Jeep M715 Five-Quarter
T
ruth be revealed, M715s are beloved by both Jeep and Mopar folks. The
2016 Easter Jeep Safari birthed the Crew Chief 715 concept, which paved
the way for the Five-Quarter to exist. Yet Mopar considers this restomod the
real deal—mainly because it’s actually an M715, whereas that other one was a
Wrangler Unlimited. As they said, it’s been “overdone, but purposefully.” First,
let’s address your main questions: 1. A ’68. 2. Five-Quarter refers to Jeep trucks
that were 1^1 ⁄ 4 -ton (aka five-quarter). 3. They found it on Craigslist for $5,500,
with a 236ci engine and original troop seats, full covered-wagon upper, exhaust
pipe, and snorkel. It ran like crap and had terrible brakes and steering.
Building the Five-Quarter meant adding a carbon-fiber front end, and it
received a new 6-foot custom-fabbed and -bobbed aluminum bed. They also
pancaked the roof, and the soft top got a 3^1 ⁄ 2 -inch drop. Underneath, there’s
the original frame, but it’s reinforced, and the leaves were replaced with link/coil
suspension. A Dynatrac ProRock 60 resides up front and was moved forward
2 inches; out back is a Dynatrac ProRock 80. At the four corners are 40-inch
tires with 20-inch beadlock rims. The plan was to leave the interior alone, but
as the build got going, they decided to go with a zinc-chromate bomber look
and put the data plates throughout. The dash is a lot of layers of aluminum and
military-looking gauges. There are also Wrangler seats. The 8-71 blower was a
late addition to join the 6.2L Hellcrate Hemi V-8, but it ultimately inspired a lot of
the interior look.
Backstory Bits
->“First thing we did was took it to
the wind tunnel, for no good reason
other than we have a wind tunnel.
The whole studio dressed up in white
lab coats, narrow ties, dorky old-
school glasses, clipboards, and stuff.
Like, why would you put an M715 in
a wind tunnel? It does 43 mph.”
-> “I didn’t want it to look chopped.
Chopped pickups look funny to me.
We wanted it to look trimmed out.”
->“We could have put anything in
there, but a Hellcat is kind of a ‘gee
whiz, oh wow’ moment.”
->“The transmission sounds really
archaic—it’s a 727 three-speed. It
works beautifully. On road, the back
squats and the front comes up. It’s
not going to ever do a wheelie with
a Dana 60 up front, but it sure feelslike it’s coming alive. We did a truck
a few years ago, the [2016] Trailcat
[707hp Hemi Hellcat V-8], and it
had a 4500 manual trans, and it did
not feel as lively as this.”
->“The box was probably the biggest
challenge, because we committed to
not cutting up the original box and
shortening it, and it’s really, really
heavy. The box, by the way, looked
like no one ever put anything in it—itwas completely clean.”
->“We saved everything we took off
the truck that we didn’t use and
will get it back into the community.
Usually it’s just waste, but we didn’t
want to do that. I’m OK with cutting
up a Wrangler or new Gladiator and
throwing the junk out, but not this.”
—Mark Allen, Head of Jeep Design,
FCA North America24 SEPTEMBER 2019 FOUR WHEELER fourwheeler.com
Feature 2019 Jeep Concepts