run

And now I'm going to be driving it

In three weeks

That isn't very much

Not going to happen

For 98% of us

There is always someone

That's on YouTube

Or on the books of faces

Or whatever

That does do that

But for Joe Average

I can speak from experience

That is usually not the case

Right

So what I really think

Whenever you're starting a project

Is you should not go full bore

Willy-Nilly like me or Neil

And you should

Sit down with a piece of paper

And you say

What do I want this project to do

In my life?

What do I want to use it as?

How do I want to use it?

What will meet my needs?

Like you should not

Get a two door with no back seat

If you have five kids

That kind of stuff

Make things kind of make sense

So that you don't have that

Oh, I really screwed up this time

And people are now mad at me

I have no nothing about that

Anyway

You also should say

What are the basic things

I would like this vehicle to have?

If we get a newer one

Do I want it to have AC?

Do I want to have power locks?

And that kind of stuff

Is so much harder

It costs you, I will say

Three to four times more

To add something

Than on a newer vehicle

Especially than if it doesn't

Well, and don't forget

I'm interrupting

But don't lose your thought process

Your train of thought here

That's why one of the first things

We ask people when they come in

To us for consultation

Regardless of older new vehicle

How do you intend to use the vehicle?

All too often people want to jump in

And be like, well, I think I'd like a lift kit

That's cool

You can want tires and wheels and lifts and lights

And you can want a new fancy interior

But how do you intend to use the vehicle?

And so that's part of our project

Planning is to help the Jeep

Enthusiast focus their expectations

Speaking of which

We had another call over

Honestly, by accident

A very nice Jeep

That was already modified for off-roading

They really don't plan to do that

So did they get lucky with new parts

And they don't have to invest in that?

Yes, was it really

Did they pay more for products

That are not going to use?

Possibly

But then I also overheard

You know, I think there was a first Jeep

And the driver of this was like

You know, I kind of have a vision

I want it to look like

I want it to be a big, impressive Jeep

And she was talking like 6-8 inch lifts

Well, that's a commitment

And when you're green

And you're going into it

You don't realize what you're giving up

When you lift something that tall

Right

And if you wanted to have

Certain drivability standards

How much money you had to invest

Which was quirky

Because obviously one of the reasons

They were in was because

They didn't like how it handled currently

Correct

And that was a slight disconnect

Between I see monster truck jeeps

Out there

I see, you know

And the grass is always greener

100%

But if they're just cruising down

You know, sunny Florida Boulevard

To the next fun lights and sound competition

It's very different than

Trying to cruise down a pothole

Filled northern highway

At 70, 80 miles per hour

Not only that

Okay, so we do get lucky

And we do modify our vehicle

And then we have an issue

From now, what?

Can I work on it?

Can the mechanic I employ

Normally work on it?

And we had all those conversations

Last week as well

With all of those people

Who had purchased their projects

All their mechanics

Are pretty much like peace out

Yeah, like I don't want to deal with this

I don't know what I'm looking at

And I actually

I affirmed every one of them

To go back home

And to tell their general mechanics

Thank you

Yep

Because that was the best piece of advice

Because we know too many Jim Bob garages

Who are like, well

I can fix it

I can press buttons until something works

I can produce that podcast

Yeah

I mean

And I just

I thought that was appropriate

And so with that

When you're picking that project

Do I have the appropriate resources

Available to me

In my immediate circle

And another big challenge

I'm just going to let a cat out of the bag

Sometimes you don't know

How you want to use a vehicle

Or how you experience a vehicle

Until you own it

And there's nothing wrong with that

You just have to have appropriate expectations

When that happens

Sometimes you have to come to

You know, come to Jesus and go

Hey, I actually don't like this

Or I didn't buy

What I thought I was buying

And now I actually

Because of this vehicle

Now I'm in the community

Now I see this over here

And that's actually what I want

Spoiler alert

Hashtag not a restoration

Is a perfect example

He went out

He found a vintage Jeep

He was excited

He had an idea

Of what he wanted to use it

He thought he was going to fall in love

With wheeling it

He actually fell in love

With the build process

And now

Retrospect-wise

He wish he would have bought a CJ7

Because of the space inside

Would have made it better of a cruiser

But he was looking at the lay of the land

He had friends and vintage

Earlier vintage vehicles

That were wheeling them

And wedging themselves in them

So he thought, well, they're doing it

I can do it

And I identify because

That specific combination of guys

Have been in and out of the shop recently

And I have kind of connected

In a sense with the one owner

Who's got a 63CJ3B

And I recognize how much

I mean, he talks about

He likes the fact that he shows up to JJUSA

And he's one of maybe five vintage Jeeps

And he's almost always the oldest one

And he understands that

That the Jeep does not have

All the technical proficiencies

As a brand new modern-day Rubicon

But he likes that

He is willing to subject himself to the discomfort

And the challenge of

Mealing those same places and spaces

And I identify with that

But then the Angry Turtle

I tell this story about Jason and the Angry Turtle

Years ago

With his project and this Jeep

He needed a Swiss Army knife

He needed a Jeep that he could commute in

But then he also wanted to wheel heavily

Or proficiently

And I remember breaking

Any number of one of my vintage pieces of crap

Well off-road

And then riding along with Jason

Because he almost never broke

Because he brought it to us to actually work and build

And he knew that his extension

Or his limitations were where they were

And he brought him to his resources

But then B

He just chose different lines and places

And the modern conveniences of his Jeep were better

But I would get in

And he would have music playing

You know, it could be rock, it could be alternative

Whatever

He had the air conditioning on or he had the heat on

Meanwhile, I was like topless in January

In my socks

Wheeling, you know, trying to desperately get this

Crappy solex carburetor to

To find a power band

And Jason would just kind of point and shoot

Through the trail, you know

And what's crazy is in that situation

Both people are looking at the other one going

He has something I don't

And that's exactly where Ryan

With not a restoration was like

He looked in at his friend

Who was willing to 3B

And was like, I could do that

That's cool

And then when you actually

It's like somebody else jumping into one of

My experience going, no, that's crazy

Nobody actually wants to do that

The vast majority don't

And Ryan quickly learned like

No, I'm cool to cruise in mine

Not everyone wants their wife, girlfriend

To sit on the passenger side with her foot

On the stick on the transfer case

So it doesn't pop out of gear

Oh, you're going to bring that up, huh?

