-Matt Grisham
June 11th, 1993 a small child enters a dark movie theater, with dreams of dinosaurs and the future. A dream that will stick with him for years to come. Jump ahead 25 years the dream comes a reality....
In October of 2017 I decide to build a vehicle that I had dreamed about since I was a kid. The Jurassic Jeep was always an untouchable icon in my mind. Over the years I have had and sold cars, motorcycles, dune buggies, trucks, and more, but there was always something missing. Something that just didn’t make them unique enough. This next build had to be different, it had to be something that would be seen and understood by other, something that would bring as much joy to others as it did me.
The search began, I needed a solid vehicle frame to start with. This was going to be a big project, and I didn’t want to waste time on vehicles that were on their last leg. I searched for Jeeps 87-95 across Facebook, craigslist, and even sketchy ads in newspapers. The search went on for months and seemed impossible. All the Jeeps I found either hand insanely high mileage with more problems than a pet raccoon, or they were so expensive I would have had to sell a kidney on the black market. As I began to think this project was slipping through my fingers before it even began, I got a lead. A nice little Jeep with no major issues, and priced perfectly. This had to be to good to be true......the bad news it was the middle of winter and the Jeep was 4 hours from home.
The adventure began. My wife and I took the drive, and picked up the Jeep. Instead of being a smart sensible man, I decide to drive it home instead of trailer it. The drive was on, a 4 hour drive, 80 mile an hour highway, in winter, with NO SEATBELTS, oh and a roof that was just mildly attached (later discovery). Needless to say besides stopping for gas every 10 mins and loading hearing for a couple days the Jeep made it home and the easy part was over.
It was time to do the research, which basically meant grabbing a bowl of popcorn and Jurassic Park on the big screen...or at least that was the simple idea. After weeks of screen shot studying, internet searches, printed photos with magnifying glasses it was time to find the parts and get started. I wanted the Jeep to be like you were stepping into the movie and forgetting time behind you. This meant I had a lot more craigslist searching to do, we needed a completely different interior, many parts which are rare and hard to find 25+ years after the specific Jeep in the movie was built. Special seats, special dash, special freakin seatbelts it all had to be perfect.
While waiting for my searches to pay off, it was time to start at least getting on the tear down. Pulling every part that I could off the Jeep getting it ready for paint and replacements. In theory it sounds easy, and if it was a 1 hour tv show like the ones on the discovery channel it would have been. Alas dreams come with a price, rust bolts that won’t come off, cuts and scrapes, body knuckles and using pry bars that makes a Brachiosaurs neck look like a tooth pick. Finally the tear down was completely and I was left with a empty shell of a vehicle. Now that would all be great, but instantly realizing I had forgot to replace the tires before tearing out all the seats was an oversight. This leaves me with two options, put the seats back in and drive it to the local tire shop to have the job done, or two take the tires off myself and fix the issue. I choose option 3...which consist of a stripped down Jeep, a unbolted seat, stripped interior (non working gauges) and the luckiest drive of my life. Oh did I meant hon this drive was without a top in below 30 degree weather? Non the less the tire shop fixed me up and we were ready for the next step....stripping...the paint I mean.
When I bought the Jeep, the previous owner had explained to me how he had just recently had the entire Jeep redone and repainted, which made this next step even more painful. Time to sand this super nice new paint job off so I could hopefully remember my auto body class from high school. A dusk mask and orbital sander in hand the long days and days and did I mention days of sanding took over. Covering myself and my garage on what can only be described as leprechauns being shot through a wood chipper...wow that got gruesome for a second. Finally we were ready to paint....but wait there’s an issue. They don’t make the color anymore, of course why would they.
A local body shop is able to custom make a gallon of paint which they are willing to sell me. Luckily they did an amazing job and the color seems to match perfectly (minus the fact that I choose to go off books and use a gloss finish instead of the movies matte finish). The base coat is on and now time to get rulers and prints from the movie out to mask off the stripes. Hours and hours of my OCD kicking in making sure every stripe and every number is perfectly placed before we are able to shoot some red paint on. The paint is finished and it’s time for reassembly. Now where did this 10mm bolt go again? (Jeep humor...you had to be there)
All the impossible pieces has been found, the special Sahara seats, dash, console, giant cartoonish antenna, even the correct roll bar pads. Each part meticulously placed piece by piece. The Jeep is almost ready and it’s only been a couple months without the ability to drive it. The time has come, we are setting in the last bolt and the build is coming to an end. Months of work, paying off with an amazing piece to show for it. Paint is barely dry and we can’t wait, my wife and I buckle in (yes we added seat belts) it’s time to take it on the road. The feeling is one that you can’t describe, driving past people in a vehicle that they have only seen on the big screen and seeing that what..what...was that the....face is payment enough. This has been one of the most fun builds I have ever worked on. Unlike previous vehicles I have a connection to this Jeep, and not just because we have swapped blood and oil, but because moments like these are ones that you will never forget, and will be the story’s that are told when your old and grey.