Old School Cool

Bet you've never seen one of these before! "Uh yeah I have, it's a jeep." Ah, but it is no normal jeep. It is a YJ. Note the headlights, they're rectangular! Jeep decided to experiment on the YJ by utilizing different headlight structure. Many people disliked the rectangular headlights and jeep reverted back to circular ones for the TJ models. Fun fact, the YJ's were built in Brampton Ontario for five of the eight years this model was produced. 

So, obviously this jeep has been modified. It's definitely got some lift and some bigger tyres, but even more obvious is that awesome custom bumper. Encased within the bumper is a winch system, but it was too rusty for me to read the brand. Clearly the bumper was either made in tandem with the winch or the bumper is completely custom. 

This jeep was in the laser tag parking lot. 

Vroom

A while back, I got to fulfill a dream. I went offroading. In a military Humvee. Yeah. That's right.  A High Mobility, Multipurpose, Wheeled Vehicle, or HMMWV (Dubbed humvee by the troops) is the bigger albeit younger brother of the Jeep, the Jeep being used by the US military until being replaced by the HMMWV. It was incredible. It sounded like a bus on steroids, it had wheels that went up to my waist, and it could hit trails lime a battering ram. It turned heads, and made children cover their ears, it had no key and the doors didn't need to be locked,  but who in their right mind would even touch this thing without permission? It looks like it's gonna run you down just for looking at it. It's coming to get you, and your little sports car too.

Picture courtesy of my dad.

Big Willy

Someone pinch me, I must be dreaming. A six wheel drive, camper equipped, pre-1958 Willys Jeep Pickup. Wow. Found this beauty surfing the web, and oh man is it nice. Not too much is known that isn't inherently obvious, other than the fact that it resides in Oregon. The last picture is the most recent I could find - taken at a bike race in 2012 - which makes it even more interesting, because it's a bit of an enigma. Only a handfull of pictures but no info, it's like the Bigfoot of Jeeps. Literally, it has some big wheels, the spare wheel doubling as a step for the door at the back (first picture). If anyone can find info, I'll give you a hug or something (seriously though, it would be awesome). This truck is tall, handsome, and mysterious (ladies), and I love every bit of it.

Sources:
First five pictures- http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/51159-Spotted-Big-Willy-6x6!!
Last picture- http://prollyisnotprobably.com/2012/08/recent-roll-the-2012-rapha-nw-gentlemens-race/#1

Value Mart Parking Lot

Spotted in the value mart parking lot uptown, this monster still had sosome mud on the underside. Packing a Warn winch system, an upgraded bumper, custom fender flairs, MPF headlights, some lift and some 32 inch tyres, this JK rubicon could hit the trail like a battering ram and survive to tell the tale. The bright blue is a nice touch aswell, nothing like some shiny contrast to the grit from drying mud.

Right by my house!

Just a quick local sighting, a slighlty lifted JK. Nothing fancy, Just a pretty truck.

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Programming

So, obviously, this isn't about jeeps. "But Lucas, your blog is about jeeps and jeep things how could you!?" Because this relates. Kind of. You like jeeps, right? Of course, that's why you're here. And if you like jeeps, you like trucks that can crush cars. And if you like trucks crushing cars, you like it when your ride looks badass. Nothing gets more badass that a fast 'n' loud motorcycle, with shiny chrome and fresh glossy bright paint and... Wrong. Throw out your bike polish and toss your lacquer coatings out the back door, because we're getting dirty, and we're staying dirty. Welcome to the world of Rat Bikes.

These beasts are as bare-bones as motorcycles get, and there's only one way to get one: ride hard. You see, a Rat Bike can't be built as a rat bike. That makes it a phony. Rat bikes are born when you take a bike, and ride it until it falls apart, and jury rig it to work again. You don't get new parts for a rat bike, you make them out of scrap metal, and anything else you can find. Most tend to start off as "Survival Bikes", built to look mean and dirty like a mad max vehicle, but you can only call it a Rat when it's dirty and old, or... Ratty. Check out the Rat Bike slideshow for hundreds of great Rats: http://www.ratbike.org/pages/rnd.php

Survival/Rat bike image from RatBike.org

See You Around

Spotted this bad boy in downtown Toronto after the Ontario university fair, tricked out with ~4 inches of lift, Hella lights, a Warn winch system, a Super Wader snorkel, some nice goodyear tyres (~35in), and a bumper upgrade. This TJ is set and ready to tear up the trail.