It was a bonding moment early on

For Jen and Neil to reel the red CJ2A

She's such a good sole

Yeah, she is

She's here for it

Yeah, she's here for it

I will hold that stick with my foot

No problem

Yes, that's how we wheeled

Anyway, so you're picking that project

You know, realistic expectations

You might not always know them

And that's the point you were making

You're looking across the grasses

Greener on that other side

That's why when you are consulting with us

And our experience tells us to try

And help you explore mentally

Some of those concepts

Likewise, that family who bought the Jeep

That was actually more off-road ready

They went to the dealership, they didn't know

It was a 16 or 17 JKU

Nice looking Jeep, you know

Decent wheels

Had nice equipment in it

It was already re-geared

Axel was gusseted and beefed up

Had skid plates

It had heavy-duty diff covers on it

It had more of an economy lift

But there was other parts and pieces

It was workable

And that's what I said about that

Had aftermarket bumpers, it was winch ready

You'd see someone save their winch

That evidence that they had a winch on it one time

So, for you or I

I would have been like, game on

We can make it our own

We can tweak the lift kit a little bit

But a lot of the expensive

Say $10,000 worth of upgrades are there

And the resale value of those upgrades

Sadly is low

It was nil

Nil

Actually, the dealership didn't even know

They didn't even upsell it

It had skids from front to back

It was a total crazy trade-in

It's probably 10 grand

It's probably low on the upgrades of the G-pad

And like I said, that literally was

Kind of a hitting the lottery moment

For the right person

But they didn't even know

They didn't know

Yeah

And they kind of don't care

Because that's not exactly how they intend to use the vehicle

They want a street cruiser

That looks cool

And maybe they'll go camping eventually in it

Yes

100%

So that's a perfect example

Like you just...

Why I say

You don't know what you don't know, too

You know it

And sometimes the Jeep will tell you what it wants

Because you have to evolve with the project

And be okay with that

Understand that you're not going to know

All the things, all the times

And sometimes...

And we had this last week

That you...

Hey, I'm not actually equipped to handle this project

Now that I am aware of where the project is

So now I have to find a way out

A way to get out of this project

And am I really up a crack without a paddle?

Can I...

Do I have something I can sell?

Can I now appropriately disclose?

Maybe I wasn't disclosed well when I purchased it

Am I going to...

How much loss am I going to take?

Am I going to take a loss?

So specifically, you know, the tale of two Jeeps

That we had the vintage crawlovers

One of them was a military vehicle

They paid a healthy price point

From a...

I'd say they paid an average

Something you should be able to get in and run around

So they paid what?

14 to 16

Yeah

And the Jeep, when they initially got their hands on it

Did...

Did function

At a bare minimum, it functioned

Yes

And that is relative to your expectations

Right, to your ownership, right?

So do I expect this...

