Jeep Brings Bold Concepts to Moab for Easter Safari's 60th Anniversary

On Fins and Things, where the slickrock corrugates the Sand Flats Recreation Area east of Moab into a demanding series of shelves and drops, three of Jeep's newest factory concepts did what auto-show displays never can: they got dirty. For the 60th anniversary of the Easter Jeep Safari, running March 28 through April 5, Jeep arrived not just with six concept vehicles but with a genuine argument about where the brand is heading.

The six-rig lineup included three Wrangler-based builds, a Gladiator, a Grand Wagoneer Commander, and the concept that drew the most sustained attention: the XJ Pioneer, a restomod built around a 1986 two-door Cherokee sourced from Reno, Nevada. The donor car arrived at Jeep's design facility with 80,000 original miles and a maintenance log still recorded in a notebook, originally purchased new for $16,487. Chris Piscatelli, Jeep's lead design manager for Wrangler and Gladiator, had its unibody cut up for trail upgrades including a 2-inch lift, 33-inch BFG all-terrain tires on custom 17-inch wheels, a disconnecting sway bar, and carbon fender flares, while the original 2.8-liter V6 stayed in place. "I had a little crisis of conscience," Piscatelli said of modifying the pristine car.

Behind the wheel on Fins and Things, the XJ Pioneer's most striking quality was its lightness. The steering wheel is thin and nearly frictionless, the kind you work with two fingers and one arm out the window, nothing like anything sold today. The gold paint with a pinstripe runs down bodywork that still reads unmistakably as 1984 Cherokee.

The Anvil 715 brings the most ambition and the most displacement. Built on a Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, it carries Jeep's 6.4-liter HEMI V8 rated at 470 horsepower and wears a reshaped nose that extends roughly four inches forward, mimicking the blunt, shark-faced profile of Kaiser Jeep's M715 from the 1960s. Limb risers run from hood to roof, a functional detail pulled directly from military rigs designed to sweep brush clear on overgrown tracks. A fixed roof with integrated skylights and a purpose-built rack round out a build aimed squarely at long-range overlanding. On the climbs, 37-inch BFG KO3 all-terrain tires and that V8 made deliberate throttle input nearly optional.

The third concept on the trail was the JPP Buzzcut, a two-door Wrangler JL with its roofline chopped two full inches and a fastback stance finished in Vitamin C Orange. A 2-inch JPP lift on Bilstein shocks, 37-inch BFG KM3 mud-terrain tires, and a Warn winch on the steel front bumper complete a build that reads as a direct pitch to the aftermarket customization crowd.

Jeep has shown concepts at Easter Jeep Safari for decades, but the 60th edition carries deliberate timing. The XJ Pioneer's arrival coincides with Stellantis reviving the Cherokee nameplate in the United States for 2026, making a factory restomod of the original 1984 XJ as clear a heritage signal as the brand could send. What gets proven on Fins and Things rarely stays there.