Why JPEATER?

I could have opted for the me too four wheel drive and bought a Jeep CJ or Wrangler, but everyone and their brother has one so they are as common as flies at a picnic table (or something like that). According to most people real Jeeps are built not bought, and it appears to be more true than the slogan implies.  Judging by the standard equipment this is out of necessity and not just some classic mantra. Go into any four wheel drive shop, browse any offroad website or peruse through your favorite 4x4 magazine and you will find pages and pages and company after company that specialize in Jeep gear. Replacement engines, transmissions, axles, tops, seats, headlights, roll bars, bumpers, brackets, sheet metal, frames - the list goes on and on. I know the need to customize one's vehicle and make it stand out in the crowd is compulsive, but when you pretty much have to replace the engine, transmission, axles, etc. just to make it a 'go anywhere offroad machine' - you no longer even should be able to call it a Jeep.  In the end it turns into everyone else's Jevy or Cheep in the process, and what individualization have you gained?  Sure it is easy to modify them, but easy is for wimps!

I wanted something different, something that not everyone was building and something that in its stock form technically spanks most Jeeps all over the place, or "eats them for lunch" if you will. I chose an aberration of farm implement technology, a 1977 International Harvester Scout II.  How can you go wrong, all later model Scout II's have Dana 44 axles front and rear; 100" wheelbase with an abnormally tight turning radius, motivation in the form of industrial grade V8's with great low end grunt, high nickel content blocks, gear driven cam and the ability to reach obscenely high mileage; a fully boxed frame fitted with heavy duty sheet metal that makes most armored trucks look wimpy.  It also offers just enough interior room and cargo capacity to haul people and real stuff!  All that and they can be bought far more inexpensively than just about any comparable 70's era four by four can now-a-days.

Still don't get why I called this site JPEATER dot com, why don't you take a look at what had to say about Scouts vs. Jeeps back in the day.  And if you still don't get it all I can say - It's a Scout thing ...you just wouldn't understand!

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