It was a 52

Yep

It was a 52 M38

Do I expect this to drive for four hours straight

While I run errands

I jump on a small grade highway

Taking me 50 miles per hour

And I think it's also important that this was the oldest vehicle

In their experience

Correct

They had put two guys together

I think it was like a joint venture

Right, it was a business partnership

The one was really into cars

He had lots of 70s and newer vehicles

And I say all the time in my echo chamber

That the older you go

The more things you have to do

The longer it's been around

The more maintenance it's been missed

The more age has heard it

And the more you give up

And a totally different technology at that time

Versus what our expectations are now

Correct

And way of life

Correct

And sacrifices

Sacrifices

You have to now make a lot of sacrifices

That we now accept as normal part of our daily life

Correct

Ride comfort, efficiency

Yep

Speed to running errands

Noise in the cabin

Weather ability

Is it going to be able to go out in the rain

That kind of stuff

As you go older it gets harder and harder

I think that's a big part of picking the project

A lot of people don't understand

And we talk about the nostalgia, the romance

Kind of the broad sex appeal of this vintage

Iconic American iron

And that's just romanticized

That's a big piece that I want to hammer home

For a lot of people listening

You have to be the right person

To actually get into that older vehicle

Absolutely

If you currently are enamored with Jeeps

And I see it amongst much of the Jeep community now

We get it

They're cool and they open a door

To allow you to go camping

And that's why so many Jeep commercials show them

Off-road camping in nature

That's the epitome of what the Jeep dream is

And really what I feel a little bad now

What made it worse is we were able to show them

The current M38 we have in the shop

That we have taken a leak on through

Nut and bolt restoration wise

And it would have done what their dream was

For this other Jeep

But they weren't equipped to handle

The restoration process and timeline

And cost that would take the Jeep they brought in

To make it that Jeep

But in a moment

In the moment of their searching

And their conceptualization

Where you kind of

This dream is born in the back of your brain

It becomes relative to your experience

And another thing that I just thought of

And I'm guilty

I'll go on and I'll look at the market

And I'll try to pick the best one on the market that time

And I'll admit I don't have much patience

I'm not going to sit around for three years

Looking for a project

Probably should

Because I've also been in a situation where

Okay, I bought the best one I could

Two weeks later

Man, look, it's cheaper

It's actually better shape

It has all these cool parts with it

But now I've spent all my scrap money

On the first one

So I gotta deal with it

My dad was a huge one

This was so influential on me

When I was a kid

Because I had the same

I have the same desire that you have

But his thing was

There will always be another great deal

Another great project

My dad told me that too

Somehow the words were hollow in the moment

And so what I was saying

Is that it becomes relative to your experience

I don't have this project

So now my ability to go consume it

For a thousand bucks or ten thousand bucks

Is now, it makes my dream a reality

And we'd like that as humans

Now I'm a player in the game

But the problem is

If my expectation is to

And I feel like these folks

They're intending to create a business model out of it

So I want to kind of continue to expand

On their storyline

Their hope was to be able to

Have people come

Join them in their Jeep

And take them on off-road adventures

So you would have a customer

Come and join you in the Jeep

And then you would go use it off-road

So you immediately have someone

That's not prepared for it

The breakdown, make clanky noises

Things fall off

Which we have all experienced

And that is part of off-roading

But if it is all that you do

In your off-road experience

That's not a good experience

We don't need necessarily for it

To be point and shoot

Nina Barlow from the southwestern territories

Has made a living on giving people

A really high quality experience

And her target market

Is not exactly the off-road community

While there are off-roaders

Who go and enjoy her services

She markets to the person

Who's going to go back to their office environment

Who's going to drive their sedan

Or their minivan

And on the one weekend

Every three years or every year

They go out to Moab

They get to rent one of her Jeeps

And it's a pleasant experience

That is uneventful

It is not changing U-joints

In two foot of mud

When there's snow flurries around

Or removing your heater on the side of the trail

Because your foot doesn't fit

Stop it!

Do you remember that time

That I was in my pretty shoes

And I was jumping on the back bumper

I do

And you had a pretty shirt on too

Yeah, I was...

See, that's...

Planning!

What is that?

That was irrelevant

So for their situation

Relative to their experience

Was they thought that if we spend

Between $14,000 and $16,000

By this vintage Jeep

That it should allow us

It should be the vessel

And they knew they were going to have to work on it

Correct

They were okay with investing in it

So they had, I would say

Just decent expectations

But they were so blinded

By the excitement of the possibility

That they didn't look the project over

Well, but I also...

I'm going to go back to

Did they not look it over

Or you don't know what you don't know

Because it comes relative to your experience

I think a little bit of both

In that situation

Is they both had...

Both were true

They overlooked some things

Because they were excited

I think we all have that capacity to do that

Absolutely

They also didn't know

Some of what was involved

Another good saying that

My dad and I have kind of learned

By doing is

Look at the market

How much does something cost

To go do what you want to do

With this vehicle

So if your dream is

To take your restored CJ7

And go to a car show

And be able to drive it

A couple days a week

And go to a Big A Jeep event

Okay, go on and bring a trailer

Go on a Hagerty

Look at values

Go on Meekum

See how much things are cost

And understand there's going to be

A broad range of pricing

And be honest with yourself

Where those vehicles are at

Because we went to the Meekum

And we saw some vehicles

That they looked great on camera

They didn't really have a lot going on

But go on and say

Okay, is that $20,000?

Is that $30,000?

Is that $80,000?

Can I even get close?

And okay, yes I bought this one for $14,000

But if this Jeep that I see

That is closer to doing what I want to do

Is $32,000

Then I need to be prepared to know

That I'm going to put that much into it

At least

Pay now or pay later

And usually it ends up costing you more

Because the person is now selling that project

For whatever reason is taking a loss

90% of the time because sadly

And this hurts me to say this

Vehicles are not the best investment

Vehicles are almost always a depreciating asset

Yes

And they're only an asset from the sentence

That typically you can sell them for something at the end

Yes

Otherwise I only loosely use the word asset

In an association with vehicles

I've had multiple conversations

With people with restorations

Like you're going to invest more than the vehicle's worth

But you're not doing it for that reason

You're doing it for the experience

And for the enjoyment

And I've seen

There's a number of comments coming in

I haven't had an opportunity to switch back over

And read those messages

But one of the things I did see

Is James Highlands talking about being purpose-built

You're investing in that dream

To make it what you want it to be

Exactly what you want it to be

So you could go to

And I loved your idea

Brick and trailer which has just hit a record sales

So it's a huge marketplace

People are buying projects more than ever

Right

In all states of Finnish

Underdone or well done

You could go to Hagerty

You can go to any of these places

Where we can find a

Accessorized vehicle

That has a value associated

We're not talking about

I'm going to the dealership

To buy something necessarily

But even still

Think about going to the dealership

And buying a done V8 vehicle

That's well engineered

To travel from coast to coast

To north to south

If the dealership wants

$80,000 for a V8 equipped vehicle

Which I think is a cheap date

Nowadays right

Especially in the jeep market

Then you should definitely

Consider like

Oh well I got this junk

Hammy or I got this junk

350 sitting back here

I can shoehorn that into my jeep

I got to be honest

If your expectation is to drive it

6, 8, 10 hours

This junk 350 sitting in your back yard

Isn't the vehicle

There's a reason

And if it is

Then you got to put the 80,000 in

That the new vehicle costs

And so being

Conscious of that

The value to picking your dream project

Is as James said

Being purpose built

You get to put your flavor on it

You buy the shell of the house

And you get to put your kitchen in there

You get to put your bathroom in

You pick the countertops

You pick the color

You pick the flooring

But you're going to pay for that

Another customer of ours from Florida

Robin Teresa

They bought the shell of the house

The location of the house

That was their project

And then they got it down to the bare studs

That is our conversation here today

Now they get to build everything back

The way they want

They want to know what's in there

And that's one of the values that we get that

And that's why through our Google photo albums

Through our communication

Through our processes

We want you to have that experience too

And that's from experience

Of how many times have we built things

And done stuff

And people are like, oh, do you have pictures of that?

