Last year, Jeep unveiled an epic tribute piece at the Easter Safari. Rock crawling fans were rewarded with a special restomod based on the original Gladiator truck.
It was called the "Five Quarter" and relied on an M715 tactical vehicle from 1968. Chrysler Jeeps have a long history of military service that is a key part of the brand's reputation. Thanks to that, the modern-day Wrangler-based Gladiator exists and seems to be thriving.
The old Kaiser Jeep earned its "Five Quarter" name as a hint to the one-and-one-quarter-ton duty rating. However, we decided to name this cool concept the "Quarter Pounder" because... it looks like a burned steak stuck to the grill.
The study is made by digital artist Rostislav Prokop and takes things in a completely different direction to the Easter Safari special. We know exactly what the desert rock-crawling scene is going to think of this bad body - they'll hate it - but the unconventional design is exactly what the 60s design needed.
Right now, Gladiators like the base for this are selling for less than $20,000 in decent condition, which is amazing for such a big slice of history pie. There are only so many lifted trucks people want to buy, so maybe lowering them is the way to go instead.
Rostislav's rendering has an obvious hint of Gymkhana because it adds the widebody look. In addition, the front end has been reinvented around the extra aero elements. You can almost see it sliding door-to-door next to the Hoonitruck.
A 1960s Jeep would have come with a 327 cubic-inch Vigilante V8. However, that doesn't make enough power to send the truck sideways. The obvious engine swap would be a Mopar Hellcrate. Unleashed three years ago at SEMA, this 6.2-liter packs all the supercharged goodness of the Hellcat in a 606 horsepower hardware you can slide into your old-timers. However, this rendering goes for turbochargers, which would extract even more grunt. Let's not forget that Ken Block's crazy AWD F-150 makes something like 900 hp.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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