- The J6 is a two-door version of the Gladiator with a custom truck bed.
- It features many prototype parts, including a front stinger bar and beadlock wheels.
- This is one of six concepts specially made for Jeep’s annual Easter Safari in Moab, Utah.
Jeep's new Gladiator is only available in one configuration: a four-door crew-cab body with a five-foot bed. And surprisingly, even though Jeep has a long history of pickup trucks, the Gladiator is the first to have four full doors. So to celebrate that history of two-door trucks, for this year's Easter Jeep Safari, Jeep has created this, the J6 concept.
After starting with a Wrangler Rubicon, Jeep created a custom two-door body and fitted a six-foot bed, which is a full 12 inches longer than that of the standard Gladiator. Overall length is 201.0 inches, over a foot shorter than the 218.1-inch Gladiator, while the J6's wheelbase matches that of the four-door Wrangler at 118.4 inches. Like the Gladiator and the Wrangler, the J6 has a removable roof—in this case, a hard top.
Mounted in the bed are a custom steel roll bar and a spare tire carrier, the latter of which Jeep calls a "prototype" (meaning it will most likely be made an option in the future). The 17-inch beadlock wheels are also prototype pieces and are painted Brass Monkey with a silver ring, providing contrast with the Metallic Brilliant Blue paint, which was originally offered on the 1978 Jeep Honcho truck. The spray-in bedliner is finished in the same blue color. A two-inch lift kit from the Jeep Performance Parts catalog allows for the 37-inch tires, and the rock rails taken from the Gladiator are augmented by additional tubular bars.
The special exterior mods don't stop there. Another prototype part is the two-inch stinger bar mounted to the front bumper. A total of 10 five-inch LED lights, available from Jeep, are mounted on the bumper, A-pillars, and roll bar. The J6 also gets badging in a retro Jeep script on the fenders and tailgate, which we think looks rad.
That Jeep logo is also applied to the steering wheel, and the awesome blue exterior color is brought into the interior, where it's used on the dashboard and the accent stitching of the leather seats and armrests. The auxiliary switches on the dashboard—an option on production Gladiators—control all the LED lights. Jeep makes a point to call out the trailer-brake-control switch on the dash, so the J6 has at least some amount of towing capability, although no figures are given.
Jeep also provides no hope as to production prospects for the J6, but the truck looks extremely well done and thought out. We wouldn't be surprised to see a two-door Gladiator appear at some point in its production cycle—but there's also the possibility that Jeep could offer a two-door conversion kit through its parts catalog.
Daniel Golson has been an avid car enthusiast since he was a toddler, and after spending a few years studying automotive design in college, he made the jump to Car and Driver in 2016. When not evangelizing about four-door coupes, he can be found watching The Real Housewives with his two cats.