Years ago

And so because we have learned that the hard way

We set people up when you come in

For a project with us

You immediately get an album

And that's literally the first day it's dropped off

We start that album

And it goes on from there

And then if we have questions of

How did this bracket go on?

All the way up to, okay, now

It's five, ten years later

And now my life has changed

My priorities have changed

I'm going to sell this vehicle

Now you have a running history of the vehicle

And I grew up going to big car shows

And they would have the photo album

On the core support of the car

And taking better pictures than we would

And documenting the process

And being able to flip through

And show what they started with

And how rusty it was

And that kind of stuff

Well, and that's exactly part of this

Picking your project is

Prepare to do the homework

Yes

As you were talking about the project management piece

Of, you know, do I have the budget?

Am I robbing Peter to pay Paul?

Am I actually have the resource network to do this?

Can I create the paper trail?

The documentation?

Again, that's one of the things that we do

For our customers

But that is a customer experience with us

And not only that

Are you ready to do that yourself

For that five, ten, fifteen years later

And be prepared to learn things

On the smallest minutia

That you never thought was going to matter

But matters a lot

Case in point, I have a friend

Working on a project

GM product

And it had one type of motor in it

And the motor was bad

And he was okay with that

And he was like, okay

This motor is bad

And what would I like to upgrade?

Well, I know that four fifty-fives were offered

That's what I'd like to find

So he searches up a four fifty-five

Goes out and buys it

Then after the work fact

Finds out Olsenville was one type of four fifty-five

Pontiac was another one

Buick was another one

Yes, the cubic inches were all the same

But they are all different engines

It's like the three six engine

It's like the three sixty

I wish I had a dollar for every time I got asked

Is that a Dodge motor

That's an Aventus Jeep

Could be, but no

It's not from the factory

People don't know those things

And because of that

You are able to make improper purchases

That actually don't do your budget

Or your project benefit

Now we've spent money on this

And it actually is the wrong product

And we can't even use it in the project

Or I thought that was really good

On the eBay listing

And you know

Actually the thumb was covering the crack in it

And now I can't use it

That's all happened

In the game we call building a project

A hundred percent

And yes this is still applicable to newer vehicles

We've had people come in and you know

They want to do a simple

Outfit of the project

Say they want to change the fenders on their JK

There are so many different options

They don't know what to purchase

And at that point you kind of

At least me

I'm always looking

So I'm looking at marketplace

I'm looking at Amazon

I'm looking on eBay

I'm looking for that deal

Well if you don't know

That this brand is actually straight

Hot garbage

And this brand is good

But priced competitively together

You're going to think they're on an even playing field

Correct

And in that situation

It's actually better to pay the 50 bucks more

And get the better fender

But you don't know that

You don't know that that fender is actually better

Than the piece of hot garbage fender

And most of the time we have people come in

They bought the hot garbage fender

It's six months later

It's rusting

It's falling apart

And now we literally have a saying for that

It's good money after bad money

You've wasted that first investment

Now you just basically

Crickle up the paper and throw it away

And start over

Well and I was going to say

With that I guess tool for the toolbox

Limit your distractions

Do the homework

Consult the professionals

To the best of your ability

And I encounter enough people

Say well I did

I went to the social pages

I asked for recommendations

We live in a review based world

I read the reviews

That kind of stuff

And that's challenging

I empathize with much of our market demographic

Because it is becoming harder and harder

To separate the wheat from the chaff

Because I don't know what we do

As we move forward

Because if we get this

I'm going to say it

Teraflex

Right now there's a bunch of people

Who think Teraflex is still a good product

And it was a long time ago

And it was

It was the Kudai Gra 25 years ago

Procomp

Rubicon Express

Poison Spider just got re-released

And Poison Spider just got picked up by ARB

It's going to be a great brand again probably

But all of these have gone through

It's like Harley Davidson

Started out pretty cool

Then they got bought by AMF

Some people love that

Some people hate it

Literally there's Harley

Die hard Harley Davidson people

That won't buy an AMF Harley

So when you're going to buy a Harley

And you're looking across the Vanscape

And you're saying how much is this one

How much is that one

The AMF ones have no value

Correct

So how often do people go and buy that

Well now I got a Harley

And then you're literally in that situation

You show up to an event

And you're almost shunned

Correct

Because you didn't buy the right one

And I get that from my Vansage point

I would not be able to easily identify

Somebody who falls within one of those eras

I can pick out the

As an absolute blank slate consumer

Of Harley experience

If you told me you had a shovel head

You told me you had a night train

You know what I mean

I'll be able to kind of pick out the coolness factor

From there

But I would not be able to do the brand justice

As a generic consumer right now

Somebody's gonna walk in

And be like hey

I gotta sell this motorcycle

It's really cool

I'll make you a heck of a deal

I would be like oh okay cool

That sounds like a cool deal

And it says Harley

Yes

All too often that's what happens to our projects

Whether it is part related

Or whether it is the project itself

Yep and another thing

When Jeep people are not familiar enough

It makes me think of this

I'm so guilty of this

So guilty of settling

So you go in and again

Just to continue bashing the Harley horse

Into the ground

You go in and you really want a knuckle head

And you know those are super expensive

They're super old

And you have to give up a lot of things

To ride one

You have to sacrifice to be cool

It's the vintage Jeep

You are a hardcore person

Riding a knuckle head

That's right

So you go in and you're like man

I really like the romance sizing of it

I like the vintage appeal of it

But I can't afford a knuckle head

Now I've done multiple things here

In this situation

I've gone in and I've bought parts

Of that vehicle

That I really want

That I can't afford

That's foolish

I'll just put that out there

Very very seldom

Does that actually work out?

You're relating this to your Jeep builds

Or to your Ford builds?

