Posts Tagged ‘4wheeling’
53 Cool Concept Cars… Part XVI
- Image via Wikipedia
Mil-Spec.
It is a simple grouping of letters… it means Military Specification. And it is one that many enthusiasts of different disciplines get excited about. Aviation hobbyists, off-roaders, campers and others love to have equipment that is ‘Mil-Spec’.
What Mil-Spec generally means is ‘reliable, tough and simple’. While there is a lot of military equipment that is very complicated and sophisticated, the components are generally quite proven, reliable and simple. And anything that is designed for use in a battle zone HAS to be tough.
When we think of Mil-Spec, we think of Jeeps, HMMVs and deuce and a half trucks. Black-out lights, covered toggle switches and waterproof electronics also come to mind.
Off-road enthusiasts LOVE military hardware. The entire hobby evolved from the Jeep, built for World War II. Reliable, tough and simple are perfectly exemplified in the original Jeeps. One of my favorite vehicles aside from the original Jeeps is the Kaiser-Jeep M-715. It was loosely based on the Jeep Gladiator pick-up trucks, but WAY tougher. It was rated at 5/4 tons or 1 1/4 tons. It came with very beefy running gear (Dana 60s front and rear, for those that are wondering).
- Image via Wikipedia
Chrysler actually paid homage to the M-715 by making a custom show truck/concept based on the latest JK Wrangler platform that was influenced by the M-715 from the 1960s (they were only produced from 1967-1969).
I’d like to go the other way with one… start the build with a vintage M-715, finishing it out with modern running gear from a Dodge 3500 4×4, including a Cummins Turbo-Diesel. Back it up with the bullet-proof 6 speed manual from the same truck, and that would be the basis for a VERY tough, stout rig. The interior would be built out with a lot of touches from the current generation Wranglers… but everything would need to be highly water-resistant if not water-proof. After all, this is a truck with a removable roof. And since the roof does come off, one of the first additions would have to be a tough roll cage.
What I would avoid would be all of the candy stuff… seats, windows, 10 speaker stereo, etc. I might not mind air-conditioning… but that is because it gets SO hot here in the south… but it loses its affect when the roof is off. I also wouldn’t mind a nice GPS NAV system… it would be in keeping with the ‘Go Anywhere’ attitude of the truck.
What do you think.
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- 53 Cool Concept Cars… Part XV (lanebailey.com)
- 53 Cool Concept Cars… Part XIV (lanebailey.com)
- 53 Cool Concepts… Part XIII (lanebailey.com)
- 53 Cool Concepts, Part XII (lanebailey.com)
- 53 Cool Concept Cars… Part X (lanebailey.com)
View Comments53 Cool Concept Cars… Part X
As I was contemplating this series, I had visions of street rods and customs dancing in my head… and I keep having these thoughts about big diesel powered trucks… RVs, tractor-trailers and delivery trucks…
View CommentsWayback Wednesday… Incrementalism…
Two years ago I wrote a blog post called “Incrementalism“… It is actually a favorite term among a small group of my friends. We coined the term in regards to Jeep modifications. Instead of doing the work over and over, but just a little at a time, causing a tremendous amount of laber of spending WAY more money, just go full in the first time.
View Comments53 Cool Concept Cars… Part IV
I love Jeeps… I think that they are VERY cool vehicles. In fact, not only is the Jeep credited as one of the decisive tools that helped the US win World War II, the Modern Museum of Art (MOMA) in New York has displayed a 1941 Jeep GP and a 1953 M38A1. These are the militarized versions of the CJ3A and the CJ5.
View Comments53 Cool Concept Cars… Part I
I couldn’t help myself… I’ve been kicking this one around for a while now. Video Sunday has become kind of boring… video is everywhere… it isn’t new anymore.
So I thought I might talk about some more cars… like the 101 Cars series. But these cars aren’t old… ok, some of them might be old, but they haven’t been floating around. In fact, they may only exist in my head. It would be fun to be able to just build street rods, off-road rigs, resto-mods and concept cars all of the time. Not ‘customer cars’, fitting THEIR ideas and desires, but my own. And they might be pretty twisted.
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