89 XJ - Bullit(from all the bullit holes left in it when the cops killed the guys in it)

uummm.....WOW! You have owned a couple Jeeps eh? Why so many?

Wow! Thats definitly a story I want to hear...care to explain how you got that one??

I buy, rebuild, drive, and then sell Jeeps, that way I am in constant rotation of a vehicle and constant sell and purchase of a vehicle.



Uh ok, its kinda long which is why I left it out, though it is interesting.

The pre 95 XJs all used the same steering column, the same column that many american cars used to use. Along the left side there is a mechanical linkage which is moved back and forth by the key and further down the column the electrical pickup turns the car to on, start etc.

The tilt mechanism pivots this steering column just before it reaches the dash, where the pivot occurs there is a gap in the plastic housing. If you take a screwdriver you can put it in there and break off the casing, then you can break away part of the linkage and pull up on it, starting the car, for awhile this was how I was driving a few of my Jeeps, if you wanted to start it you grabbed the linkage with some pliers and pulled.

So basically it was really easy to steal the older cherokees.

So this was an 89XJ limited, the original owner traded it in in late 94, in the first week of Jan 95 a new owner purchased it. It was stolen by 1-27-95 when the police report was filed. The person who had stolen it used the steering column method to take it, at somepoint a cop must have noticed it being driven around stolen and tried to stop the vehicle.
At this point it turned to a pursuit, the vehicle had been spike-stripped, t-boned, and shot....ALOT. The person inside the vehicle must have had a gun because otherwise I dont see how or why to many rounds would have wound up in the vehicle. I counted a total of 36 bullit holes in the jeep.

Ever sit in the passenger seat of a Jeep? Ever look down where the seat belt crosses your heart? Ever look down and see a bullit hole in it?

So after the police spike-stripped it, t-boned, and shot the hell out of it it was towed to the denver police impound yard like anything is. And there it sat untill 99 when it was finally released for auction. When you purchase a vehicle at auction you get a history of that particular vehicles impound record, when it was towed in, when the vehicle was released for sale, if anyone had a lien on it, if anyone retrieved personal items from a vehicle etc. So the history on this one was pretty wierd.

Apparently the passenger seat(the one with the chest area bullit hole) held a person named betty smith. At this point it turned to a legal case as the family of betty smith filed a wrongful death suit against the denver PD. This was all settled finally in mid 99 and it was released for auction where I bought it.

When I got it and was cleaning it out I found the original tool used to steal the jeep, it was hidden under the passenger seat, somehow(probably because no one wanted to get down and pick through that floor, ew) they missed it, I would imagine that would have been a peice of evidence they would have wanted very much to have had.

I sewed up a couple of holes in the seats from bullits, cleaned it out, threw on some doors and drove it.



Cliff notes:
Stolen, shot at alot, person died, I bought.

I thought the name of the drug dealer's truck was 'Lil' Mule'..............

p.s. Mine is 'Libby'.

dam!!!! thats right!!!