In May of 2015 I sold my 1998 Jeep Cherokee (XJ). I was building Six-Shooter and the XJ was developing problems that were going to be expensive to fix. California, especially coastal Northern California is not a great place for off-road. So, the “Armageddon-Mobile” had to go.
Fast forward to January 2021. After driving a Montana Affordable 4X4 (highly recommend these guys) vehicle for two years it was time to get back in a Jeep. When the Jeep Gladiator came out it was a bit of a disappointment to me. I was hoping that Jeep would take a cue from Ford, Chevy and even Dodge (a brother in the FCA family) and style the new Gladiator (JT) after the old Gladiator (SJ). The new JT looks more reminiscent of the Jeep Scrambler (CJ-8) than the old Gladiator (SJ). So, I poo-pooed the new Jeep for a while.
Initially I started looking at the Chevy Colorado, mostly because I thought it would be less expensive. Turned out, there was not a lot of difference between the Chevy in the configuration I wanted and the Jeep Wrangler. Because I carry a lot of equipment for my business, the Wrangler was not really big enough. Moreover, I was already looking at a truck so I went straight to the Gladiator. I might should have taken a closer look at the Wrangler but I did not.
In January I purchased a 2021 Jeep Gladiator brand new, 8 miles on the odometer when I took possession. The Willy trim level gave me a fair amount of the off-road components that I wanted without the extra cost of the Rubicon. Even so, I have a lot of after-market components that I will be adding.
The majority of the parts have already been ordered. The first to get installed was the Bartact Seat Covers. The second component to get installed was the speaker upgrades; AlpineSPV-65-JLT and infinity Reference REF-3032cfx. Those were mostly quick and simple. The Alpine speakers involved cutting out the plastic that held the factory speakers so, that was a one way upgrade. No going back. There is a lot more coming.
One of the first vehicles I bought was a black 1984 Jeep CJ-7 (wish I still had it). It was black and one of the coolest vehicles I have owned. The Jeep Gladiator Willy’s black in color is coming full circle. It is fun to drive but it has a lot of luxury for a Jeep (heated seats, heated steering wheel, SiriusXM, etc.). More adventures to follow which I will be writing about here.