Topic: So,how DID you get into wheelin'?.

[Rocksurfer]

Well if you want to talk % of life wheeling, the 1st time I took Co-Pilot out he was a scant 2 mos. old. He drove a 4x4 for the 1st time alone when he was 4 yrs. old. He is now 12 so if you have been wheeling for less than 12 yrs. he has you beat. 12 yrs wheeling and 8yrs. in the hot seat. If this question is asked of him his reply is "I was born with a crawler knob in my hand", and crawl out he did I think it was a 26 hr. labor.

[DTB]

well was sitting around the front of the cave one day just banging on some rock and one busted into a nice round shape.  me and some of the other guys played for hours rolling it down the hill! what fun!

so much that I tryed to make one more, after sevarl trys I got one to come out right. we all played with them for days! (no TV back then)

after a few days I got this idea, put a str8 tree branch between the two rocks. at frist I just ried them together with vines. butt they always came apart. some I got this idea, pound a hole in the middel of the two and put the branch in there. and I've been wheeling ever sence.

WOW! that is intense man! i cant imagine what it would be like with no tv 

[Haz-matt]

Table top role playing.  Yep, D&D (well it was Rifts but yall probably haven't heard of that) lead me to wheeling.  Let me 'splane....

Role playing lead me to web design so I could host my own work.  Well when I was looking at real world designs to convert to RPG stats I ran across Unimogs.  Well, I fell in love with the clasic MB 404 design and got interested in the way they could proform off-road.  This led me to to joining the unimog mailing list and going to unimog events. 

After a while I started looking in to the local wheeling activies through the old egroups system.  I hooked up with the local club and listened and watched what was going on.  At the time I owned an '85 nissan PU (yeah, a real hard core machine right there) and played a little with it on the ranch here while we where doing construction.  I found it to be almost worthless for wheeling with the mad skillz that I had at the time.

At that point I started going on some runs with the people that I now wheel with as part of my kore group.  I got to see a bunch of different rigs, toyotas, EB's, jeeps and see how they worked.  This was back in 2000 or so and the MC revolution hadn't hit in this part of the world yet.

I ended up selling my nissan in a bad deal and was rigless for a while but I continued to go with people when they had a seat.

After a few years I managed to get my own rig and I've been working on it ever since.

[lilbuddy]

Probably from my dad always taking his 2wd truck in places it shouldnt go and i thought it was cool, till we got stuck so that made me want a 4wd to take it in places that idgo through and not worry about getting stuck, till i do then its a bad stuck.Also my buddy drew that I have known for a while got me into it with his 91xcab thats now SAS'd and other junk that i always thought was cool.

[Snowrunner]

First thing I learned to drive was my granpas willys jeep when I was like 5. My dad would go up the road and let me drive back. I was always a tinkerer when I was little working on things tearing them apart seeing how they worked. LIved on a ranch and loved driving all sorts of equipment. Took the 4wheeler out wheeliin alot. For my first truck I alway wanted a toyota and so from then on I tried to get one althought I wound up with a chevy. So I spent alot of time on a ton of boards reading and learning bout toys. Lots of guys in my town have toys and are big into snow wheelin and I would go with them  on rides. I finally got my own runner at 20 and been wheelin on my own since. Just a combination of things and a love for the outdoors too. Its truly a passion of mine now.

[Shoyrtt]

I guess I officially started "wheelin" back in the 60s when my Dad built a dune buggy to drive his first son around. I mostly rode motorcycles as a kid and remember in high school in the mid 80s when the first Toyota truck craze hit. I drove a lowered "Cal Bug" and bought my first new vehicle in 86, a Toyota p/u (it was lowered too ). I guess life got in the way after that with college, grad school, business etc until about three years ago. A friend of mine asked me to spot for him on a Jeep run on John Bull. I was hooked. Built up a Sami and my twin boys were hooked too.  Bought the Runner and now I'm an addict. Anyone offer a 12 step program for wheelin?

[KINGSIZE]

It all happend when my mom tossed me the keys to her 1978 Oldsmobile Delta 88 at the tender age of 16........









.......needless to say the car didnt last long hahahahahhahaa

[red]

my 1st ride in a 4x4, didnt start my passion though, just my interest, was when tropical storm alison flooded houston. a guy from my neighborhood had a 3/4 ton mid 90's chevy extended cab with a 6" lift and a diesel. went driving through the flooded neighborhoods picking up people and their pets in his truck.

[Cheesemaker]

When I was little, we spendt every weekend in the woods.  Dad worked for a cedar mill, and on the weekends we would go and help sling cedar.  Dad bought a brand new chevy 3/4 ton, 2wd, in 1977.  And the second day he had it we were getting it dirty hauling out cedar!  After that we would just spend every available weekend in the hills driving around and/or hunting!  And when I got my license, I would wheel my 78 el camino, a 87 s-15 4x4, and finally my 85 nissan.  But my lastest trip was rock crawling and now I REALLY want a toyota!  When I do get my toyota, I'm going to have my dad's name on it, in memory of all the times we spendt in the hills!

[...................................]

Oh my...well, my first "true" wheeling experience was in my 91 honda civic....hahaha, it was a rainy day, I was going down my (very very steep) driveway, the wheel slipped out of my hands, and I was off down the dirt hill, over a few trees, and into a ditch. When I got my breath back, I thought to myself "hey, that was kinda fun!"

