Yahoo News 2024 Easter Jeep Safari: Four New Concepts, Each with a Different Purpose and Palette
Spring means Easter, and for the Jeep faithful, that means the annual pilgrimage to Moab, Utah, for the Easter Jeep Safari. 2024 marks the 58th annual gathering, and, as has been the tradition for the past few years, Jeep has granted its talented crew of in-house designers the freedom to create a small batch of one-off concepts that express their artistic vision in fully realized concepts that might otherwise never make it past the drawing board. Plus, it's a great way to get some public input on stylistic themes, accessories, and functional add-ons that might already be in consideration for production. Here are the four concepts they cooked up for 2024.
Jeep Vacationeer Concept
We knew the creatives at Jeep couldn't keep their hands off the new Wagoneer for long, and the Vacationeer is here to prove us right. And no, that's not a typo; the "ee" is a not-so-subtle nod to the Wagoneer it's based on. As long as we're pointing out the obvious, it would be pointless to pay homage to the Wagoneers of yore without at least a touch of woodgrain, and the Vacationeer wears it in the thin-strip style of select Jeep models from the late 20th century, including the low-volume Wagoneer Brougham of the early 1980s.
The custom exterior paint, dubbed Spearminted, is similar to the hue of the paint on the Willys Dispatcher Concept also found on this list, but it ramps up the spent nuclear fuel rod effect to Simpsons levels of iridescence. Larger wheel openings and custom body-side flare extensions shroud 35-inch BFGoodrich mud-terrain tires mounted to 18 x 9.0-inch 701 Method racing wheels. The tire and wheel package provide a 1.5-inch lift while front and rear skid plates help to deflect obstacles, and a front-mounted Warn winch and a trio of 11-inch TYRI LED lights provide peace of mind. Jeep's 510-hp twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline-six "Hurricane" engine provides the power to keep the vacation rolling.
Jeep Vacationeer Concept
The Overlanding vibe is strong thanks to the custom carbon-fiber RedTail Overland Skyloft affixed to the roof. Featuring climate control, room for two, and panoramic viewing capabilities, it seems like the ideal place to spend a night in the boonies, or even your driveway. To make climbing up and in via the weatherproof pass-through easier, Jeep removed the second- and third-row seating and mounted a small step that doubles as a table.
The rear area features a bed liner to stow gear. Distinguished fashion designer and Wagoneer enthusiast/owner Kiel James Patrick was tapped for the front upholstery, coming up with a design featuring classic Jeep vehicles dotting a distinctive and charming New England–inspired pattern. (Attn. Jeep: You know you could sell this fabric for real, right?)
Jeep Wrangler Low Down Concept
Longtime fans will likely remember the Jeep Lower 40 concept the brand dropped back in 2009 at the 43rd annual Easter Jeep Safari. This year's Jeep Low Down concept exists as an update of sorts, following the theme of fitting the biggest tires possible without altering the suspension or lifting the ride height.
The formula involves some clever cleaver work to make room for ginormous BFGoodrich Krawler 42 x 14.5 R-20 mud-terrain tires mounted on 20-inch beadlock wheels. Custom carbon-fiber fender flares help facilitate the project. Otherwise, the Wrangler Rubicon 392 suspension remains untouched, but Dana 60 axles with 5.38 gears are brought in to replace the standard Rubicon Dana 44s. The result is a low center of gravity teamed with increased ground clearance, breakover, and approach and departure angles.
The exterior is finished in Poison Apple Red paint, and the hood is a custom carbon-fiber unit with a see-through power dome. The profile gets a bit of streamlining with the removal of the exterior door handles, and a race-style fuel filler resides in the driver's-side rear quarter.
Jeep Wrangler Low Down Concept
Interior tweaks include a Rhino-lined floor, black leather seats with cloth inserts, and a radio delete instrument panel. "Listening to the engine is enough, in the Low Down," says Chris Piscitelli, design manager for Dodge/SRT, who had a hand in creating this year's concepts. A custom red-tinted semi-transparent swimsuit top makes sure any light that passes through glows with a red hue.
Like its Lower 40 inspiration, the Jeep Low Down relies on a V-8 engine, in this case a modern 475-hp 6.4-liter 392 (you saw the numerous callouts, right?) and an eight-speed automatic transmission, whereas the Lower 40 made do with just a 390-hp 5.7-liter Hemi.
Jeep Gladiator Rubicon High Top Concept
Born from the efforts of Jeep Performance Parts designers and the Mopar engineering teams, the Gladiator Rubicon High Top Concept channels the '70s J-series pickups, particularly the highly decorated versions from the mid-'70s when Jeep tried to get hip. (Remember the Jeep J-10 Honcho?)
Brown was the official color of the 1970s, so Jeep starts off with a two-tone Ginger Snap metallic exterior with bold graphics that look the part. Interior mods are subtle but appropriate. The seats have been trimmed with custom quilted and perforated tan and black Alea leather, and JPP logos reside on the headrests. JPP provides the sun bonnet, pedal kit, floor mats, and doorsill guards. JPP also provided some concept flat fender flares.
Jeep Gladiator Rubicon High Top Concept
Mods from outside vendors include a front bumper from American Expedition Vehicles—check the custom protective hoop sitting just above a Warn winch—rock rail power steps from Rock Slide Engineering, and a truck bed storage system with lockable dual sliding drawers from Decked.
Power comes from the trusty 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 engine mated to a TorqueFlite eight-speed automatic transmission. Torque is funneled to Dana 60 front and rear axles with matching 5.38:1 gears, then moves on to 40 x 13.5 R-18 BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO3 tires mounted on 18 x 9.0-inch Satin Black KMC Grenade Crawl beadlock wheels. An AccuAir adjustable suspension helps fine-tune the suspension for the task at hand.
Willys Dispatcher Concept
Aside from the paint, the Willys Dispatcher doesn't look much different from the current Wrangler. And although there's a lot more going on here than just its Element 115 green paint, we'd be fine if there wasn't. As designer Chris Piscitelli not so coyly mentioned in brief preview, more than one current Jeep color first debuted on concept vehicles like this. A gloss-black windshield surround almost disappears—along with the standard black roll cage—due to the high contrast with the nuclear-age-inspired green paint.
Exterior color aside, the Willys Dispatcher, which counts the postwar-era Willys Jeeps as its inspiration, has some pretty cool features, including front and rear Dana 50 axles with 4:70 gears and 36-inch Traxion tires mounted on 16 x 7.0-inch white steel wheels for the perfect vintage look. The bumpers are crafted to look homemade old-school, the front with a beefy Warn 8274 winch mounted. The flat fenders and "Willys" stamped lettering in the hood really play into the retro vibe.
Willys Dispatcher Concept
Inside, distressed saddle leather mixes with houndstooth cloth inserts; combined with the low back seats—sans headrests—the midcentury vibe is palpable. The vinyl flooring is from Jeep Performance Products, as are the swimsuit top and the onboard air compressor.
For all the looking back, the powertrain is undeniably modern, the Willys Dispatcher using Jeep's 2.0-liter plug-in-hybrid 4xe propulsion system that delivers 375 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque through an eight-speed automatic. It's a blend of old and new that successfully transcends time.
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