Okay, for the most part, it’s a 2020 Jeep Gladiator S. It’s got the 3.6L V6, it’s an automatic, and it has all of the goodies that you would expect from a brand-new JT Gladiator. If it wasn’t for the re-imagining that Preferred Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram of Grand Haven, Michigan performed on this rig, we wouldn’t be writing about it. Nobody would…it’d be another new Jeep on the lot and nobody would be bothered. But one look at this exact unit and you start to get a proper feeling of a flashback. Jeep’s CJ-8 Scrambler wasn’t a popular model and didn’t sell in big numbers, but over the years Jeep fans have come to love them. The retro stripes, the roll bar with the KC Highlighters, and the white “wagon spoke” wheels…some retro paint schemes look good, some look horrible, but this one…all the way down to the script on the tailgate, this works so well.

Retro can be good and can be cringe-inducing. Think about the 1997 Volkswagen New Beetle and the 2005 Ford Mustang. Both were blatantly capitalizing on their past, both sold well, but the VW seemed a bit too forced due to the legacy of the original Type 1/Beetle, while the Mustang seemed almost like a natural fit. The Dodge Challenger’s body is a larger profile but has plenty of E-body like shapes to it, while the Chevrolet Camaro, try as it might, just isn’t quite as clever in cutting the same comparison to the 1967-69 first-generation shape. The Gladiator, as with the Wrangler lineage as a whole, is purposefully retro, always aspiring back to the days of the Willys CJ-2A in some way or form. But why does this Scrambler get-up work so well? It’s a throwback to 1981 in many ways, but with brighter oranges in the stripes. It looks dimensionally correct, not like a Gladiator with a cool stripe kit. Even the wheels seem right-sized in most angles. Sure, they’re significantly bigger than the 15-inchers that were on the originals, but here they look proportionally accurate.

Whatever it is, this thing rules. If you want to be the owner, better have about $55,000 at the ready before you make an offer. You can CLICK HERE to go to the dealership’s page.