a little ancient history study

since last year, i've found alot of old notes and old oil filter box end flaps and studied up on my history of jeeps. luckily, i was (and still am... mostly,) a studious keeper of THINGS. i am also a lover of notes. the problem is, is that, while i keep these notes and THINGS, i don't have a precise filing system, so that i find them in old paper bags or plastic shopping bags or boxes in a pile. i have since ascertained that i brought home the first little jeep thursday, july 28th 1994. the previous day, i had paid a 100 dollar down payment, probably on my initial visit. the final 400 dollars was paid the day that she came home with me.
my dad had an old brown chevy van at that time and he towed me home. she ran, but without being insured or with plates, my dad and i hooked up a tow strap and i steered trying to judiciously apply the brakes driving through the hilly farmland that my jeep had spent the prior years of her life. as we got closer to home, crossing into more farmland and out of the tiny town of fort plain, we unhooked the jeep and i drove her slowly behind my fathers van with the four way flashers on, looking out for the state trooper or any other hazards. as luck would have it, of course, we passed a state trooper going in the opposite direction. i tried not to blink.
she came home and i began making plans for what i was going to do next. the projects were lined up and i had plenty of them to do. the following week after a good going over, i discovered that the radiator had a few small pinhole leaks. first job, repair the radiator. i, with my dad, figured out how to remove the radiator. i was flustered and nearly driven to inaction, because it was foreign. if this were my car, it would be a major operation with removal of heat shields and hoses and other mysterious wiring and i would undoubtedly destroy something or blow the car up under me. but this was a jeep! something like six bolts, not including the fan shroud (which was already missing...) and the coolant overflow bottle.
the one thing that stymied me, but not my dad was the automatic transmission hoses that linked up with the cooler core on the bottom of the radiator. the first hose, rubber and brass fitting came off like a gem. the next one came off, all off, including the dry rotted rubber that tore. not liking the prospect of finding a replacement at the parts store, my dad helped my fabricate a replacement out of brake tubing. a piece of rubber hose was hose clamped onto the metal tube that went to the tranny and the other end was clamped to the metal tubing. we bent the tubing to fit and found a fitting that worked and on it went to the radiator bottom. meanwhile the radiator went to a repair shop, where it was painted and sealed and for 30 bucks, i had a shiny new looking black radiator under the hood. my notes indicate that this took place on thursday, august 4th along with a piece of window screen that served as an impromptu bug screen in front of the radiator. at this time, she had only 71,167.7 miles. just a baby!