About Rudy

The below was written by Rudy (me) approximately  2007  near the beginning of my now unsupported legacy website and mildy updated in 2023.  What a blessed ride this has been!  I can't believe I've been doing this full time for this long.

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."
— Confucius

"If you aren't doing what you love, you're wasting your life"

-Billy Joel

Thank you for visiting my site.  I've been playing and working with 76 to 86 Jeep CJs for over 20 years and have literally owned hundreds of these Jeeps.  This includes dozens and dozens of the rare and highly sought after CJ8 Scramblers.  I'm considered an expert in the field by many but still learning daily.

I worked my way through college at a 2 bay BP gas station doing repair work where they paid 90% of  tuition if you worked 35 hours a week.  I graduated from The Ohio State University in 1995 with a BSBA in Marketing.  I went on to work in a global custom automation business starting on the floor assembling intricate one of a kind custom assembly machines.  I was soon promoted into supervision and then management.

 Due to corporate misguidance and greed I had to lay good, long time employees, friends, colleagues off which was the worst working day of my life.  I was a survivor in the company and got piled on with work and responsibility.  I wasn't given the resources to do a good job and be prideful in my work and it was all consuming.  I recognized it was time to take a leap of faith and trust myself.

I started Rudy's CJs in a small pole barn behind my house with the intent to try and live life on my terms as best as God will allow.   Its 15 years later and I now have 5 acres dedicated to the business with a 5000 square foot professional shop.  It has 3 lifts an additional 2500 square feet of indoor storage for all my parts.  I am so blessed and aside from a couple part time helpers this has all been done by me with GODs blessing for my health and safety.  It is sketchy working alone all day every day and driving hundreds of thousands of miles.  

Its 15 years later and my appreciation for Jeeps is secondary to meeting the people and the adventures and travel the job has allowed

I have built many Jeeps from nothing with highly modified engines and chassis with $70k+ price tags however my  primary appreciation is in simply original rot free, unpatched CJs.  I really am indifferent to modifications and personalization.  

Jeep = freedom in my book.   Freedom to make it yours.  Freedom to relive a memory or duplicate the one on the dealer lot in 1983 that you couldn't afford or that life made you sell to start that family or serve our great country.  

I will try and help however the parts have gotten old and expensive.  New parts are Chinese and feel bad to install.  It is a challenging balance.  

My philosophy is that all the mechanicals can be easily resolved but it is only original metal once.  I do not do any fiberglass Jeeps , awful replacement tubs nor have I  ever patched a frame.

 Please walk around this site.  The old one survived long enough to outlive 3 webhosting companies and I can no longer modify it but was full of history and pictures.

Thanks for reading and supporting my small business.  Lets keep Jeeping together!

Rudy