Four Wheeler – September 2019

Backstory Bits

->“Gravity was pretty straightforward. We were sketching basically a parts catalog

pull and trying to find the right balance of how many accessories to put on. We

have more than 200 accessories and this is a real challenge. A lot of times we

have to be selective and show some restraint on how to apply these to a vehicle,

so it’s important to create a theme and to stick to that theme and bring some

level of simplicity to it.””

—Nicho Vardis, Mopar Design Manager, Product Design, FCA North America

Our Opinions

Ken Brubaker, Editor, Four Wheeler:

The Gravity includes a full comple-

ment of JPP. It’s amazing how

many parts JPP had available at

launch for the Gladiator. I dig the

bed-mounted Mopar cross rails,

cargo-carrier basket, and the

Mopar/Decked truck-bed storage

system. The bed functionality is

very cool.

Sean Holman, Group Content

Director, MotorTrend: This one is a

hard pass for me. It’s like Mopar

said, “We have 180 accessories

available for the Gladiator, but

could only fit 150 on this truck.”

This could easily be the $75,000

Gladiator that some dealer thinks

is cool to put out front to drive traffic

to his lot. It’s not.

Rick Péwé, Editor, Jp Magazine: Open-

air Jeeping is a natural in Moab, and

the cool tube doors on this rig were

spot-on. Even the Suntop gave the

driving experience the maximum

effect, and it was a joy to drive.

Harry Wagner, Contributor, Four Wheeler:

This vehicle didn’t do much for me.

It just came across as an over-

accessorized Gladiator. That said, I

do appreciate that you can fit 37-inch

BFGoodrich KM3s on a new Jeep

pickup with only a 2-inch JPP lift.

Quite a contrast to what it takes to fit

37-inch tires on any other Jeep truck!

Our Opinions
Ken Brubaker, Editor, Four Wheeler:
Five-Quarter is amazing. I think Jeep
got it right in a big way. The truck’s
bobbed aluminum bed, carbon-fiber
front end, 3^1 / 2 -inch-drop convertible
top, heavy-duty link/coil suspension,
Dynatrac axles, and 700hp Hellcrate
Hemi V-8 make the truck very
unique. However, I appreciate that
the truck still is instantly recogniz-
able for what it is—a ’68 M715.
That’s a great balance, and one that
I think people will be talking about
years from now.

Sean Holman, Group Content Director,
MotorTrend: Nothing short of a bad-
ass, functional piece of rockcrawling
art. This concept is an attention-to-
detail tour de force. It’s everything
you remembered your dream M715
being, but it’s better in every single
way. This is a vehicle you can walk
around for hours and still pick up
new and interesting details. It also
mixes a modern interpretation of a
military and aviation color palette with

advanced materials. Not to mention

a Hellcat crate engine and a Dana

80—it’s the project you wish you had

the ideas and skills to build.

Rick Péwé, Editor, Jp Magazine: When

Jeep knocks it out of the park, they

do it in a big way. Big, beefy, and

bad—this five-quarter-ton based on

the original (it still has a stock frame)

is maxed out in every way. Following

the design cues of the ex-military

truck, the Hellcat motor down to the

Dynatrac axles just ooze performance.

Harry Wagner, Contributor, Four

Wheeler: This truck is definitely over

the top with the Hellcrate engine

and Dynatrac axles. This isn’t the

first (or even the second) Jeep

concept with an M715 look, but are

they really ever going to bring this to

production? My biggest complaint is

that the bed is so full of holes that

you can’t really use it as a pickup.

I think that takes the lightweight

theme a little too far.

fourwheeler.com FOUR WHEELER SEPTEMBER 2019 25

Jeep Gladiator

Gravity

H

eard from someone within Mopar

about this one: “A rolling catalogue

littered with all our Jeep Performance

Parts accessories, from tip to tail.” We

couldn’t have summed the Gravity

up better ourselves. It’s a Gladiator

Rubicon that was conceptualized as a

rockclimbing truck/way of life, wearing loads of accessories—like a Mr. T starter

kit. Among the JPP items that probably grabbed your attention are the 2-inch-

round steel tube doors and heavy-gauge-steel rock rails with a powdercoat

borrowed from Ram bedliners. The grille is Mopar, with JPP LED lights mated

to the ones on the A-pillars. There’s also a mesh bikini top, 2-inch lift, and

35-inch-tire/17-inch-wheel combo. To make the bed useful, there are Mopar

cross rails, a cargo-carrier basket, and a special Mopar/Decked storage system

with sliding drawers.