CJ Sixty Six Jeep Concept Vehicle
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MotorTranscript
00:00 Hi, this is Sean Holman with the 4-Wheeler Network and with me today in Moab, Utah is
00:06 Nico Vardis, Design Manager for Mopar.
00:09 And behind us today is the CJ66 concept, which is a really cool Jeep.
00:15 You can tell us about it, but it's kind of a mashup of three different generations.
00:18 Yeah, that's right.
00:20 So crazy as it sounds, there's three gens of Jeeps that's going on in here.
00:25 The body is from a 66 CJ Tuxedo Park, universal, so it's a longer wheelbase body.
00:33 And we took a TJ chassis and hung the body on top of it, and it's got JK accessories,
00:41 so it all seems to work and play nicely all together.
00:46 It's a beautiful Jeep, and the CJ6 has always been kind of one of my favorites.
00:50 Sort of an oddball, you don't see them out a lot, but the long wheelbase has always been...
00:54 A lot of the proportions were always just right on it, and especially when you have
00:56 it lifted up here on these big tires, I think it comes together really well.
01:01 Yeah, so we're bringing it up here for the media event, and the designer on the vehicle,
01:05 Jeremy Rulphs, he was saying how nice the dynamics are with that extended wheelbase.
01:11 I think it's roughly about 101.
01:13 Which is perfect.
01:14 That's like the sweet spot in off-roading is right around that 100, 101.
01:17 Yeah.
01:18 Another cool thing about this thing is the flares.
01:20 If you notice, the flares are pumped out, so the CJ body was real narrow back then,
01:27 and we accentuated the width by adding some custom flares, so to get the width back out.
01:32 So it does look like a planted Jeep on the trails.
01:36 It has the traditional CJ shape, where as you look at the JK, and it's a trapezoidal
01:42 flare, and the CJ's always had that rounded flare in the back, and so you are able to
01:45 kind of mimic that in a modern way.
01:47 Yeah, yeah.
01:48 And it all interplays, and we wanted to keep the essence of what the CJ6 was back in the
01:53 day, so it all seems to work.
01:56 One thing that I want to point out is what's under the hood.
01:59 So what's cool about this, and the feature of this CJ66 is 345 Mopar crate engine that's
02:06 available.
02:07 Very cool.
02:08 And then what are the axles?
02:09 I know that it's using basically TJ Chassing suspension, but you've got the new generation
02:12 upgraded JK axles under it?
02:14 Yeah.
02:15 They're all new, of course, all the way around, and we've got a concept lift kit on this vehicle,
02:20 so to take on the trails.
02:21 So everything works.
02:24 It might look old, but it's all like modern underneath, and it all works real well.
02:27 Yeah, and you can see on the interior, you guys kind of shaped the roll bar more traditionally,
02:32 and then the gauges too are kind of different too, to get that round CJ look, but give you
02:36 modern information.
02:37 Yeah, so we took all the gauges and kind of preserved them in a central location on the
02:42 IP, so we didn't want to kind of distract from the historic vehicles, but they are modern
02:47 gauges and they give you all the modern technology along with the kind of historic IP, if you
02:55 will.
02:56 So it's kind of like a resto-modded Jeep, right?
02:58 So you're taking the old look, you're mixing it with modern technology.
03:01 This is kind of the best of all worlds.
03:04 You have the reliability and the power of the 345, and then you've got the looks of
03:10 the old Jeep, you've got modern seats, modern electronics, modern axles.
03:14 I mean, this is something that you could really go out and have a lot of fun with.
03:17 Yeah, I mean, everybody gives us the V8.
03:19 It's like, V8 is like, it's meant to be, you know.
03:23 It's proper.
03:24 It is.
03:25 I noticed some of the, you even have the Jeep embossing here, and you've got the classic
03:28 V8 emblem, which is kind of a nice touch.
03:31 And I mean, if you look around, this is one of those vehicles that when you first look
03:35 at it, it just, it looks like an old CJ6, but the more time you spend in it, you see,
03:38 oh, it's a Rubicon style hood.
03:41 And it's got where the fuel filler used to be is, looks like you've got your air compressor
03:45 and gauge, and then the fuel fill's in the back, and you've taken off the spare tire
03:49 and put it in behind the seats.
03:51 And what I love about it most, and it's funny, it has a JK console in it, but it's a stick.
03:56 And actually, my personal JK is a stick, so I always appreciate when you guys, you know,
04:00 do something with a manual transmission, and it's, I think I read once that Wrangler has
04:05 one of the highest take rates for manuals in all the automotive industry.
04:07 Yeah, that's right.
04:08 Well, one thing I want to point out is the seats.
04:10 I mean, they're sport seats, and they really, like, a lot of these vehicles have bench seats
04:15 in them, and this really kind of cradles your body and gives you the lateral support you
04:20 need.
04:21 And it gives you just a different driving feel, right, than you would have normally
04:23 had in a traditional CJ6.
04:24 Yeah, it's a mind warp.
04:27 It doesn't, you try to put all these elements together.
04:30 What you see and what you get, they don't match, and it's so much better, and it's a
04:34 vehicle that ends up being better than the sum of all its parts.
04:37 That's right.
04:38 I mean, it all seems to work at the end.
04:39 It's incredible.
04:40 You guys have done a wonderful job on this.
04:42 I think it looks great, and it's an awesome vehicle out here in Moab.
04:45 (crash)
04:47 [BLANK_AUDIO]