If Easter is approaching, so must the epic weeklong adventure that is the Moab Easter Jeep Safari. This 53-year tradition has been supported in recent times by the Jeep brand and Mopar parts and accessories division of FCA, which mark the occasion by rolling out fully functional, trail-ready Jeep concepts to heighten awareness of whatever the latest Jeep is. This year, in recognition of the recently introduced Gladiator, all six concepts riff on that truck and/or Jeep trucks of yore. We’ll list them in order of mildest to wildest.
See custom Jeeps from previous Moab Easter Jeep Safaris:
- These 7 Concepts are Headed to the 2018 Easter Jeep Safari
- 2017 Jeep Concepts at the Easter Jeep Safari in Moab
Gravity
This one is a rolling catalog demonstrator of the 200-plus parts already available for the Gladiator, conceived with a rock-climbing theme and adorned with some custom graphics and trim. Starting with a basic 3.6-liter Gladiator ragtop in Punk’n metallic paint, the truck gets a 2-inch suspension lift kit, 8.0 x 17-inch Gear wheels wrapped in 35×12.50R-17 LT BFGoodrich Mud Terrain T/A tires, a grille-guard tube with LED lights, a blacked-out grille, a “grille history” hood graphic, rock rails, a Sun Bonnet bikini top, tube doors, grab handles, Katzkin seat covers, Mole storage bags, an elaborate decked bed storage unit with pull-out drawers, and a set of bed cross-rails outfitted with a storage basket and net. These are all available now. The only real concept parts are the rock-climbing graphics and “Solo Rated” fender badges. Tricking your Gladiator out to match this would cost about $8,000.
Scrambler
After all the fuss Jeep made about choosing the Gladiator name over Scrambler because of how much less capable Scramblers were, we half expected this to be a RWD model with quiet-comfort-tuned tires and a wonderful stereo. Nope. Here again we have a big collection of Jeep Performance Parts adding capability, including a 2-inch lift kit, 8.0 x 17-inch wheels (painted with “G-orange” accents) wrapped in 37×12.50R-17 Mud Terrains, an underhood cold-air intake plus the grille guards, rock rails, a spray-in bedliner, and off-road lighting that includes four lights mounted to a concept sport bar/light bar. Taking inspiration from the 1982 CJ8 Scrambler are the Nacho and Punk’n colored side stripes and hood graphics and the brown hard top. Crank up the ’80s on 8 on those bed speakers!
J6
The name is a play on the J-series pickups from Jeep’s past, with the 6 indicating the length of the stretched bed. This concept started life as a 118.4-inch-wheelbase Wrangler Unlimited. A Gladiator bed was stretched 1 foot with the cab shortened accordingly to make the whole thing work as a short-cab, long(er)-box pickup. Just for added historical fun, the color chosen is a slightly brighter version of Brilliant Blue—a popular color for the 1978 Jeep J-10 Honcho. Along with the de rigueur 2-inch lift, 37-inch tires on bead-lock wheels, grille guards, off-road lights, and a Mopar Warn winch, the team revived some vintage “Jeep” and “4 Wheel Drive” badging and tooled it to fit the holes left by the stock badges. If these prove popular in Moab, they could end up in the catalogue.
Flatbill
This motocross-themed Jeep Design concept is named for the flat-billed hats all the cool kids wear. Like the Mopar concepts, this one gets a 2-inch lift kit, but by hogging out the fenders a bit, it can accommodate gigantic 40×13.50R-20 tires on eight-lug bead-lock rims. This is a testament to the revisions made to the JL-generation Wrangler/Gladiator chassis—fitting such big tires used to require a much higher suspension lift. Everything about the Flatbill’s design is loud and brash, from the custom hood to the graphics to the air-extracting RUBICON hood vents. Oversized Dynatrac air-locker axles and bypass shocks and Evo Manufacturing suspension components ensure this concept will reach the end of any trail. The bed is modified to carry two motocross bikes on slide-out ramps, and the seats are covered in material cut from four motocross jackets and trimmed with “Brah” tags. Don’t miss the “Bro Rated” fender badges and the “Don’t Bro me if you don’t Know me” decals.
Wayout
This concept highlights the up to 1,600-pound payload and 7,650-pound towing capability that the Gladiator brings to the Wrangler brand, without which the true overlanding hobbyist couldn’t hope to festoon a previous Jeep with all of this kit (note the “1600-LBS PAYLOAD RATED” fender badges). Overlanding involves packing all the essentials for survival into a vehicle and then getting as far away from civilization as possible. Toward that end, the concept includes twin gas cans integrated into the sides of the pickup bed (which won’t extend the range much, as they’re only about 2 inches deep and hence carry only a few liters each), a custom bed rack to support a hard-shell Maggiolina Extreme pop-up tent, an Alu-Cab awning, and the aforementioned Mopar decked bed storage unit with pull-out drawers. Dig the steel wheels wearing 37×12.50R-17 Falken Wildpeak M/T tires, the heavy-duty Warn winch, and the JPP snorkel (which is to prevent dust intrusion—the fording depth is 30 inches). Oh, and that vaguely militaristic paint color will reportedly be offered later this year.
Five-Quarter
Last and most extreme is this “Hell Crated” (check the fender badges) C-890 truck, a mil-spec Kaiser Jeep M715 version of a J-10 Gladiator, known in military circles for its 1-1/4-ton payload capacity as a “five-quarter.” This concept started out as a Craigslist purchase, which was stripped to the bare bones (and all original parts sold into the restoration community). The stock frame was box-welded for strength, the all-leaf-spring suspension was replaced by four-corner coils managing Dana 60 front and Dana 80 rear axles painted gold (the rear is adorned with an image of Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer’s pal Yukon Cornelius saying, “There’s gold on them, thar axles!”). The 707-hp engine is paired with a vintage 727 three-speed automatic transmission and can supposedly light up all four wheels on demand. Everything forward of the vertical windshield is carbon fiber, and all bodywork is wrapped for a brushed stainless look. The 20-inch bead-lock wheels are shod with 40×13.50R-20LT Maxxis Razr MT tires. Inside, the shifter and transfer-case levers are mounted to a modified supercharger housing from an 871 blower used in drag racing. They also cleaned up and mounted all the military specification plaques from the original truck. So cool. Our favorite touch: The mesh-and-slats open bed carries twin jerricans marked “Gin” and “Tonic.” Cheers to that!
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