Well well well...doesnt it always start as one of your favourite toys kept closest to your reach as a 4yr old, just in case you wana admire it, touch it, feel it, stare at it with a sense of deep pleasure- all in the middle of the night when your folks are fast asleep and you are pretending to be one as well? Hmm, it, my Jeep dream started off something like that 25yrs back just coz of a simple plastic Jeep, the typical Willys army one, but coz of urban living all throughout it was a farfetched thought. What would dad say? What would colleagues at work think? How would the people in the apartment behave towards you? Will the girlfriend ever sit into one at all? Isnt it a over kill for city usage? Will I be able to maintain one? Will I look like a civilized idiot in a clatter box? WHAT will uncle and aunt say when they visit India each year??? OH MY GOD, a million reasons not to buy one!!!
BUT, I guess in everyone’s life there comes one moment when you sit back and think, how about giving a rats bum about everything and everyone around, and just go and pickup that that 4x4 you always dreamed of??? Well, that moment for me arrived yesterday- Thursday the 13th 2010 of my life. What I bought is nothing crazy but a bit more than that, ’87 MM540, a 4x4 (mechanically 100% stock) the off roaders as well as office goers love, bit rattly but God what a machine!!!
My search started around 6 months back but due to a zillion constraints the plans kept getting postponed until last month when I made up my mind and started to hunt for one. I get my things done fast, neither do I have the patience nor the perseverance when it comes to machines. So the serious search period was barely a month and a half may be with all guns firing last 15 days.
I have been into cars, serious racing/modding etc for more than 6 years now so I know how difficult it is to find a good machine for a good price when you need it. The clock started to tick from Apr 16th when I saw this green, beautifully maintained 4x4 up for sale on carwale.com. I was quick to contact the owner and take an update. Happened so that the owner built the Jeep from scratch for offroading purposes around 2 and a half years back...but unfortunately couldn’t do any serious off roading at all. Hence the Jeep got prepped and kept but served as a to and fro machine from home to office. I liked the machine. Got hold of the mech who treats it and heard him out. He guided and misguided me all at once (read my previous posts). I was looking at other Jeeps here and there but nothing got better than this, for my only quest was to find an xd3p in a MM 540 body. Didnt happen. I crashed into rust buckets time and again. The owner of this green Jeep then made a difference to me in my life, he tells me that his Jeep has been procured & completely done as per one Mr. Sahu. I was like Mr. Shekhar Sahu? He is like ‘Yup’; I asked the Jeep thrills ‘Shekhar Sahu, he says ‘Yup’. That is fairly it. I got started talking about this Jeep with Shekhar, a thorough pro and a well known name in the Jeeping world here. Owner of 6 Jeeps today if I am not wrong! An avid offroader with some extremely serious driving skills in ‘Serious’ terrain. Coming back to the point, Shekhar told me the goods and the bads, the ugly part of a Jeep too and was pretty similar in his advices to Arka, our own Jeep Doctor
BTW, I had a detailed conversation with Arka and several ones with Jammy (Anand) as I was progressing with this Jeeps decision making. I express heartfelt gratitude to Arka and especially Jammy for having taken several hours to help my cause.
I was taken aback when I saw the passion in Shekhars eyes as he advised me to go with this machine which was a product of his imagination and conviction. Yes, this Jeep was bought and done specifically to Shekhar’s expectation...which according to him is fairly OTR ready at this very moment. He swears by a well kept IDI mill hence I put my money on it without wasting too much time. The owner gave me one days time post 11th to close the deal as he was planning go out of India for 2 weeks. I couldn’t wait. I went to his office, paid up, got the form 29-30 signed, took the keys and took off only to return and take the Jeep from his office parking lot the next day morning. Shekhar and my friend Fahad aka Grey (tbhpian), my best friend accompanied me. At around 11:45am yesterday we pulled the Jeep out of the parking and headed towards some place, some village off varthur. Shekhar took for 2 hours in between to finish some imp work as me and my friend stay stranded in a Jeep on a highway frying up
Once he returned, things got way better; we headed for some lunch at some dhaba on some God forsaken road. We cooled down and had our tummy full and then then then...we headed to a farm like area with parched dunes, greens etc etc etc, supposedly used by Shekhar and his other Jeeper friends to test their machines. We went, conquered everything that was there with max of 4x4 H pulled down a couple of times. BTW, my 4x4 L lever is stuck, will be heading to the mech tomorrow morning to oil it loose, and also gotta get some little things fixed- like the exhaust which is half cut at this time. I like Jeeps in their true state, yes I try being a purist when it comes to these machines. The terrain supposedly is very basic for real offroaders- Shekhar says as he climbs a steep 10 feet dry slope on 4H- 1st gear.
After trying some crazy stunts, say 30 mins or so we headed out of the farm. Then we came back to the dhaba and sat chatting for close to 4 odd hours. Around 9.30pm I was given a 5 question quiz out of which I got 4 correct. I was allowed to leave with a couple of simple yet powerful notes- “Keep your Jeep simple”, “Oil is your Jeep’s best friend” & “No messing with your Jeep for the next 45 days, it can KILL people if you make any mistake at all”.
Post that I was allowed to leave. I head home 40kms away in the middle of heavy winds and crazy rain. Felt awesome driving that machine I dreamed of since I was a 4yr old. Though there were a few leaks in the rear and the 4th gear screamed at 80kmph etc etc etc it felt beautiful. Its the same feeling that one gets when he/she knows that an impossible dream has come true...but just a few year late...just 25yrs!
I would like to call my Jeep "
Lieutenant" as I think it suits the Jeep perfectly well in my eyes!!!
Let the pics do a bit of talking for now, I’l be back in a bit...
There I come...
Atlast...
MODS: PLEASE CHANGE THE THREAD NAME TO - My 4x4 "Lieutenant" has arrived!!!