Driving Jeep Concepts Caps an Eventful Journey to Moab
It’s easy to understand why Easter Jeep Safari is such a big draw for fans.
There’s no question I’ve been fortunate enough to have some pretty cool trips as a car journalist. But few have been as monumental as my recent adventure to Moab, Utah for the annual Easter Jeep Safari.
I say that for a couple of reasons. One of the biggest being the fact, that as a Jeep Wrangler owner from Toledo, Ohio, the home of Jeep, the Easter Jeep Safari experience gave me an even deeper appreciation for the nameplate’s broad appeal.
Even if you aren’t a Jeep fan, I’d imagine it’s pretty hard not to be moved by the hundreds of Wranglers and Jeep enthusiasts who descend on the small town of Moab for Easter Jeep Safari.
Main Street
Main street, the major thoroughfare in Moab, is practically a never-ending parade of Jeeps showcasing any and every kind of model and custom feature imaginable. There’s everything from classic Willys Flatfenders to psychedelic-painted JK Wranglers, and Jeep enthusiasts as young as four and as old as 80 or more, as highlighted in JK Forum’s EJS gallery below.
Driving Easter Jeep Safari Concepts
My inaugural trip to Easter Jeep Safari, also known as EJS, was as a guest of Jeep’s to test drive the automaker’s new concepts, built in collaboration with FCA’s Mopar division, as covered here at JK-Forum in an earlier report.
Mark Allen, head of Jeep design, said Easter Jeep Safari and the automaker’s concept vehicles have become an important part of how Jeep stays connected to its consumers.
“These vehicles that we build for Moab are sort of baiting people a little bit. We’ll make them intentional off-road vehicles. We’ll drive them around town, and drive them on trails, and guess what? People want to stop and talk, and we want to talk to them. They want to talk to us about the car, and we’re listening, probing to see what we can do better, what we’re good at, what we’re bad at,” says Allen.
My personal favorite of the seven concepts? Probably the Jeep Quicksand because barreling a hotrod-inspired Wrangler on the trails in Moab is such a radical take on the idea of a driving a Jeep. Although I’d have to say that driving the 75th Anniversary Willys-Overland MB was one of my most memorable experiences during the trip.
The idea of being able to drive a Jeep in Moab that pays homage to the military legacy of the nameplate, built by some of the very people who live in the neighborhood I grew up in, is an epic moment of a different level.
Driving the CJ 66, another one of the more popular Jeeps first unveiled at the 2016 SEMA show, ranks as my third favorite concept, namely because while it’s almost as wild of an idea as the Quicksand concept, the 66 Jeep is a lot more practical when tackling the kind of trails found in Moab.
My trip to Moab also gave me an opportunity to experience some of Jeep’s tech-centered ideas featured on the Jeep Safari and Jeep Luminator concepts, both of which include deployable drones designed to help scout the trail ahead when off-roading.
The Great Outdoors
Then, of course, there’s the breathtaking scenery of Moab that makes the trip even more monumental. I shared part of the experience on my Instagram page during a boat journey to the base camp for the Jeep concept test drive.
But as Allen pointed out, it’s really the comradery among Jeep lovers you find at the Easter Jeep Safari that makes the trip special for those who have some kind of connection to the nameplate.
“It’s a homecoming,” says Allen. “You’ll see license plates in town from all over, and I think it just keeps growing.”
