The 1991 Jeep YJ – A Family Legacy
Our 1991 Jeep Wrangler YJ has been in the family since new. My dad bought it in 1991, and from day one I wanted it. When I was seven or eight years old, I knew I wanted a Jeep, long before dad bought this one. I remember my mom asking what kind of car I wanted for my first vehicle. When I told her a CJ5 Jeep, she laughed.
Thirteen years later, my dad decided to “upgrade” to a Jeep TJ with a hardtop, and the YJ finally came to me. It had been garage-kept its entire life, but the original soft top was worn out. I replaced it with a Bestop soft top—and did that three different times over the years. The Jeep always lived inside, so the tops lasted well enough.
My daughter Tiahna drove the Jeep through high school and college. Eventually, she decided it wasn’t a practical daily driver, and it came back to me. I went through it and slowly brought it closer to how I’d always envisioned it. Part of that included yet another new top. By that point, the last two Bestop tops hadn’t impressed me for the price, so I took a gamble on an off-brand top from Amazon for about a third of the cost. I figured it lived in the garage anyway.
Six years later, the top is still in decent shape—but the Jeep is no longer pampered with a garage, and doesn’t like living outside. For the first time in its life, it’s been exposed to weather.
In mid-November I ran into some health issues and couldn’t drive, so the Jeep sat. Nearly four months later, I’m getting close to driving again, but the interior was nasty. About two months in, I noticed mold starting to grow. I wiped everything down, but it became clear the real problem was moisture. The soft top was allowing water to seep through, and it was essentially raining inside. All that moisture had nowhere to go, and more crud followed.
I finally set up a small pole-frame carport with a canvas top to keep the Jeep and bike covered until we build something more permanent on the other section of the property.
Over the years, I’ve thought many times about buying a hardtop and full doors. But I can’t bring myself to do it. I love pulling the doors and windows off and running just the main top for shade. That open-air feel is the closest thing to riding a motorcycle. Freedom.
This Jeep has been in the family since new. I’ve had many offers for it, but it will never leave the family. One day it’ll go to my son, or maybe one of the grandkids—even if that’s long after I’m gone.
