Each year, thousands of Jeep enthusiasts descend on Moab, Utah to share ideas, explore the backcountry, and test their limits on slickrock. While our passion is certainly remote vehicle travel, we also love a day on the trail, keeping our driving skills sharp and evaluating new equipment. This year was no exception, and this was our adventure at EJS, starting with the Jeep concept vehicle day and continuing on to a trail day with the new Gladiator.
The Gladiator Wayout and the Flatbill were both fun in their own right.
The attention to detail on these concepts is amazing, including a shifter column constructed from a supercharger!
From an oldshoot Gladiator build with a 700hp trackhawk engine, to an early 90s Comanche with 11 original miles.
My favorite vehicle of the day was this Jeep J10 pickup in original condition and absolutely perfect. I would love to drive this vehicle south and get lost in Copper Canyon.
My second favorite Jeep of the week was this original T1, which was the precursor to the J8. Equipped with a diesel engine and little else, this simple and robust machine left me daydreaming about crossing the Empty Quarter with just a backpack and a half-dozen fuel cans of diesel.
I also really liked this all-white Gladiator Rubicon. Perfect.
Jeep also brought out an Airstream Basecamp X trailer, easily towing it to the slickrock slab near the Monitor and Merrimack mesas.
Gladiator Trail Ride:
On Tuesday, I joined a small group of journalists to test the new Gladiator on a remote track south of Moab. Overall, the vehicle is impressive and perfectly Jeep. It will be exciting to see how fellow overlanders begin to modify this platform.
