There may be snow on the ground in many parts of the country as I write this, but spring is in the air even way up here in the once-frigid expanse of Michigan, and with it comes Jeep's annual celebration in Moab, Utah — the Easter Jeep Safari. And as is tradition, Jeep has a handful of concept builds to show off to this year's Safari-goers. While we won't be seeing anything along the lines of the now-retired Jeep Magneto or 392 Scrambler, it's still Easter Jeep Safari; there's always something cool.
Blame the UAW strike, retirements in Jeep leadership (former design chief Mark Allen departed in May of last year) or what have you, but 2024 is a bit of a lean year. Jeep is bringing just two ground-up concept builds and two Jeep Performance Parts accessorized models to the 2024 edition of Easter Jeep Safari. There are no wild vintage riffs or rebodies this year, but that's just as well. We can file these in the "attainable" category for once. Let's dive in.
Jeep Low Down
The Low Down Concept celebrates the V8. It was short-lived in the Wrangler but the 392 also made a splash in the Grand Cherokee SRT8. It may not be a "Jeep engine" in the strictest sense, but it's certainly one that Jeep fandom has embraced in recent years. The Low Down gets its name from an older Easter Jeep Safari Concept: the Lower Forty. Both are designed around their V8 engines (the Lower Forty had a 5.7-liter Hemi) and were customized so that the engines could be fitted without having to lift their bodies for extra clearance. This one rocks a standard 392 with 475 horsepower and a stock-height suspension but beefed-up Dana 60 axles and a set of 5.38 gears. That color is called Poison Apple Red, by the way.
Jeep Willys Dispatcher
With the retirement of the badass 6-speed electric Magneto, this 4xe-based Willys Dispatcher is by default the most forward-thinking concept Jeep has at the Safari this year. Embracing a sense of juxtaposition, Jeep's designers used this concept as the foundation for a throwback build featuring 36-inch tires on eggshell-colored steelies highlighted (literally) by a bright green finish. Inside, there's distressed leather with houndstooth inserts and no headrests to be found. Vintage. Or like on TV. Take your pick.
Jeep Gladiator Rubicon High Top
This one's my personal favorite. Maybe it's the sweet two-tone finish or the big, fat sidewalls, but this pickup-based build speaks to me. Those thick shoes are 40-inch BFG KO3s on 18x9-inch KMC Grenade Crawl beadlock wheels. Never would have imagined I'd see a street Jeep tire that would make an 18-inch wheel look tiny, but here we are.
Like the Vacationeer below, the High Top is decked out in Jeep Performance Parts goodies, including flat fender flares, Dana 60 front and rear axles, an AccuAir adjustable air suspension (We got to sample one last year!) and an entire pile of visual and go-anywhere bolt-ons from JPP and their partners at American Expedition Vehicles et al. This one's just based on the standard 3.6-liter Pentastar V6, but that's OK. I'll take it as it sits.
Jeep Vacationeer
No, not vacationer, but Vacationeer. This spearmint-wrapped Grand Wagoneer with a roof tent and a bunch of stuff in the back is... well, OK, it's a Grand Wagoneer with a roof tent and a bunch of stuff in the back. In fact, maybe it's just me, but the Vacationeer looks an awful lot like the Camp Lux Grand Wagoneer from a year ago, which was also a Grand Wagoneer with a roof tent and a bunch of stuff in the back. But it can't be, right? I mean, it's green and the wheels are different... Can you rattle-can a roof tent chassis? Asking for a friend.
That's it for the 2024 round of Easter Jeep Safari Concepts. As I said above, it's a lean year in Moab, but 2024 is going to be a big one for Jeep. Why? One word: Recon. Stay tuned.
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