I may have explained before about my transition from 'car guy' to '4x4 guy'; maybe I haven't. Either way, I recently had a refresher course on just why it happened when Ford offered me the chance to take a Mustang Bullitt for a week's test drive.

I almost passed it up - my time is consumed in the summer months with events, so taking the time to go to and from Vancouver t pick up a car wasn't really in my plans. However, after some consideration, I headed for the coast, not wanting to pass up the chance at a hot-rod drive.

It's been a long time since I have driven a 2+2 V8 car, and although I never was a Mustang fan as a teen, my opinion has changed some. My last street car was a 1980 Z-28. Yes, you read that right - a good old Mullet machine, and no, it never was on blocks in my front yard. I did, however, eventually trade it for a Jeep - the same Jeep that turned into the Krawler a few years back, the Jeep that started me on the path to this magazine. But even on my way to trading that car for a Jeep, I got the last speeding ticket in it, one more in a history of speeding tickets.

Well, in the 28 years that have passed since then, Ford has produced a far better car than my old Bow-tie. The Mustang handled like a go-cart (a description that could certainly never be applied to our lifted trucks), and hand-over-fist better than my old Z-28. I spent my entire week with a stupid smile on my face, terrorizing the good citizens of Kelowna at every sharp bend.

What I learned... I am still not grown up enough to have a car like this. I thought I might be - but not a chance. I could picture the man with the lights on his car at some point coming to take my license away. It was sad to take it back. If you have more self-control than I do, you might be able to restrain yourself from driving a car like this on the edge every time it leaves the driveway, but it's apparent that I can't.

What I did instead was get a reality check. I pulled $5000 out of the bank and bought a Jeep - a real little tiny Jeep - a Jeep that on my way back from a trail ride at Apex this past weekend, slowed down 10 km/h instantly with a strong highway headwind. You guessed it, it's a 4-banger! That Mustang does in 1st and 2nd gear in a block what it takes this Jeep all five gears and a couple of miles to achieve. I didn't even know that Goodyear made tires that small - 225's, my friends! Amazingly, I have step down when I get in it, kind of like the Mustang.

It took a few weeks of looking at bad Jeeps - well, bad, cheap Jeeps, anyways - to find one worthy of the 4WD Magazine treatment. We eventually landed a 1998 with 147,000 km, a mint frame and body, and it runs very well. There's no oil spray from the rear slip yoke on the tub, and the factory paint marks around the controls arms were still there showing that this is one perfect used Jeep.

Originally I was planning on getting a 4.0L to save the entire engine swapping stuff. What changed my mind was the price: $10,000-$12,000 for a decent vehicle equipped with a 4.0L, or $5,000 to $6000 for a great 4-cylinder. That cost savings leaves a lot of room for engine swaps.

So why start this with a Mustang lead in?

On the floor in the garage now sits a 5.0L out of a 1992 'Stang that will make its way under the hood of our little Black TJ this winter. But before that, we have big plans for this Jeep, much of which you will see if you come visit us at the two off-road Expos in BC and Red Deer this summer (plus a few plans that might make you think we have lost our minds!). Hey, it's always good to create some controversy.

We are working a bit of that 'Stang into the Jeep as a way to get the spirit of that car into the driveway, while still preventing the drain that speeding tickets would have brought to my bank account!

Maybe one day I'll grow up enough to have a street car again, but until then, I'll just dump it in low range and crawl along!

Albert Vandervelde
Editor, 4WD Magazine