What!? A Hurricane Petrol!? Mileage???!
Whole story started way back when I was fourteen and in my hometown, Trivandrum. Though I didn’t realize till now. One day my cousin calls me and asks me to get ready, to go for a short drive. Alrite, I tell my folks that I will be back in a jiffy and waits for him at the gate. An old Willy’s LHD with a Peugeot engine pulls over and that’s my cousin!
ME: what the heck are you driving around in this tractor?! (yes I used the exact term, tractor!)
HE: jump in mate (and toss’s the key)
ME: wok, but I haven’t driven a LHD in my life!
HE: That’s ok, ill spot for you
And we drove off to Kottayam!! Which is about 200 kms? away lol
That’s how it started. Yeah sometime the memory recall is so strong, that you land up doing just the opposite of whats most logical, in life ie.
After this I had chance to use a spanking new MM 540 for a short while, it was a 2 wheel drive and then another ol Willy’s. But these were purely utilitarian use, driving to some god forsaken end of god’s own country, where the only vehicle that could was a 4x4. Never realized these trips could be termed as trails then. We had good fun and also few very interesting events which can never be forgotten.
Fast forward to my mid 20’s and am in Bangalore had made a small savings, and the monsoon was becoming a problem for my daily commute to office. Search began for a second hand (read cheap car), and landed up buying a Gypsy! I don’t know, why I did that, but the moment I TD the vehicle I just knew I wanted it! Family and friend abused me, but I didn’t care.
I had an RD 350, Suzuki Shogun and a Gypsy. I was the talk of the town, rather the office. I was not complaining! Gypsy (this was a 410W) had a very eventful life with me and my friends. Mud baths, lorry duty (yeah used to ferry sand and bricks for a friend’s house construction), take software guys for team building activities, love shack! You name it we did it!
Then some crazy ideas took over and with a heavy heart i had to let her go. Good part was that I bought her for 1.5 lakhs and sale price was 1.65 lakhs!
I thought that’s it! End of the 4x4 story of my life. Well that can’t be it? right?
Otherwise this has to be April Fool’s day thread, well it’s NOT.
TBHP happened and through it came some good friends, few were mad offroaders and I used to tag along with them on their trips. Mostly to carry some camera, but then there are certain element like Khan_Sultan who just can’t resist tossing the key’s to you. Actually he reminds me of my cousin lol
Anyways I had made up my mind, am not buying a second hand jeep, I had spent enough man hours in garages to learn it (yeah right!). I was very happy when I met Starter (Deepak), who was living my Gypsy dream. The pleasure of driving a brand new vehicle on an OTR is something else. One needs to live it to believe it. I don’t really buy this story of heart burns, when your vehicle gets damaged etc etc. It may be true, but the grin at the end of the day outweighs the burns.
It had to happen, The Jeep Thrills Annual OTR, well OTR would happen, me or not, but along with that something happened to me also (memory recall, remember!). The whole idea of the trip was to shoot, shoot, shoot and shoot. Started off ok, but then the number of vehicles made the trail slooooooooow and boring for any shoooooting (yeah am moody that way). Saw Khan’s spidey parked with keys inside and decided to kick him out and start driving.
We were the first to set off after lunch, and after some circus had made good lead, the front CFL was misbehaving and Khan a lil low. While waiting for the convoy to catch up, me and Khan had some chat about gypsy, jeep, modifications etc etc. Little did I know that I was getting bitten by the bug! The 4x4 bug!
Another contributing factor was that Thar somehow didn’t cut it, I guess.
Oh did I tell you guys that am married? Who cares right? Well lesson one, start caring :)
The OTR hang over was showing, discussions on and off, Thar disappointment, Gypsy confusion, everything made Jaggu a sad boy.
Wife was getting bugged and finally she said: go get the jeep!!!
No time to waste hunt begins, go through classifieds, scan the internet, call up friends of friends and finally we started seeing 4x4’s. Some ol, some pricey, some junk! You name it, we’ve seen it! wondering who the “we” is? Well it was mostly Khan and me. Rudra, Samurai and Vidyut joined us one time and they knew this was not going to end soon lol. What we saw, Classic, a low bonnet, MM 540’s and a CJ3B Hurricane! But discussed many more (including army MM550’s and brand new Gypsy’s), loads of advices including that from Swastik Viji and DKG.
DKG sort of changed the game for Hurricane. First impression was just so-so but then decided to check the Hurricane again.