Yes

I've done it with all of them

Because I was going to say

I definitely

You specifically

With

A couple of your early model Jeep builds

And I want to die with you on this hill

And I'm going to relate it to my RVs

Absolutely

My 454

All aluminum motorhome

It had all the cool things

It had all of the cool factors

And then you fell in love more

Once you were able to experience it

And research it

And the romance sizing of

Why it was built

How it was built

Correct

What was in the

It got cooler and cooler

And more realer and realer

And I had it in my possession

Yep

I mean I'm the

People that's very honest

At one time I tried to build

A flat fender out of

A rusted out para front fenders

A bended in bastion hood

And a grill

And I thought

I can build a vehicle out of this

I can save it from the brink of

Extinction

Yes

This can be my dream

I think we finally scrapped the fenders

A while back

Because of course

What did I do when I finally gave up?

I was like hey Neil

I got some Jeep parts

Yeah

And I'm like

I'm glutton for punishment

I can see the dream here

I know it's not going to be a vehicle

But I can totally save that part

And find somebody to buy that part

There's a butt for every seat

You know we couldn't find that butt

There's a fender flapped in the breeze

Because it was such junk

It was not worth repairing

The aftermarket parts that exist

It was bad

And then the other part of it

Again is settling with

Buying

The closest thing you can get

Say

For a Jeep world

You want a flat fender

Well that's

Can't quite afford a flat fender

Can't find a good flat fender

It's really outside of my comfort zone

So I go and I buy a YJ

They aren't the same

Rob and Bill just felt some type of way

I understand

They stand up on the back of their neck

And they're great

If you want a YJ

Yeah

And going into it

And you want that 80's experience

Absolutely

But if you're trying to make it

Fit the mold of a flat fender

You're not going to experience

And another I guess better example

Is 80's CJ

Versus 80's YJ

You know people like

Well you know

One year difference

Can make a big difference

They could be looking at a CJ7

And they could accidentally get in

And buy an 88 YJ

Right

And there's nothing wrong with that

Access for they didn't understand

What it's totally different camps

Totally different circles

Totally different parts of the environment

I mean and let's go back

And we can even just make it

You know kind of Apple to Apple

A 76 CJ5 and a 77 CJ5

Totally different

They're completely different animals

Right

And I want to be

I want to kind of further my self-deprecation

And in relation to your conversation

Here and share with people

We're not speaking from some holier

Than thou position

We're talking from experience

Because you know in my situation

And you know just talking about

How we've learned so many lessons

In the hardest ways possible

I was so it's 2014-15

Somewhere in there

And I had a truck camper

Slid in the back of my one ton

And that's how we had been going to shows

For the first couple years

But I found myself

Not only was I spending time loading

The enclosed trailers

And readying for the show

But I had a day's worth of preparation

To get the camper into the bed of the truck

And again if that was your enthusiast

You want to go camping

That's part of your experience

Of prepping the camper

Getting it in the truck

Then that's probably fun

But his expectation of that project

Shifted

He had bought it before the business

Correct

And it was fun

It was enthusiast time

And then it became an important tool

In the toolbox of the business

So now that time that at once was relaxing

And enjoyable

Now we're just winding down

From a day at work

Now it is work

And now we don't want to invest that time

Into it

Oh you articulated that so well

Because I bought that dream

Can't be an experience or nothing

I bought that dream

And it was so fulfilling

My wife and I were young

We didn't have a slew of projects

We did this restoration on this camper together

We didn't have kids

We had all this stuff

We didn't have a big family

So a truck camper made sense at that time

Absolutely

And I bought a vintage truck camper

And we redid the upholstery

We did the interior

It was fun

We got to pick out things

And that was part of buying our dream

Of taking this to the beach

Taking it to the mountains

Doing that stuff

And that actually brings it to another point

Knowing when to say when

Well so with that said

I'll expand upon that

As you're right

As life shifts in that

In that particular project

Now it's a tool in the toolbox

For the business

And I get to the point where I'm like

It's not fun to load and unload this camper

I'm not joyfully anticipating

Going camping for the weekend

Or traveling with this

Now I just want to load and go

So that I can be to the show

And live out of this space

At the same time

We started having kids

So now suddenly the truck camper

Doesn't even fit with that

So an RV makes sense

Yes

And I start doing my due diligence

And I want something cool

I always want something that

That kind of stands out

And we like to build with our hands

And I obviously was easily distracted

By availability

And this was kind of what

I wanted to touch on your

And a bargain

And I showed up to pull a

God, I don't even remember what year

It was now

