Kansas City Tacoma Crew - 816/913

What pisses me off about FCA Dailmer Chrysler Mercedes Jeep Fiat Is that their Jeep engineering and concept team is absolutely the best in the business. I would put Nissan in front of them with their rock warrior Titan but apparently that's the only cool concept vehicle Nissan has ever built. point is, Jeep shows up to the Easter Jeep Safari with five or six badass concept vehicles every year and not a single one of them ever makes it into production despite people lining up for miles telling them they would buy a j6 Gladiator or whatever. They had a four-door one there a few years ago with a military style bed and a '70s J truck front end that I would have traded my taco in in a heartbeat against.

but then all those badass concepts and cool engineering ideas never make it to production quality and the actual production quality is just embarrassing. Trash can boot kicking embarrassing.

 

So these are way cool, obviously. And the powertrain is what you'd expect from Kaiser-era Jeeps. It came with a hurricane, super hurricane, or the Ford 272? I mean, it could be a prime LS swap candidate, but I think a HO I6 4.0 would be more at home.

So one of the awesome things is that they sold this as a build platform as well. Which, I really wish was an option on any vehicle that has a rear body section that is separate from the cab. I honestly wouldn't have ordered a bed on my Tacoma if I had a choice. I would have went straight to a tray.




Here is a FC-something with an excavator bucket to illustrate the awesomeness





In conclusion, these are totally bitchin'.

If I wanted a modern forward control chassis to build, there are international options. Just not Jeep options. It doesn't look like there is anything with a wheelbase between 90 and 120 though...

 

Like how everybody on the planet thought the Gladiator would be like a CJ-7 Scrambler but we got the Oscar-Meyer Wienermobile instead?

 

My boss's in law has a scrambler. He's been trying to buy it off him for awhile.

I'd even buy it..

 

So these exist apparently

 

I also can't tell if this is fake... halp.

2004 for $1,400... sounds fishy.

https://kansascity.craigslist.org/hvo/d/kansas-city-2004-toyota-tacoma/7286322693.html

 

It's been a minute since I seen it, but I think it was comparable to this.

 

Yeah, that's what my brain thinks of as well. I was just looking into modern versions.

 

When I saw it, it was the first time I was like, damn, that's a nice jeep.

 

And here are my CL finds for today:

1st Gen parts:
https://kansascity.craigslist.org/pts/d/lenexa-tacoma-1st-gen-parts/7284326222.html

And the CL winner of the day,

An $80 AC buzz box (welder):
https://kansascity.craigslist.org/tls/d/shawnee-welder/7286295076.html

 

At that price something's not right.

 

Oops.. bought a new patch... and possibly another one later tonight.

https://www.hawaiioffroadyotas.com/collections/patches/products/kid-goku-shaka-patch-v2

Ancestors drop tonight. https://thelostforestcreations.com/collections/frontpage

 

This, so much. The '05 Gladiator concept was just about perfect to me, and that J-truck concept was baddass. Refuse to consider the current Gladiator because I stubbornly want extended cab/long bed, among other reasons.

We'll see how long the Jeep concept group gets to play now that FCA is under the Stellantis banner. From what I've heard, the SRT group has already been disbanded

This is why I like you

I wanted to build a TJ Brute so badly, but alas the kits have been out of production for a few years now. I know these JKs are in a similar vein, but something is off about them to me.

 

I was a Jeep guy waaaay longer than I've been a Tacoma guy. I like the boxy bouncers. They appeal to my sense of right angles and SFA vehicles.

I know what you mean about the JK kit. It's like the cab is too long or the bed is too short, I can't decide which. But it hurts my brain like this does:

 

Everyone also seemed to think the gladiator was going to kill the tacoma...

Most of the people that bought it are influencers who had to have the new jeep truck for content.

 

I thought the Gladiator looked a smidge too long.

 

There are quite a few up here in WASP country.

 

I think I’ve only seen one that wasn’t sitting on the dealer lot

 

I'll start taking pictures of all the ridonkulous Gladiwagons. They are an absolutely massive vehicle once they have a lift and 35s.