Finally...A concept truck that looks like a truck

[jplinville]

...even if it is a Jeep. I want this. I need this. Ok, maybe not need, but how cool would it be to pull up to the trail with one of these?




Nice suspension...



Jeep J12 Concept: Live Photos

Jeep j12 News, Videos, Reviews and Gossip - Jalopnik

Jeep J12 Concept: First Drive

Ask any young boy to name their coolest car, they'll likely pick a Jeep or a truck. There's just something about both that hit all the right Cro-Magnon hot spots in any pre-pubescent boy's mind. But merge them together? Well, then you get possibly the greatest combination of utilitarianism and awesomeness in the world. Jeep's new Gladiator-inspired pickup concept — dubbed the J12 — is just such a machine. And I drove it in it's off-roading debut at the Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah earlier this week.
Cue the Tim Allen guttural man-noises.
Full-size Jeep pickups or Jeep Wrangler pickups disappeared from Detroit's lineup after 1988, but the Chrysler-owned division's history-minded design team seems intent on bringing it back in classic form. Pricey JK8 Wrangler-to-pickup conversion kits directly from Jeep have been around since last year's Safari (and AEV's been building the amazing Brute conversion kit for years), but this week marked the eye-catching, bright red J12's first public foray onto some of the nation's more noteworthy trails.
True masters of the past, Jeep's design team said they wanted to create something that looked like that old truck your grandpa took fishing all the time. The old Kaiser facade is familiar and likeable, and by lovingly recreating the long-departed truck's facial details, Jeep had scores of people fawning over their concept truck at the 2012 Easter Jeep Safari this week.
Because never mind the kids — what old guy wouldn't want to drive a truck with a plaid-edged white bench seat, body colored lower dash, and practical rhino-lined floor pans? It turns out that a lot of not-so-old guys have the same taste, if the group of visibly salivating fans clustering around the J12 everywhere it went was any indication. It turned heads wherever it went around Moab's extreme Jeep-packed streets, looking like something Clint Eastwood's character, Walt Kowalski, in Grand Torino would have been comfortable driving (a big part of what makes it so cool).

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Like the JK8 conversion, it shares a chassis with the four door Rubicon, and also like the JK8, it has a small single cab up front and a utility box out back. But the similarities end there. Jeep's designers lengthened the J12's frame by 18 inches to accommodate a spare 36-inch tire and a six-foot bed. Attending to every detail, they managed to pull off an authentic "old truck" feel by keeping its interior spare and uncluttered. Sitting inside the truck, the most visible reminder that it didn't come from a 1960s-era Kaiser factory is the floor-mounted automatic transmission shifter (which, because it's topped by a ball compass, can perhaps be forgiven by history buffs). The shifter base looked a bit out of place, making me wonder how difficult it would be to make a column-mounted shifter work for a 5-speed manual transmission. Mechanically, the J12 is the same as any Rubicon, with the addition of front and rear ARB lockers to its Dynatrac D-44 and D-60 axles. The Pentastar 3.6 liter V6 pulls the little truck capably on any terrain, the only limiting factor for offroad performance being the front and rear overhangs inherent in any pickup truck of normal dimensions (which, clearly, excludes the Hobbit-like JK8).
Retro tall 36-inch tires fitted with chunky mud treads are large, but not so huge as to make the J12 look silly (old Walt just wouldn't have it). As with any detachable sway bar-equipped Rubicon, the J12 made short work of everything it encountered out on the trails outside Moab.
With its low backed bench seat and lack of side marker lights, the little Gladiator progeny wouldn't make the NHTSA cut, but there are undoubtedly many — truck enthusiasts and regular guys alike — who would like to see it become a viable market offering.
The Walt Kowalskis of the world have watched a lot of candy-assed, frou-frou-fitted pickup passoffs saunter by their austere porches over the past few decades. They're waiting with disgusted, squinty-eyed forbearance for a bare bones classic like the J12 to bring dignity back to the pickup world. Although maybe not in bright red.

[jplinville]

I'm envisioning it with a Cummins and 3" diameter stacks topped with clapping rain caps coming out just behind the cab. Imagine it with the snorkel kit as well...this would be the vehicle of my dreams.

[t walgamuth]

it looks pretty good. I wonder if it will be ofered with smaller wheels too?

[E150GT]

I might be the only one but I think its hideous.

[strelnik]

Originally Posted by E150GT

I might be the only one but I think its hideous.

This is a "renewal" as the marketing weenies say, of a older version of the Jeep civilian model from the 50-60s. That's why it looks retro.

[SwampYankee]

I really like that J concept. Love the wheels, too.

Along the same lines (and built for the same purpose), the Jeep FC concept is high on my Dig-It list. I've always had a thing for the old Jeep FC's, so that undoubtedly impacted me. No doubt it's a love-it or hate-it design. I won't even make the comparison to another beloved COE/FC designed vehicle known for it's off-road prowess thanks, in part, to it portal axles.

I'd prefer a more work-truck version to the off-roading concept, riding on 31's rather than 40's. Snowplow, sander, PTO log splitter, maybe a backhoe attachment.

[compu_85]

That reminds me of a VW Vanagon... not a bad thing!

-J

[elchivito]

It looks like an old one that lives near me, still a daily driver. Too cool.

[SwampYankee]

Originally Posted by jplinville

I'm envisioning it with a Cummins and 3" diameter stacks topped with clapping rain caps coming out just behind the cab. Imagine it with the snorkel kit as well...this would be the vehicle of my dreams.

A little diesel would be perfect!

[elchivito]

White Rim trail in Canyonlands?

[barry123400]

The bed is a little small but I think it would sell. Jeep under chrysler has shown a real improvement in quality. Friends of ours mention basically no problems.

I wonder if a re introduction of the fake wooden sides on a station wagon might sell as well. It would certainly be different in todays market.

[PaulC]

Originally Posted by SwampYankee

I really like that J concept. Love the wheels, too.

Along the same lines (and built for the same purpose), the Jeep FC concept is high on my Dig-It list. I've always had a thing for the old Jeep FC's, so that undoubtedly impacted me. No doubt it's a love-it or hate-it design. I won't even make the comparison to another beloved COE/FC designed vehicle known for it's off-road prowess thanks, in part, to it portal axles.

I'd prefer a more work-truck version to the off-roading concept, riding on 31's rather than 40's. Snowplow, sander, PTO log splitter, maybe a backhoe attachment.

I've never been fond of a vehicle design in which my feet are intended to double as bumper guards...

[cmbdiesel]

Originally Posted by jplinville

...even if it is a Jeep. I want this. I need this. Ok, maybe not need, but how cool would it be to pull up to the trail with one of these?




Nice suspension...



Jeep J12 Concept: Live Photos

Jeep j12 News, Videos, Reviews and Gossip - Jalopnik

Just the fact that it has real bumpers!! I really hate all the plastic crap.

Cool looking truck

[jplinville]

Originally Posted by SwampYankee

I really like that J concept. Love the wheels, too.

Along the same lines (and built for the same purpose), the Jeep FC concept is high on my Dig-It list. I've always had a thing for the old Jeep FC's, so that undoubtedly impacted me. No doubt it's a love-it or hate-it design. I won't even make the comparison to another beloved COE/FC designed vehicle known for it's off-road prowess thanks, in part, to it portal axles.

I'd prefer a more work-truck version to the off-roading concept, riding on 31's rather than 40's. Snowplow, sander, PTO log splitter, maybe a backhoe attachment.

I'm not a big fan of the cab-over. However, it does make the bed larger...

[jplinville]

Originally Posted by SwampYankee

A little diesel would be perfect!

4BT would be perfect...