My first red Eagle SX4 cost $250 dollars. I got it in 2001 for my 15th birthday. My second white Eagle SX4 cost $200. I got that in 2002 for my 16th birthday. I actually learned to drive in the second SX4. The red SX4 did not successfully complete a round trip without mechanical intervention for over a year of weekly driving. It was never towed but it constantly limped home without brakes, or a broken SR4 shifter, or leaking radiator, or roadside belt changes or crawling underneath to pop the transfer case back into gear. I routinely did a preflight to spot what will break next and headed off to school with every tool I owned and lots of spare parts. Both of them were Iron Duke four speeds.
We went to a privately owned junkyard near me and stripped some parts for my brother's Eagle station wagon. My mother totalled an Eagle Sedan before I was born and my sister (12 years my elder) totalled our beautiful blue and silver Eagle station wagon when I was 5 years old. At this time my brother and sister both drove a brown on brown Eagle station wagon and my father drove either his maroon and silver Eagle sedan or a white and brown Eagle station wagon. I’ve adopted each of those since. The owner said we were not allowed to take parts from the red SX4 parked next to the junk Eagle. We asked about buying it and he said he bought it at auction and gave it to his son. The son used to drive it around the field behind the junkyard and absolutely beat the snot out of it. A week before my 15th birthday my father took me to our friend's place and I saw the red SX4 sitting on his trailer a hundred yards away and started sprinting over. The junkyard owner sold it to Dad because the slave cylinder had gone bad and the son had driven the clutch master cylinder through the firewall and broken the SR4 shift handle out of frustration. He had given up trying to fix it or find the shift handle. The exterior was in great shape, but it was a mechanical mess. The white SX4 was advertised as “bad engine” and sold as a parts car. I ended up putting about 170K miles on those two cars without replacing the engines or clutches.
I’ve since purchased a pristine 258 T5 white SX4. That replaced the Red SX4 as my daily driver for a year and a half since graduating college. I also purchased a black Spirit GT because it had 200 miles on a remanufactured 4.5 with 4.0 head and Motorcraft 2150 conversion. That’s the new engine for my Red SX4. I also got a 2006 Unlimited Rubicon as a reliable backup for my father, sister and I. My sister has actually driven that more than my father and I combined. Our family has grown up with Eagles and we buy new cars as backups to our antique ones. I got a 1985 CJ8 Scrambler from Nick Cappa, the brother of the chief editor of JP Magazine. It was saved from a Texas junkyard for a magazine article. I bought that to see how they had successfully installed a NV3550 while retaining the mechanical clutch. It came with a full Hesco MPI kit installed and a full brand new TBI kit in a box. The TBI was installed briefly before the MPI in order to compare the two for a JP Magazine article. I also transfer a pristine 1980 International Scout Traveler with a SD33T turbodiesel engine into my name next month to replace my Scrambler while I remove that drivetrain. The NV3550 adaptor is needed for my 401 SX4 and the Hesco MPI is going to my red SX4. The Scout comes with a spare engine destined for an Eagle. I adopted my buddy’s 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado project when he left for Navy nuke school. I’ve also bought two Kammbacks and two Eagle station wagons the last few months for 500 dollars or less, as well as three other parts Eagles over the years.
I’ve dreamed about a 401 5 speed red SX4 since elementary school, and I hope to finish it along with three other Eagles before the end of the summer.
Topic: Perkiomen Project Pics (Read 73892 times)