Tricky GuRi

The AEV Brute Double Cab looks like it could have rolled out of the Wrangler factory in Toledo. There’s attention to detail here that’s not present on many of the custom Jeeps we’ve seen at SEMA. Company founder Dave Harriton insists on doing things right; he’s hired Jeep engineers who worked on the JK Wrangler and makes sure that materials and coatings match OEM spec wherever possible. Chrysler seems to trust AEV, too, because it uses the Missoula, Montana–based company as a supplier for some Jeep parts, including certain pieces of the JK8 conversion kit, Jeep’s own Wrangler pickup solution.

But there are a few things AEV can offer that Jeep won’t from the factory, namely a V-8 swap. Using a 2012 Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon as the new Brute’s basis, AEV is happy to leave the stock 3.6-liter V-6 in place. Or you can trade up to a Hemi V-8, either the 5.7-liter or SRT’s new 6.4. (Our own John Phillips recently tested an AEV Wrangler Rubicon fitted with the 5.7. He did not find it wanting for power.) This particular show truck was outfitted with just about everything AEV will offer on the Double Cab, including the 6.4-liter Hemi and the W5A580 five-speed automatic that normally backs it up in a Grand Cherokee SRT8.

About the bed: It’s a composite piece—as opposed to the steel box used on AEV’s TJ-based Brute pickup—which Harriton tells us saves about 140 pounds. The stock Wrangler Unlimited chassis needs a couple of modifications before the 61-inch bed (that’s 11 inches longer than the two-door JK8′s) can be installed. There’s a 16-inch extension in the rear, as well as a 23-inch stretch between the wheels. To accommodate the two-door and four-door Wranglers in the factory, Jeep builds separate front and rear frame sections and uses two different midsections. AEV just replaces that middle part with a longer piece, made of the same high-strength steel. The company fabricates a steel bulkhead to go behind the rear seats, as well as a new rear section for the hardtop, which uses the stock front Freedom Top roof panels. The resulting Wrangler measures 216 inches in length. Which is, like, really long.

AEV plans to sell a couple hundred of the Double Cabs per year at a yet-to-be-announced price—AEV’s current conversions range in price from $45K to about $100K, so figure on nearing or cresting triple digits for the new Brute. The Jeep trucks will be assembled in the company’s Wixom, Michigan, facility, and will be available with all of the options currently offered on its other Jeeps, including Dynatrac Dana axles, snorkels, its own stamped-steel front bumper, and full suspension kits.

Jeep is well known for producing special editions of its go-anywhere, do-anything  Wrangler, although these might be the first created specifically for France. As an automotive marketing partner for Salon Nautique de Paris—the Paris Boat Show—Jeep enlisted the help of design firm Style & Design of Maurepas, France, to create this pair of “Nautic” concept vehicles based on the four-door Wrangler Unlimited. Both feature a 200-hp, 302-lb-ft, 2.8-liter turbo-diesel mated to a six-speed manual transmission.

Leather, Leather, Everywhere

The Wrangler Nautic White is inspired by the world of sailing, and offers “all the comfort, design, and elegance of a sailing boat,” according to Jeep’s ever-so-slightly hyperbolic press release. The Nautic White edition features bright-white leather on the seating surfaces, steering wheel, manual shift boot, and passenger grab handle, and is fitted with “deck-finish” (read: teak-look) faux wood trim on the steering wheel spokes, dash and door trim, center console, and floor mats. On the outside, the Nautic White edition gets a chrome grille, white taillight surrounds, white bumpers, and more teak-style “deck finish” trim for the running boards and cargo cover. Open the cargo cover, and you’ll find more decking on the cargo floor. Gleaming chrome is slathered on the door handles, mirrors, fuel-filler ring, and the outer rim of the spare-tire cover. The face of the spare cover and even the fenders are covered in white leather, thereby ensuring that the concept’s gleaming 20-inch wheels will never, ever slog through mud, negotiate a boulder, or ford any water deeper than the beads of condensation that fall from bystanders’ chilled martini glasses. Once they arrive at the boating club, occupants can lounge on the pair of included white canvas chairs under a matching canvas awning that affixes to the cargo area posts. The only thing missing? An actual sail.

The Wrangler Nautic Black concept is intended to evoke a more motorized, yachting lifestyle, and is essentially a photo negative of the Nautic White with more or less the same modifications rendered in “navy black”—save the wood-grained appliqués, which are the same natural hue.

You Didn’t Expect French-Designed Jeeps to be Butch, Did You?

We know what you’re thinking: Only in France could a vehicle as rugged as a Jeep Wrangler be ninnified to this extent. Still, while we won’t get the chance to see them up close—our credentials for the Paris Boat Show were, uh, lost in le poste— we have to admit that they look pretty stunning. We can even think of a few marinas on our side of the pond where they would fit right in, but Jeep firmly asserts that the pair will remain concepts.

Each Friday on the Jeep_® Blog, we explore the Jeep brand’s iconic heritage by highlighting a different historical vehicle. This week’s vehicle is the 1953 Jeep Willys CJ-3B.

1953 was a big year in Jeep vehicle history, as the Kaiser-Frazer Corporation bought Willys-Overland and changed its name to Willys Motors. Beyond the change in control (and name), the Jeep Willys CJ-3B “Universal” was introduced.

The defining features of the CJ-3B were twofold (but related). In replacing the CJ-3A (manufactured from 1949 to 1953), the CJ-3B adopted the more powerful F4-134 “Hurricane” inline-4 piston engine that Jeep Willys Pickup Trucks and Jeep Willys Wagons already used. As a result, the CJ-3B features a noticeably higher hood and grille to accommodate the larger engine.

Manufactured until 1963, the Jeep Willys CJ-3B represents another important step in transitioning the brand and vehicles into postwar American civilian life. Still ultra-capable like the military models, the CJ-3B was a progression of vehicle power and fuel efficiency, which remain core to the Jeep brand to this day.

Keep following the Jeep Blog for Heritage Fridays as we dig into the Jeep brand’s iconic history, including more about vehicles from the 1950s.