The Jeep Gladiator…good lord, if there was ever a tank of a pickup truck, the ones that Kaiser-Willys cranked out for the U.S. military were certainly fitting of the phrase. There are many good reasons why the M-715 series of trucks are beloved. Unfortunately, their reliability wasn’t part of that deal…the reliability of the M-715 series in the Southeast Asian theatre wasn’t good to put it mildly, with broken frames, front PTO driveshafts that liked to interfere with steering and issues with the Tornado six-cylinder OHC engine putting many of the trucks in scrapyards well before their time. But don’t misunderstand what we’re pointing out…while the Kaiser Jeep had some issues for military use, in civilian hands, the trucks were overkill, brute enough to take on most any task. They were everything you could need and nothing you didn’t, and because of that reputation there is a strong fanbase surrounding the last of the pre-AMC Jeep trucks.
All year long we’ve been about waking up the slumbering, abandoned vehicles that deserve another chance, and this Kaiser is no exception to the rule. Thunderhead289 has been working on this Jeep as one of his many in-house vehicles and with any luck, might get the Tornado to spin over if he’s lucky…