It was 71

Well, it was all plaid

And orange and browns

And greens and

Yeah, it was a 70-something

Shag

Barth Motorhome

Which was intended to be

A competitor for the Airstream series

Airstream only ever made

Pull-behind trailers

And Barth intended to

Take that same technology

Aluminum-clad design

And apply it to a motorhome

They utilized primarily GM chassis

Later on they used

Spoiler alert, Neal and Scott

Thought that was a great thing

That was perfect

Parts are everywhere

Yeah, P30 chassis

Parts are everywhere

I will never have a problem

Servicing this

And it had a 454 in it

Low mileage

And as I got further down

The conversation and negotiation

With the guy

He goes, you know what

Just take it for free

Off my property

I've got a clean title for it

We'll do all this stuff

And as long as you make it go away

Within this time frame

It's yours

Yep

This couldn't have been better

Despite the fact that

My original objective

Was to

For less work

Was for less work

The objective was to get

A mode of transportation

That would allow us to hook up

To the show trailer

And get to an event

With less energy

Expended

And you know what wasn't

In our brain at that moment

The fact that it was getting

Four miles of the gallon

Before you hooked the trailer to it

Was even a

With an idea

Quadrajet

Carbureted 454

That didn't run in

You know, 20 years

Just because we

You know, it's fun to

Be the

Pit of jokes

We didn't even have a winch

On the trailer

He had my dad's

Old come alongs

That were like

From

There were six foot come alongs

There were six foot or less

Come alongs

I thought there were four

There were four to six

That's what I said, six foot or less

There were four to six foot come alongs

And I just

Dual come along this thing

At 48

72 inches at a time

And when one would get maxed out

I would unhook and rehook

The other one

And I'd pull it up

Four to six feet with these come alongs

Of course it was hot

It was a

It was a nightmare

It took me literally

An entire day

Eight to ten hour day

Of extracting this RV from

I think one of the come alongs

Was getting broke in the process

It did, it got bent

Because I was

Getting at the break over

Angle of the trailer

And come hell or high water

I was getting that RV

Onto this goose neck

That I had borrowed

My goose neck wasn't big enough

To bring this RV home

I had to go borrow

Yet a bigger one from a local farmer

That I knew

With all these red flags

All the red flags

And why is it free?

And that's the thing, right?

I looked out at the market

At these other businesses

Who had toter homes

That cost

At that time

A hundred thousand dollars

And I thought

I couldn't do that

With some elbow grease

Yeah

And you can't

You can if you have

If time is on your side

If you have ten years to do it

Sure

Then yes, you can

Sure

And because of that

That's why there's so many

Abandoned projects

So when to say when

When to say when

So when to say when

We eventually get to the point where

With your and Greg's encouragement

You know

And it was a kickier screaming

It was like an intervention

Yeah

I did not want to

I'm sad

That I do not have this

This vehicle in my possession today

Absolutely

You were actually

Not the

The saddest quote

You were able to still

Make some money off of it

Because it did have a 454

And it was low mileage

And we were able to

Pull the motor and sell it

Because you had

You know

Zero entrance fee

Correct

You were able to flip it

And make some money on it

It still made you sad

Right

But you were able to kind of

Take a bad situation

And make the best of it

As you could

The other part is

Knowing when to say

One of these examples

I built a gremlin

With a V8 in it

In a high

Just out of high school

We had so much fun in it

It was literally

At our wedding

It was

A copy of it

Was our boxes

Of where the cards

Went for our wedding

Yep

So you can't get any more

Invested in a vehicle

Than I was

And

Me and my wife

Then-girlfriend-now-wife

Had put stuff together on it

It was literally

Neil

And the slide-in camper

And I had learned

A lesson from Neil

He had the camper

Had sat in the driveway

They had all this investment in it

They had their time invested in it

They liked the romance of it

We had dreams in it

We had romance

Yeah, absolutely

And

Because of that

He didn't let it go

And

All good campers

Rooves start getting leaky

Mice get in it

And

The tree branch came down

And smashed one of the aluminum

Ladder rungs

Yeah

It's depreciating

More and more

And more

So at one-

Right about when it stopped

Making sense

He probably could have turned around

And sold it

And passed it on to the next

Person in the chain

And got some money out of it

Got better money out of it

And the

Camper may have benefited

Out of it as well

But he didn't

He held on to it

I'm gonna fix it someday

I'm gonna use it again

It will make sense in my life

At some point again

And it didn't

Nope

And because of that

He really took a bath on it

Likewise

You know

Gremlin

Great two-seater vehicle

Started having kids

And came to the realization

That kids don't fit in a Gremlin

It didn't really fit the needs

Of that aged Scott

It was a great high school car

Right out of school car

We had so much fun in it

I did something that

I still have people come up to me

I can't believe you sold that

Know what?

