Selling Max’s CJ7 – do they drive jeeps in heaven?

Judging by my title, most people who know me also know I’m finally ready to sell Maxie’s infamous jeep. For those who don’t know me, I can say that the JEEP has been a labor of love, grief, frustration, more love, a lot of tears, a good deal of hard earned cash and help from the angels, probably one of whom is none other than the also infamous Max Middleton, RIP…or maybe not resting in peace but perhaps riding around the Great Beyond in a replica of this new and improved CJ.You can buy this wonderful piece of manliness …go to http://www.maxsjeep.info for how!

Maxie loved this vehicle. Perhaps more than he loved me, but we shall never know and I’d like to think we were at least equally held in great regard. However that being said, I certainly got a bit more attention in the last couple years of Max’s comparatively young life (he was only 61 when fucking cancer got him) than the jeep. Oh sure he got the oil changed and the tires rotated, but by the time he was on the decline in spring of 2012, so was his jeep…. The seats were tattered, the muffler was noisy, the engine sounded like shit…the jeep’s condition was sort of a metaphor for cancer’s attack on his health. During the final months of Max’s life I was doing what I could (because I did think I could) to empower Max to regain his vibrant self. I couldn’t. He didn’t. And he died. Crap!

So, there I was with one dead love of my life and a jeep that was on its last legs to boot. I was a weeping, grieving mess and knew I was not going to “snap out of it” very quickly. I was, however, and still am, the sort of person who required a means with which to transform the shit that had hit the fan of my life into some sort of productive compost…with which to grow a new garden..life…me…blah, blah. And so I made the choice to take the jeep on as a project, though in retrospect I must admit I must’ve been fucking out of my mind. I knew zip, zilch, nada about cars except to change the oil every 3-5k, check the tires, rotate the tires, replenish the fluids…etc. But they say if you don’t know, someone else does and all ya gotta do is locate the one who does…and so I did, or at least thought I did.

I hired a friend, who kinda knew…but rather than go into the sordid details that he was in way over his head and then about the other homeless “friend” who though he was a crack mechanic who deftly installed the new engine, fuel injection and electronic distributor, then became less than amicable when it came to getting him out of my art studio where he had ensconced himself for three months, and so, a year and a half, many dollars, bits of mild hysteria, an abundance of gray hair and countless new Jeep parts later I finally went to Mike at http://www.fourxdoctor.com who thankfully got Max’s CJ rolling down the road, and nicely at that.

Oh god I could go on and on about the jeep and Max and the times we drove it to Malibu, the wind in my hair (Max had lost most of his) or when we had to replace yet another stolen radio (a jeep drawback…but seriously who can hear a radio with the top down anyway? or the times Buck, our beloved husky would try to drive the jeep, leaning heavily on Max’s shoulder as we tooled down the 101. But I will not wax on, poetically as I am tempted.

Instead I will close this bit of jeep lore in the hopes that someone who also loves jeeps might fall in love with Max’s Jeep and decide to bid (a lot) on it and buy. I know that if it’s possible my sweet angelic Max is driving his version on whatever plane of existence he is riding. And I’ll know the past two years of mourning will have been worth it.

If you are interested, or know someone who might be and has the cash…go to http://www.maxsjeep.info. Then click on the ebay link. Thanks for reading…and I hope you like my other blog too!