Most of the time, whenever an old Jeep pops up for grabs on the used car market, it is usually the Wrangler or its predecessors, often with an off-roading twist. However, this time, we found something different that's certainly worthy of your attention.
Can't place your hand on the model? That would be the Jeep Pickup or the J-Series, as the Gladiator moniker was dropped after 1971, and this is a 1987 model.
Made from 1971 to 1988, it was constantly upgraded over the years. A four-wheel drive system was on deck, alongside front disc brakes and a variety of V8 engines. This copy, however, offers much more than that, as it sends restomod vibes.
For one, it has disc brakes on all four wheels, a welcomed upgrade considering that the old engine was swapped for an LS motor. The new V8 has a 6.0-liter displacement, and we cannot place our finger on the exact output, as the ad does not reveal it. An automatic transmission deploys the thrust to the four-wheel drive system, and the truck has a little over 136,000 miles (~218,900 km) on the odometer.
Photo: Garage Kept Motors
Since the underbody looks excessively clean for a vehicle that is almost four decades old, we can assume that it's been fully restored at one point. The body mixes red on the upper parts and white on the lower ends and has a few chrome accents here and there. It is all about black when it comes to the cockpit of this old Jeep, which is just as clean as the exterior.
Thanks to the chassis, jacked-up suspension, fat tires wrapped around the wheels, four-wheel drive system, and the extra oomph coming from the LS motor, this Jeep Pickup is ready to venture into the unknown and will come out victorious from most of the stuff Mother Nature could throw at it.
If there is one thing we haven't told you, it is how much this J20 costs. The Garage Kept Motors listing reveals a buy-it-now price of $44,900. That's certainly not cheap, especially when factoring in that a brand-new Jeep Renegade is a bit more affordable than that in the base flavor. The modern workhorse kicks off at $38,775 in the Sport trim level and exceeds $54,000 in the High Altitude grade. All prices exclude the destination charge and the often-too-greedy dealer fees.
Now, if you had to choose between a new Gladiator, which comes with the 285 horsepower 3.6-liter V6 engine, and this LS-powered old-timer, which one would you drive home? That's a nice dilemma to have, and don't forget that there are other pickups available within the $45k price range, either new or used. So, which would be worthy of your hard-earned cash?
After a series of unfortunate events put an end to Cristian's dream of entering a custom built & tuned old-school Dacia into a rally competition, he moved on to drive press cars and write for a living. He's worked for several automotive online journals and now he's back at autoevolution after his first tour in the mid-2000s. Full profile
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