This has nothing to do with the Mason-Dixon line or the South rising again. "Dixie" is the name Dan Barcroft chose to dub his '71 K5 Blazer. She's a tattered, well-traveled old girl, and one for whom Mr. Barcroft has great affection.

Tony Pellegrino of Simi Valley, California, says that he just didn't know any better when he selected an '87 Jeep Wrangler YJ as the foundation for building his trail rig. He wasn't worried about frame strength since the YJ is pretty solid in that department, but he was discouraged by the selection of available aftermarket parts for this vehicle. After searching high and low for parts that would meet his needs, he eventually abandoned any hope of finding what he wanted and started making up plans to build his own. Soon after came the launch of Gen-Right Off Road and a full line of YJ-specific parts for those eager to expand upon this oft-ignored Jeep model.

Most of the time, products are built around a vehicle. This time, a vehicle was built around a product. Frank Currie spied American Expedition Vehicles' Highline body kit for Jeep TJ Wranglers at its Moab debut three years ago. Plans for a Jeep buildup were instantly set in motion. AEV's kit includes a stamped-steel hood, stamped-steel front fenders, four fender flares (two front and two rear), and a pair of battery-tray supports. Although the Highline kit is topnotch in fit and finish, its appeal goes well beyond the aesthetic and firmly into the functional. The Highline body kit raises the front fender height and creates extra room beneath. Taller fenderwell cavities mean that larger tires will fit at much lower lift heights. Lower lift height means a lower center of gravity and greater ease of ingress and egress.

More than a few of you have probably dreamed about owning some of the vehicles featured in this magazine over the years. Usually this isn't a possibility for most since money and/or time to build such a rig are rarely available. This time, however, you can do more than just dream. Thanks to the Arkansas Crawlers 4x4 Club, the "Wounded Warrior Jeep" will go to one lucky winner as part of a sweepstakes to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP).

In mid 2006, a new '07 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon joined the 4 WHEEL DRIVE & SPORT UTILITY MAGAZINE fleet. Over the last couple of years, you've seen it modified with a Full-Traction 3-inch suspension, Pure Jeep front and rear bumpers, AEV beadlock wheels with 35-inch BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain T/A KM2s, and 4.88 Superior gears in the stock JK Rubicon Dana 44s. A Warn winch sat in the front bumper. A number of interior modifications were made, but the only one we knew about was the Jeep Trail Guide GPS that worked great. It worked so great, that it, along with the AEV wheels, Warn winch, and other pieces, wasn't on the JK when we took it over. The JK also needed some maintenance, so the Green Machine went into the shop to get repaired and updated.

Last year, Mopar SkunkWerks brought us a number of vehicles, including the very cool JT pickup based on the JK Wrangler Unlimited. This year, while SkunkWerks changed its name to Mopar Underground, the concept vehicles were outstanding and prove that Chrysler is still at the cutting edge of OE off-highway technology.

As we travel the highways and byways of the planet, some of the signs on those highways elicit laughter, wonder, or . . .

It's been an exciting 50-year ride for the Albuquerque, New Mexico-based New Mexico 4-Wheelers (NM4W). Incorporated in 1958, the original club name was Albuquerque Jeep Herders. However, the club was never restricted to Jeeps, and the name, New Mexico 4-Wheelers, was adopted in 1976. Regardless of name, the club has always been committed to fun, safe, responsible, and family-oriented off-highway adventure.

CJ-5s are the ugly duckling of the Jeep world. They don't have the style and nostalgia of a flatfender nor the wheelbase and storage space of a Wrangler. They are still incredibly capable whether in stock form or heavily modified. CJ-5s also can be purchased for next to nothing, and with some hard work and vision, that ugly duckling can turn into a swan. That is exactly what Reno, Nevada's Shawn Kelso has done with his '62 CJ-5.

The side-by-side revolution has arrived in the backcountry and is overwhelming. Once only utility vehicles for farmers, ranchers, and hunters, the side-by-sides have morphed into recreation utility vehicles that are lots of fun and fit where our larger vehicles can't. Some states have even legalized side-by-side on-pavement usage on 45 mph and under secondary streets! We plan on using a side-by-side to scout trails and perform utility tasks. No, we're not turning into an ATV magazine, but we would be remiss if we didn't bring you the word on these great trail machines.

Some of you may be saying, "Now wait a minute ... 4 WHEEL DRIVE & SPORT UTILITY MAGAZINE doesn't do pickups." Well, we certainly cover utility vehicles, and very few call us "Four-Wheel Drive," most shortening the magazine name to "Sport Utility," but if it can go on the trail and is a four-wheel-drive vehicle, it's fair game for us. In fact, the best-selling 4WD&SU cover back in the early 1990s was Dan Ence's black Ford F-150 coming up out of a hole on Poison Spider Mesa in Moab, Utah. Also, many use pickups to tow their trail rig, as well as to do exploring where a fullsize vehicle would fit.