A few months later, I was with a boyfriend who really got me into wheeling, mostly because he let me drive his jeep in the snow, and I handed him his ass on one particular hill. He had tried for 15 minutes to get up that thing, and the other guys jokingly suggested that I should give it a try. Stuck it in first, punched the skinny pedal, and up it went, nothing to it!

Needless to say, the guys that were watching were impressed. He (the bf, now ex) decided to let me drive the rest of the day. And I'll never let him live that down hehehe.

[rlwjaw]

It was 1951, we were comming back from Detroit with a new 51 olds. We had picked it up at the factory. It was Mom. Dad , my Sister , she was unly 18 months old , and my self. We were comming down hwy 50 and there was a sign that said Wentworth Springs 30 miles. Well our name is Wentworth and it was only 30 miles so why not. Well it took us over 4 hours to get to Wentworth Springs from the highway. We had no camping gear, no food  and we were out of gas. We ended up staying a whole in the hotel . We ate what little food they han at the hotel and the fish that my Dad caught (never went anywhere without a fishing pole). There used to be an old hand crank gas pump accross from the hotel and we were able to get gas @ $1.50 a gallon . They had an old flat fender that they took people on rides in to Rubicon and that got my Dad hooked. We/ I have been back every year since, not always wheeling but there never the less. In 1956 Dad bought a 55 cj5 that had been in the Gurneville floods of 55 and that was our first 4wd vehicle. Between then and high school I bought and sold a few jeeps. I started building a jeep with excellent help from Archer Brothers of Hayward in 1964. I sold that arround the late 70's . I went through withdrawls and satisfied my self with a full size GMC. Got married bought a house raised the kids and now my Son drives a NICE 89 extended cab Toy. It has Marlin dualultimate , front and rear lockers , 37'' tires, Marlin sas . The rest is the future.

richard Wentworth

[Crawler677]

Ever since i was little, its been all about breaking things, tearing stuff up, gettin dirty, and doin it all again haha.

started with me rompin around in the sandbox, moved onto my first dirtbike, went threw 5 more, started racing, and then i got my tacoma. i was drivin to school for the first time. and i ran into traffic, well lets just say i took a little urban detour, and ever since i have had a passion for drivin over stuff   

[germ]

I started wheeling because I hated all the people on the roads. Grew up in So Cal in the late 60's and early 70's, and saw what a mess the road system was. I also couldn't stand being corraled between the curbs. We were lucky enough to have a cabin in the mountains near Big Bear, and we'd go up there almost every weekend. I just loved getting away from all the idiots in the city. Found out later I could get even farther away by going out the old dirt roads around there, and I could play all day without seeing anyone else. (sounds like I'm a loner doesn't it???). Got into motorcycles for a while, but realized I'd kill myself eventually, so gave that up.

When I moved to Colorado to go to college, I traded my street rod for an old '72 chevy blazer, and had such a blast there was no turning back. I've always loved camping, but often don't like some of the rif-raf that can also get their lowered 200hp, portable boom-boxes into camp. By getting farther in the woods, it eliminates a huge % of those types, and allows me some peace and quite.

So, in a nutshell (which is where I belong in the first place), It is a way to get away from idiots, and put farther back into the places I want to go. It also free's me from stupid societal rules that prevent me from driving over the corner of the street so i can make a right turn. (thudump.."what was that daddy?"..."Oh nothing honey, just a Honda...go back to sleep"..."OK daddy").

Erik

[*FFC*]

I've always ooh'd and ahh'd over big trucks. When I was in 10th grade I got into mechanics with my Honda Accord and replaced the head 3 times (in one year ) and after I graduated I was introduced to Pirate4x4.  My first 4x4 was a '93 S-10 Blazer when I was 18 that I tried to wheel and wasn't very successful.  I spent a lot of time online reading and looking at other rigs, then after a few stock 4x4's, I got my Amigo which I swore I'd keep stock until at least 2 years were up after buying it That lasted about 6 months.  I took the Migo through the 'Con and figured it'd make a great wheeler... and in February I took it to a friend's shop and we SAS'd it and now it's what it is today

[Crawler677]

(thudump.."what was that daddy?"..."Oh nothing honey, just a Honda...go back to sleep"..."OK daddy").

 

[79coyotefrg]

well,  around 1981  dad had a heart attack,  so i had to feed the cows  and pretty much fix the stuff around the farm  and go to school, i was 12.   we had a 65 chevy truck that i hauled the hay with and a 9N ford tractor.  i thought it was wild  the way the old 9N went thru the mud,   as i grew older i drove the old chevy more on the dirtroads,  and started following some roads  that i didnt need to be on
when i finally turned 16  and could drive on the highway by myself (got a "hardship license"  at 12)  i started driving to school in a 73 Comet that i worked for from a neighbor,  built them a spare bedroom for that,    well  drove that car for 2 years  finally jumped a railroad crossing one night  at about 90mph,  and shoved the shocks thru the trunk   dad got me a 76 ford courier and i started blasting up old log roads with that till after graduaTion,  then  after a few months  it died,  i drove a 80 3/4ton chevy till a "friend"  roasted the engine, then i got my 88 samurai    with stock tires it went all over all the old log roads and places i never dreamed a truck could go,  later on after making some mods i was drivin that sucker thr ponds  and crossing creekbeds  with water up to the windshield
after the EvilSISTER  crashed it on the train tracks and the train hit it,  i had a 85 dodge Ramcharger,  that thing was a blast but 6mpg  was NOT for me

i was cruising thru Texarkana TX one afternoon in 93  and fell in love with a perfect little 79 truck