History:

I bought the Jeep from a junk yard in upper Pennsylvania in 1996. It was a theft recovery from Texas. The guy I bought it from gave me this story: It was stolen in Texas and driven to Pennsylvania where the thieves wrecked it on the PA turnpike. The owner in Texas was paid off by his insurance company and the junk yard bought it from the insurance company.

It had some damage to the passenger side where it was rubbed up against a guardrail pretty bad. The odometer read 24,379 miles when I bought it. Come to find out the thieves had ripped the cable out from behind the speedometer so it didn't register any miles. My Dad and I guessed that the Jeep probably had between 40 to 50 thousand miles on it when I bought it because it ran perfectly. The first time I set eyes on her she was buried in about 5" of mud. As you can see from the picture taken on the beach (Daytona Beach Fla.), it was originally a low-rider. The wheels were 16" chrome Hammers. It came with all of the leather interior, the sun visor, and the black canvas top. The same material that is on the top is also on the front of the side mirrors and the fuel door. I didn't like the canvas at first, but it eventually grew on me. Three years and thousands of hard earned dollars later this is what I got:

1989 Jeep Cherokee XJ

Exterior:

• Silver paint
  
• Black canvas top, mirrors, and fuel door
  
• Black and grey trim molding across the bottom of the doors and rear quarter panels (Savannah Jones)
  
• Savannah Jones brush guard
  
• Off road lights (cheapies)
  
• Wilderness Accessories roof rack with spare tire, Hi-Lift jack, and light mounts
  
• Deflecta-shield sun visor with optional red neck lights (with black
• canvas also)
  
• GTS bug shield
  
• 15X8 American Eagle alloys w/ 4" backspacing
  
• Custom how airbrushing

Interior:

Blue leather, power seats, Power windows, door locks, tilt steering, cruise control, etc. Momo steering wheel, Custom door panels, 20% window tint

Stereo:

Blaupunkt Toronto 7 series CD player (installed after the pics were taken), Blaupunkt IO disc CD changer (under back seat), Earthquake 5 band rotary knob in dash equalizer with switchable inputs, Autotek 225 MXI high current amplifier for the highs (1/2ohm stable), Autotek 250 MXI high current amplifier for the subs (1/2 ohm stable), 2 Blaupunkt 6" mid woofers in each front door along with the component tweeter, 1 Blaupunkt 6" mid woofer in each back (middle) door, 3 JBL GTx series subwoofers downfiring in custom seated enclosure, Sony playstation (under back seat, opposite CD changer along with the power inverter), 4" Santeca color monitor flush mounted into glove box (glove box is still usable), Playstation controller stays in a custom made pocket under glove box, two 1.5 farrad capacitors mounted to the back of the box along with the 1 gauge power cable and fuse distribution blocks.

Note: With the equalizer is in its normal mode the stereo plays. If the equalizer is switched to the auxiliary mode, the playstation plays through the stereo. The switch for the playstation is mounted inside the pocket for the controller. The person playing the playstation can listen to the playstation music or the stereo.

Suspension:

Front: 4.5" Rubicon Express springs, 1" spring spacers, Rubicon lower control arms with "Johnny Joints" (non adjustable), Rubicon upper control arms (non adjustable), Rubicon adjustable track bar, Rubicon disconnects, Pro Comp steering stabilizer, Extended front brake lines

Rear: 4" Tomken rear springs, 2" Rubicon tapered blocks, MJ shackles, Extended rear brake line, No rear sway-bar, Doetch Tech shocks all around, 32" BFG AT's in picture, 32" Bridgestone Dueler MT's (put on after pics were taken).

Drivetrain:

Dana 30 front w/ 4:11 gears from 1986 XJ (2.8 V6 auto), Dana 3 5 rear w/ 4:11 gears from same 86 XJ (no rear locker yet), 1" Rancho transfer case lowering kit, YJ slip yoke (stock drive shaft though), K&N air filter, Dynomax cat back exhaust.

I would like to thank the shops that helped me out with my Jeep: Po' Boys custom airbrush and accessories of Manchester Md. (410) 374-0080 and Auto Sound hmovations Eldersburg Md. (410) 795-0080. And special thanks to my friends Mike Bosley, Tony Talbert, Eddie Calwell, Chris Fiorino for helping me out.