This was an ex army 1985 hurricane, which came out in 2000 and was registered as KA01. Original owner sold it to current owner 2 years back but transfer was not done, though transfer papers were signed off. Seller was asking slightly steep price but was open to negotiation. He had bought a gypsy and it was difficult for him to manage both. Oh vehicle had participated in one of the OTR's also.
I know Gypsy’s but jeeps, I was not that great, especially hurricane petrol engine. Khan then intro’ed me to Suresh Stephen and Suresh being Suresh, without any persuasion agreed to help me! So it was decided, we get Suresh and his trusted mech Raju to check out the jeep and if they give a go ahead, bargain and close the deal.
D day we go to the seller’s house Suresh and Raju take a TD, gets underneath the jeep, opens the hood, I don’t know what all they did but at the end of the day gave a green signal. We knew it had some issues, but it can be sorted out without much trouble. I had a chat with the seller and he was kinda ok with what I offered. Decided to sign the cheque, but then the twist in the story!! Papers were with RTO and I might need to take the vehicle to them.
Somehow I was not comfortable with that, my previous experience with RTO was never great. I decided to make a token payment and seller would fix all documentation and then the delivery would happen.
Suresh Stephen was one of the first person to congratulate me and his exact words were:
Congratz, welcome to the world of 4x4’s. YOUR TROUBLE STARTS NOW!! (with a firm hand shake and sweet smile).
The very next Monday I get a call from the seller to come to the RTO since he could readily transfer the vehicle to my name, which was a good thing since that would make me the second owner on records instead of third. I rushed from office and submitted all the docs but was warned that the RTO was creating problem with the color of the vehicle (dark green). Agent was optimistic, that he can convince the RTO and we decided to take a chance.
A week passed by, poor seller (actually he is a very nice chap) made multiple trips to the RTO but RTO was not budging. So in desperation he called me and checked if I would take 50% of the color change cost. I was also getting frustrated, so agreed and guided him with the color preference. Though color, cosmetics were the last thing I had in my mind for my 4x4. Week later vehicle was taken back and RTO made us wait for another week.
Finally last Thursday I get a call from the seller asking me to come and collect the CJ! Suddenly it hit me, man I just bought a CJ3B Hurricane!!
So that’s how I became a jeeper! And i name him
DwArF! 
Took off next day from work, made the payment and straight away drove the vehicle to Raju’s with a very violent steering aka death wobble :D.
Currently the build is on, so far so good. Only the expected stuff have come up.
ps: I have to thank many of you including Khan, DKG, Suresh Stephen, Swastik Viji and many more (you know who you are).
cheers
Jaggu
Welcome to the jeeping world. More I see the color of your Jeep, more I like it. May be this is the color I want on my Jeep.
Congratulations. One more proud owner of CJ3B in TBHP.
Awesome man...congrats, just hoping that you dont pass the bug around.
clap:Welcome Jaggu, to the world of 4X4s. Congrats on your purchase. The changed colour looks great (what the heck is it?)
Please post interior pics of your Jeep like the dash. I tell you this tribe is growing. I can see the 4X4 section of the forum moving faster than most others. Like Dwarf's registration number.
More pics and report, especially about the NDMS.
Hey Jaggu congrats on the jeep. You are amongst the breed of select few people who buy vehicle which defies logic (RD350, Gypsy and Now CJ3B) but pleases the heart. May your CJ deliver all that you want and may be some more :)
Do tell us what all things you have done.
Btw may be its me, but I feel the Olive Green looks and as I learnt recently n a Jungle Trail with DKG, the colour blends very easily with the vegetation. Could you elaborate a bit on the RTO paint story?
Jaggu, Congrats. Suresh mentioned this to me when I visited him for the 1st time friday night - I had to pick some stuff for a fellow BHPian...
Looks cool, happy jeeping.
Congrats on the buying the legendary 4x4 jeep Jaggu. Good part is that this doesn't require a 'restoration' job. Just few things here & there and you are ready to rock n roll.
In hindsight, must say that you have been lucky to get such a nice jeep as such examples are getting hard to come buy.
Happy jeeping..!!!
PS: One of the rarer situations where the restoration process starts with the paint job and not the mechanicals :-)
Congrats Jaggu..
The Jeep is in a very very neat and decent shape and looks awesome. The color has killer looks. Suresh is really helpful, he did help with my doubts during my restoration too.
Congrats again and happy Jeeping
Cheers
Nishanth
Congratulations Jaggu!. See you on next OTR with your 4s