I have no regrets

I sold it

Passed it on to a person that was

In that stage in life

That they could use it

And enjoy it

And that's the best thing going

Now, we got to wrap this up

I will say I regret it all

Even though I like to say that

I like to live life with no regards

If you know the meme

You'll know the meme

Yeah

And I say that

From the extension

That everything that we do here

And now makes us who we are

At this exact moment

So everything we did once

Makes us who we are now

And if you're happy with who you are now

Then that means that

No matter what your past was

Or whatever

What has flowed in and out of your life

It was for a purpose

Of where you currently are

In this universe

And I can appreciate that

But then I can also look back longingly

And be like

Man, I had this conversion van once

And I would love to have that

Experience again

Now that van probably doesn't make sense

It probably

Just like the truck camper

Was such a foregone piece of junk

By the time that I offloaded it

Just thank God for COVID

Because everybody was doing projects

So the price point came up

100 or 200 bucks

From just scrap wood

And sold it on to somebody else

Who had a dream of redoing it

They saw the vision that I once saw as well

You know

And so understand that

It's relative to the time and place

That you are in as well in life

And despite our learning curve

On these projects

If you find yourself happy

Where you're at now

That project had a purpose

Absolutely

Whether you knew when to say when

Or you had all the tools

Or you didn't have all the tools

In the toolbox necessary for it

Another quick example is

Growing up I had Cherokees

And I had a dream of how I wanted

To build a Cherokee

And I thought I have all

Been on all the forums

I know all the parts

I know where to look for them

I know how to find a good one

I know the year to buy

And I did it

I bought the year

I bought the cleanliness

I knew how to outfit it

I did that

I got it all done

I was like

I have evolved from this

And while I built a really cool Jeep

And it worked really well

It wasn't what I wanted anymore

And that was okay

Yup, that's okay

I sold that one

And went down the road

And I don't regret that either

Probably financially should be

I was gonna say

Financially

We tried not to count that

But it's okay to realize

You've changed from what you thought

You wanted to do

And I was at the end of that project

You know, basically

I had invested at that point

You know, I had done that project

To completion

And it just wasn't what I thought

It was gonna be

Then sell it

And go buy what will make you happy

And I think that's a good closing

A good closing point

And it has to do with

A couple of those deeps that we did

We did talk about

Some of them are getting rebuilt

That we looked at last week

That kind of inspired today's topic

Some of them are getting rebuilt

And improved upon

Some of them are getting

Some minimal investment

To make them more their dream

And some of them are going

Hey, what can I use off of this

How can I pass it on to the next person

So I can achieve that vision

That dream that I wanted

Yup

Alright, until next time

And if you wanna hear

What's going on in our personal lives

Hang through through the outros

Outro

Until next time

Jeep on

Look at that

Wow

We are doing things

Magic

There was a ton of comments

That came in

And we appreciate everybody's comments

There's a lot of people who say

Good morning, I wanna make sure

That we take some time

Just to say that

If you did weigh in

And say good morning

That our intention

We did read that

And we do recognize it

So Charles and Yvonne

And Chip

And Bill and Brian

We see you guys

Thank you so much for jumping in

And being involved

Red is here

So thank you all

For jumping into the comments

And kind of sharing

With other Jeepers

In the process

Recognize that

If you're listening at a later date

You too

Can kind of jump in

At some future

Monday morning

At 10.19 a.m.

And jump into the comments

There's a lot of good conversation

There was tons of activity

In the comments today

So much that

Unfortunately

I'm not gonna jump back

And read it all

But there was a lot of fun

Things to read about

It seems like it really struck a chord

With a lot of people today

I think it did

Because I think this is one of the things that

It's relatable

And hopefully people are

Reasonably not as catastrophic

As we are in our decision making

But when we used to go out picking

We would go picking

At these properties and stuff

And we met

There's a lot of lost dreams

In those fields

A lot of lost dreams

And yet

There was a number of people

And I mean

I hate to call a spade a spade

But maybe some mental health issues

Where they were holding on

To dreams that were just

Kind of never gonna come to fruition

Or they saw the potential

In something far more gone

Than it should

Right

We had people who had hundreds

And hundreds of vehicles

I remember one individual

And I'm not trying to talk poorly

On anybody

But I mean he probably had

And he worked at a junkyard

He worked at a junkyard

His whole life

And when something cool

Right statistically

Iconically cool came around

He grabbed it

He drug it home for his daily wage

He would get this project vehicle

On payment

You know

And so

We walked through this junkyard

Which is basically his backyard

Picking

It was for your birthday

Or my birthday

I don't even remember

One of our birthdays

We went picking at this guy's junkyard

And the coolest part

Honestly for us

When he was doing that

He told us the dream

Every single vehicle

Of what he wanted to do with it

And there it sat exactly

Where he drug it home

Except for when

He locked us in his basement

With his chainsaw collection

Anyways

I had less of a mechanical weekend

So I'll start

Okay

In fact I had an artistic weekend

And I spent the weekend

What I did do

That's related to our vehicles

Is my wife's mall crawler

Did work

And I mean

In true Simpson fashion

I wanted to squeeze as much life

Into a short period of time

As humanly possible

But your project conversation

Could not have been more

Apropos

Because we squeezed

Myself, my wife

Our kids who are above average size

And our two dogs

All in a JLU

Into my wife's JLU

With kennel and baggage

And we headed off to a

Really spectacular

The Michigan Ballet Festival

And where my daughter had the opportunity

To perform and learn

And pursue

Kind of her love, her project

Her dream

Her dreams, right?

