Jeep Story – The Intro

My wife and I had two little baby girls within 18 months of each other. At the time, we had a Ford F-150 and a Mazda CX-7. Cool cars for us hipster parents. Add the requirement of hauling 2 strollers everywhere you go and the bed of the F-150 or the trunk of a compact (but fun!) crossover seemed like bad options. We bought  a 2-munchkin stroller eventually but try putting that in the back of a CX-7 along with diapers and groceries for the week! We eventually bought a shiny new minivan. Not just any minivan for us though. We bought the “Swagger Wagon”. The Toyota Sienna SE. One cool minivan. Altezza taillights, 19″ wheels, factory aerokit, LED projector headlights, Dual-DVD rear entertainment, for the kids…pretty sweet. It served us well but it was a minivan and the wife was over it. At a recent (annual) visit to the LA Auto Show, she fell in love with Jeeps. We got some estimates on trading the van in but at the last minute, found a buyer on Craigslist who just happened to live next to a used Jeep I wanted to explore at a dealer.  I met the guy at a bank close by and just like that, the van was sold. I was left without a car for my wife though so I headed over to the Jeep dealer and inspected the Jeep. It had a ding in the door but it seemed like a decent deal and I needed a replacement for the van so I bought it. This is the Jeep when I took delivery. Its a 2014 Granite Crystal Rubicon Unlimited.

We wanted  a little more aggressive look so we looked into what it would take to make it look a little more “fun”. Our journey is documented on the next few pages. We hope you enjoy!