When lives are at stake and you need a vehicle to work every time, it pays to have one that's built using the best parts. Masonry contractor Boyd Barney is very active in the Washington County, Utah, Search and Rescue team, both in ground search where his '94 YJ Wrangler serves well, and as High Angle Captain where the Jeep doesn't do much during cliff repels.

When you see a rig that says "Outlaw" plastered across it, one might think, "This guy must be a wannabe bad guy, or he thinks he is too tough for his own good." But when we spotted Dan Countryman's ultra-clean Toyota FJ40 on the Rubicon last year, we knew we needed to take a closer look. Querying the subject further, we discovered that the owner, as his surname would imply, was much more a countryman than a roughneck, and the "Outlaw" component of the FJ was the cool billet aluminum grille. The other upshot was that the Outlaw Cruiser turned out to be one of the cleanest cruisers out there.

Home mechanics often complain about how the people who design auto parts must not have to install or use those products. Foreign-sports-car engineers are the most common targets of home-mechanic venom, but aftermarket truck parts designers aren't immune.

You've probably heard of Dan McKeag and the crew at Burnsville Off Road, located in Burnsville, Minnesota. Dan figured out very early how to install Hemi V8s into new JK Wranglers and doing it so that everything works as it came from the factory. With the CANbus system in the JK, all systems communicate with each other, making a simple engine and transmission swap more difficult than just bolting them in. The Burnsville crew makes these swaps work every time. The swaps also come with a one-year unlimited-mileage warranty. Dan or one of his crew members will fly out and repair any problems one of their vehicles might have, although we haven't heard of any problems yet.

Many projects these days are purpose-built, working very well for what they're designed for, such as hard-core rock-crawling, but aren't suited for anything else. Rand Ridges, the operations manager at TeraFlex in Salt Lake City, Utah, knew exactly what he wanted when he built his personal '06 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited with 4.0-liter six, automatic overdrive tranny, and 231 transfer case. He wanted a Jeep that would work as daily transportation, show off TeraFlex's products, and work well on the trail. He succeeded.

The Currie brothers, owners of Currie Enterprises, have always owned great 4x4 vehicles. As technology changes, the Curries have always stepped up and built the next latest and greatest. When Jeep introduced the new JK Wrangler, it wasn't long before John Currie and the Currie engineering staff had a JK Unlimited that not only works as well off-road as all former Currie vehicles but also cruises getting to the trail and back on the highway.

Send questions, comments, and suggestions to: 4 WHeel DrIVe & SporT UTIlITY MagaZINe, attn:Christian lee, 2400 e. Katella ave., Ste. 700, anaheim, Ca 92806, or christian.lee@sourceinterlink.com.

Editor's Note: Mail your submissions to 4 WHEEL DRIVE & SPORT UTILITY MAGAZINE, Trail Rigs, 2400 E. Katella Ave., Ste. 700, Anaheim, CA 92806. You may also e-mail your photos to kevin.blumer@sourceinterlink.com.

We respect people who strive to make their vehicles unique: Those who set trends and are not afraid to step out of the box. Although we have seen plenty of innovative Toyota pickups and Suzuki Samurais, not just anyone would enact the above formula to an expensive classic. The fear of depreciation did not stop Neil Schuit and his son, Nate, from applying their distinctive touch, which they call SchuitOverBuilt (SOB), to this '72 Ford Bronco. The changes did not happen overnight. This Bronco has been in the family for 13 years and was Nate's first vehicle in high school. The Bronco was even sold twice during that time, only to find its way back to the Schuits' driveway.

Pro Comp Suspension, along with Pro Comp Tires and Smittybilt, each agreed that an early-December test session was in order to generate photography for upcoming marketing brochures. Each had a beautifully prepped SEMA JK to play with. Lucky for us, we got an early tip-off about the trip and subsequently weaseled our way onto the invite list. The outing was masterminded by Pro Comp Tires' day-to-day operations manager, Chris Bolger.

Send questions, comments, and suggestions to: 4 wheel drive & sport utility magazine, Attn:Christian Lee, 2400 E. Katella Ave., Ste. 700, Anaheim, CA 92806, or christian.lee@sourceinterlink.com.

Editor-In-Chief Phil Howell is on the injured list this month after a run-in with a beadlock wheel. He'll tell you all about it next month.

It wasn't so long ago when our '01 Jeep Wrangler TJ was just another Solar Yellow Wrangler running around town in its factory form. However, after putting a few thousand miles on the odometer, both on-road and on-trail, it began a subtle transformation that would take years to complete. The first mod was a set of Warrior steel corners to cover up a dent received in the parking lot of our office building. The parts trickled in after that, culminating to an all-out cut-and-weld conversion using a Brute kit from AEV. We haven't shut the door on this project just yet. It took a set of 40-inch Goodyear Wrangler MT/R tires to reach its latest "finished" form.