Not my dreams per se

You know what I mean

If you were to kind of go back

Five, ten, fifteen years

And be like

Would you like to go to Michigan

To the ballet festival

It's not exactly something

I jump at, you know

But I'm here to share

That dream with my kids

And the Jeep was our vessel

To get there

And it did beautifully

And packing stuff in there

You get really creative

And you know

I was really tickled

And I had to

I spent a lot of headspace

I love road trips

And you know

A number of people

I typically tend to try

I try not to post

When I'm out of town

It's a little bit of a thing

You know

But I love road trips

And I want to post

About how the Jeep is doing

I want

I think about these things

In the back of my brain

Sharing that experience

With

You know

With our listeners

With our followers on social media

With other people

And I thought to myself

Like if you would have

Gone back thirty years

And told me that

I'd be commuting

Four to

To six hours

In any general direction

On thirty sevens

While traveling seventy five miles per hour

While getting

Fair fuel economy

With that much people

And stuff in the vehicle

I'd call you crazy

I know

I'd call you crazy

And here I am

And I'm not

We're not doing anything

Spectacular at Gen.G

But it's not

A super high end

Fluffed up

You know

I'm a

Cloaked

Suspension system

And I can

No it's just a

Regular suspension system

Right there is a perfect example

Of buying the right

Vehicle for the needs

And use of the project

And we're just

Able to comfortably

Set the cruise control

And go

You know

Six hours in one direction

With a very limited input

I'm able to hit some dirt trails

I'm able to comfortably

Traverse some things

Once I get to that location

Can you get in your YJ

With the fourth cylinder

And drive it to North Carolina

Yeah

You can

I did that

It's not good

I did it

Memories were made

Yeah

Oh god yeah

My wife and I did great memory

God the stuff that I have

Subjected that woman to

Anyways

And we made great memories

Doesn't mean it's

It's ideal

It would have been

Absolutely awful

Miserable to do that

Kind of same trip today

Anyway so we did that

We did the Michigan Ballet

I was able to

Thanks be to Costco

For cheap fuel

And cheap food

We both

We did it on the way out of town

And we did it on the way back in

It was a super amazing experience

The last piece

That I will share with you

Or with everyone actually

I 100% convinced myself

That I am now in the market

For a conversion van

Oh god

That meets my needs somewhere along

My barometer of project

Now you know that I have

No time to work on anything

In fact my personal vehicle

Is only road worthy

Because I worked it into

Our work schedule

And thanks to you and Greg

For making it safe for me

My family

And then all the customers

That I've been loaning it to

I'm about to loan it out

To my sister at this point

Because why do I need

A reliable vehicle

You know

I don't get that luxury in life

But I thought

That's it

I'm gonna build a conversion van

We're gonna

We're gonna get a 92

A G20

Three quarter ton conversion van

We're gonna stuff an LS in it

With an 8L90

So I'm gonna get an 8 speed transmission

With a 6.0 or 6.2

Yeah

You know what's not gonna happen

I'm gonna get a stick out

And wrap him

I'm just

You know

And that was the thing

That was the only downside was like

I just

Here comes a point in time where

The dream

The project

Which is my wife's commuter rig

Doesn't meet

The full needs of the

Of the family

The expectations

And the fall through

Differ ever so slightly

While

You know

Kudos to my family

For having a great attitude

And dealing with the puppies

Who were

You know

Puppies

In a confined space

For hours on end

It's not

It's not good

Right

It's the life we want to live

But the tool that we had

Available to us

Wasn't the right tool

For the job

Yep

And that's the piece

I thought was very appropriate

To your concept today

Was that

And let me take

That one extension further

Most of you know

That I have a limousine

Which I love desperately

And I have no intention

To let that go

Because I bought right

Right in the first place

And it allows me

To putter around town

And I get to do fun things

With my kids

And it is what it is

You also can't up church

The limo

Reasonably

To commute up to Michigan

To carry our luggage

To do all the things

Right

To be that multifaceted

It's a toy

It's a toy at that point

Yeah

You know

So I just thought to myself

I spent a lot of time

Daydreaming this weekend

And I had to keep coming back to

I don't have the means available

To build what I want

Despite the fact that

I want this Swiss army knife

Of a family carrier

I'm going to have to figure out

How to buy right

To meet my needs

Great topic in that sense

You

Let's talk about what you

Did

Because I saw your piece of crap

That you brought home

I've been working on the Model T

Everyone knows

This weekend's project was

The header above the windshield

I get to talk about things

You don't know

So you know them

The way I chopped this car

The distance between the A-pillars

Got smaller

Between the A-pillars

Windshield to windshield

Windshield post to windshield post

So now your windshield itself

Does not fit

The windshield just fits

Thank goodness

Oh, okay

But the header did not fit

Okay

And these cars

Flack of better term have a big brow

Above the windshield

So the side windows are ridiculously

Clown car tall

The windshield they made slightly less

And they had this brow

With this big over-extenuated visor

On the front

I don't like the brow

So since I lowered the roof

Six inches at night

The side windows look more appropriate

I did not want to take six inches

Out of the windshield

To keep the brow

So I actually had to

Make it narrower

To now fit in the hole

Plus I cut it and took

About four inches out of the brow

And moved the windshield back up

Oh, okay

To make insult injury though

I still have to cut the windshield frame down

Because it's so cut off, full tall

This is very confusing

I gotta be honest

I see things moving into negative spaces

And things moving up

And things moving down

And to do this correctly

I had to take the brow apart

Find all the spot welds

Cut them all apart

And then attack each piece of the brow

Separately

All while allowing them to go back together

So it took

This is one of those

A jigsaw puzzle of a 36 proportion

Or something

And this is one of those situations

Where I did a lot of work

About two days worth of work

And nobody's gonna notice

Had no idea all the work

To went into this thing

And as part of that

I had a friend reach out

He had a dream of building

A 26 T sedan

And he was ready to

Extinguish that idea

For now he does long term want to do it

But he's realizing that this

Parts that he had hauled home

Were not getting him any closer to that

And he gave me a ridiculously low number

To buy him out of those

And I couldn't say no

So I got a Model T sedan body

I got fenders

I got another frame

I got a bunch of parts

Now where

Wiser, Smarter Scott

The first from Young Dumb Scott

Is Young Scott would have started

Building a sedan

You would have started an assemble thing

I have all the pieces almost

I went in and said

There's some parts I need for the coupe

That are on the sedan

That I cannot buy

And are very expensive

So spoiler alert

It hasn't been taken a picture of yet

But it's in two pieces

And I then took the back window out of it

Because

Oh my goodness

It is parts

You chopped it up

I chopped it up

It wasn't

I didn't

I wasn't the first one to chop it

I'll say that

There was inappropriate things

Done to it

Way in the past

That has made the ability of it

To be a project

Less and less

Literally it's a hundred years old

It is

I mean you know how many hands

I've touched it in a hundred years

A lot

The fun point

I'll leave you with

I took the back window out of it

They bolted together

What tool did I have to use?

Now I took

I took heat

I took a cut-off wheel

I took a box-in wrench

That was nine-sixteenths on one end

And half-inch on the other

So it was a little stubby

Craftsman

I took a three-eighths wrench

Opened in and a seven-sixteenths

Out of that group

What did I have to use?

The half-inch

I used a half-inch

And I used a three-eighths

And almost all the bolts came out by hand

I missed those days

If they didn't come out by hand

They broke off by hand

Yep

Tomato-tomato

Until next time, fam

Deep on

About this episode

Neil and Scott navigate the challenges of producing their Jeep podcast without their usual tech support, sharing humorous behind-the-scenes moments and engaging with live listeners. They dive into the complexities of choosing the right Jeep project, discussing the emotional and financial realities of buying and committing to a build. The hosts reflect on buyer's remorse, the importance of realistic expectations, and the value of a dedicated project fund. Their candid conversation offers insight into the Jeep community's passion for projects and the balancing act between dreams and practicality.

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Ford Model T Infiniti G20 Jeep Cherokee Jeep CJ Jeep Wrangler

Original notes

We want to hear from you, Send us a Text

Jeff is still out chasing a dream, meanwhile Davey, The Savage, took vacation. Can Scott and Neil pull off the challenge by themselves? Did they randomly click enough buttons to make a good episode without a tech team?

Tune in to learn more!

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