by Jay Harden

This is going to be difficult. On the one hand, I’m a fan of four- bying just about anything with wheels, but this conglomeration falls way short of its potential.

First off, if you’re going to drop an iconic American classic, 4-door or not, onto a 4wd chassis, elevating said chassis with puny 31-inch “light duty” rubber simply will not abide. It’s like wearing boot-cut Calvin Klein jeans to a rodeo — you’re trying to look country, but not that country. Step with pride, my friend. The builder should have ponied up the cash for some 40s, minimum. Then we’d be speaking the same language.

Also, I’m always a little wary of any vehicle rocking cheap blue wire loom and a fake Fuelie hat under the hood. What was the builder trying to convince me to not look at? Now I’m distracted. And confused.

Some of you may argue that my nitpicks are easy fixes, and you’re not wrong, but that ship sailed $15,000 ago. If this thing had hammered at $5k, we’d be having a very different conversation: I’d be hootin’, you’d be hollerin’, the wives would be crying and the neighbors would be calling the cops. Best day ever.

But at just shy of $20,000, I’m ready to stage an intervention — unless our buyer was an Arab sheik or Warren Buffet. Money doesn’t grow on trees, ya know.

I’m sure this thing will be a hoot to drive and I really do like it, but $20,000 is just way too much for me to justify, no matter how red my neck may be. Calling this old girl well sold may be the understatement of this relatively new year.