Old-school Jeep M715 Goes Hard with Hellcat Power
One of the Jeep concepts at the 2019 Easter Jeep Safari, the Five-Quarter keeps the military vibe, is ready to battle the terrain.
When one thinks of Jeep’s military origins, they usually recall the classic shape that would continue on today as the Wrangler JL. Most war footage from World War II forward has at least a little Jeep or two slogging it out on the front lines or around the base, draped in olive green or, sometimes, drab gray.
The Wrangler JL’s predecessor isn’t the only one to have served the country, though. In 1965, Jeep unveiled the M715, a big, burly, five-quarter-ton truck based on the original Gladiator ready to head into Europe and parts of Southeast Asia. The Fast Lane Truck‘s Roman Mica and Nathan Adlen spent time with one at the 2019 Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah, but unlike its brothers, this one got a dose of Hellcat dropped in, and then some.
“When people ask me all the time, ‘Mark, what’s your favorite Jeep,’ I spit out ‘CJ-5,'” said Jeep design boss Mark Allen, “because the CJ-5 is really the prototype for Jeep; when we think about anything Wrangler, it’s [the] CJ-5. But personally, a favorite of mine is the M715. Why? As a kid, it looked to me like a monster truck… It was never meant to be pretty. It was never dipped through the design office. They were really just raw.”
This M715, redubbed the ‘Five Quarter,’ was a 1968 model Jeep found on Craigslist, according to Allen. From there, the chassis was reinforced, while the front clip housing the Hellcat V8 is all-custom. The headlights were swapped with off-road units, while the new headlights are mounted within the front bumper. And of course, all 707 horses reach the ground via big, beefy tires mounted on a pair of Danas.
“There is a ridiculous amount of power in this thing,” said Adlen while driving the special trail for the Easter Safari in the Five Quarter concept, “over 707 horsepower. We do not have the wherewithal to punch it, which I would really like to do, but it would probably be a really bad idea.”
Adlen warns that this big Jeep is a bear to steer, as it’s “old-school” (meaning, no power steering), and that the acceleration is so sensitive that it can handle most of the course on idle alone.
The supercharged 6.2-liter V8 is paired with a three-speed 727 automatic, according to Allen, who adds that the overall paint scheme was meant to evoke “military metals” without going the usual olive green route. And speaking of superchargers, an 8-71 was installed in the cab of the Jeep to serve as the shifter housing for the automatic.
“It’s a little over the top,” said Allen of the Jeep concept, “but intentionally so. We’re thinking about the photographers when they look at these trucks, and we want to give them everything to look at.”
Even the bed is as hardcore as the rest of the Jeep. Allen says it’s an all-custom affair, made from water-jetted aluminum panels with milled wood for the slats. And while it will not be able to hold any sand, it can carry a few bags around, plus the pair of custom gas cans mounted near the cab.
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