Vigilante’s 1966 Jeep Gladiator Customized able to storm a seashore or a BBQ

Easter Jeep Safari nearly all the time sees a basic idea hit the pink rocks of Moab. What if you wish to go real-life Jeep basic, year-round? Head south to a different set of rocks in Texas Hill Nation, the place Vigilante 4×4 could be completely satisfied to set you up. The store specializes within the Wagoneer, Grand Wagoneer, Cherokee, and J-Truck, restoring examples to better-than-new or restomodding them with new drivetrains and interiors. This 1966 J20 Gladiator Customized demonstrates the latter approach, its 57-year-old Empire Blue and off-white sheetmetal wrapping new internals from entrance to again. That features the rails, swapped for Vigilante’s reengineered body.

Even when the unique got here with AMC’s 5.2-liter “Vigilante” V8, that engine’s 140 horsepower and 159 pound-feet of torque would not evaluate to the brand new truck’s 485 hp and 475 lb-ft from a 6.4-liter Hemi SRT-8. Energy runs from there via a heavy-duty Tremec six-speed guide gearbox on this case, or prospects can go for a four-speed automated. Additional upgrades just like the Dana 44 axle in entrance and Dana 60 in again, the four-link suspension with Eibach springs and Fox 2.0 dampers, and the 17-inch wheels hiding Baer six-piston calipers assist an previous lady maintain her BFG A/T contact patches involved with the bottom.  

LED lighting fills the unique headlight apertures. The stylized, CNC’d chrome and enamel badging across the physique could be the best inform that there is extra happening than a brand new set of wheels. 

The inside therapy makes it appear like the inventory instrument panel’s been refreshed. That’s solely partly true. The fashionable working gear and Fox steering damper make turning simpler than it was, so the steering wheel is barely smaller diameter, at 15 inches, with a CNC’d aluminum Vigilante emblem within the hub. Vigilante created gauges that current original-looking faces related to trendy wiring and digital controls for extra correct readings. The guide window crank truly controls energy home windows that go along with energy door locks. There is not any radio unit, a Bluetooth receiver sending alerts from a related system via a JL Audio amp to the discrete audio system. The clock, nevertheless, is a new-old-stock analog authentic. The tan leather-based and Alcantara, and woven German ground protecting appear like they may have come from the interval as properly.

Vigilante says it is able to create extra Gladiator Customs in line with buyer needs, together with the power to place a Hellcat engine underneath the hood. The builds begin at $295,000.