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2015 Easter Jeep Safari Concepts First Drive

Imagine if once a year your grandmother made a chocolate cake. Not a chocolate cake, that chocolate cake. Blow-your-mind chocolate cake. But she won't ever let you have any – you can only have the spatula and whatever's left over in the mixing bowl. And you don't care. You look forward to that spatula and bowl every year because – "Gadzooks!" – that is some stupendous cake. For us, that cake is the Easter Jeep Safari. An annual pilgrimage to Moab, Utah for a taste of what Fiat-Chrysler's off-road brand has cooked up in its Design Dome. "No, you can't have any," the company tells us, "but you can taste it here, then dream about it until next Easter." In Detroit, Jeep gave us a close look at the seven concepts it built for this year's 49th annual event. Then it went a step further and took those show cars to Mill Canyon, UT, to crawl the red rocks in Jeep's natural habitat. After all, the company calls Moab, "Our home away from home." And it's not true that we never get more than a taste of Jeep's conceptual goodness – 2011's JK8 pickup conversion kit is a slice of Safari creation we can now take home, for instance, as are the hood decals that adorned two of the concepts we drove this year. Pietro Gorlier, President and CEO of Mopar, told us that the evolution of Jeep Performance Parts came from listening to journalists and customers in his first year on the job in 2010. So there's that. But still, we want more cake. Like a full-on production Wrangler Africa. These being one-of-a-kind prototypes traipsing through a canyon of nearly immovable objects, we didn't go fast, we didn't go far, we didn't push hard. But we did drive all the Easter Jeeps, and even just this small taste was outstanding. View 30 Photos Jeep Chief While we listened attentively to the detailed spiels on all this conceptual candy, one question ran through our minds: "How am I going to get in the Chief before everyone else?" And we could see the same thought every colleague's face, those scheming bastards. And why not? The Ocean Blue tribute to the venerable Cherokee of old grabbed everyone's attention since the first teaser images weeks before the event, in part because the vintage truck is up there with mermaids for rarity and lustworthiness. Anything that goes this far in obeisance to that classic Jeep is always going to score huge marks. The Chief is a four-door Wrangler underneath, but in many ways it feels nothing like a Wrangler.

We test the latest Easter Jeep Safari off roaders in Moab

The Easter Jeep Safari began as a play for tourism: in 1967 the Moab Chamber of Commerce invited "the Jeeping community" to ride a single trail on the Saturday before Easter. The attendees were mostly members and friends of the Chamber of Commerce. Now, 52 years later, the nine-day Safari takes place on more than 40 trails and lures thousands of Jeepers, who put on one of the biggest and best modified Jeep shows in the world. Cue the designers at Jeep and Mopar, who mastermind new ideas every year for what a modified Jeep could look like, with inspiration from the experiences they have and the mods they see at the Safari. We flew to Moab to drive the seven newest concepts, and start the recap with the disappointments: The B-Ute and the 4-Speed, but only because we couldn't drive them. Before the day had properly begun, those two designer treats had tapped out. The Renegade – internally codenamed B Utility, hence the "B-Ute" name – always feels like The Little Engine that Could when placed next to its halo Wrangler brother. In addition to the cosmetic changes, designers put the arcane caption "Lt. Jenkins" above "FWD1337" (explanations of those two memes here and here). The B-Ute would have been nice to drive if for no other reason than shouting "Leeeroy Jenkins" all around the course. View 16 Photos We rued missing out on the 4-Speed. The blue wonder is the third of a conceptual trio called "The Lightweights," focused on nimble trail handling provided by weight savings. The first of the Lightweights, the 2011 Pork Chop concept, cut 900 pounds from a standard Wrangler Sport. The 2013 Stitch concept lopped 1,100 pounds. The 4 Speed omits 900 pounds. Jeep brought both earlier concepts, and they were revelations. The Stitch was a throwback to stripped-out Dukes-of-Hazard-style Jeep romping. Round vents at the edges of the instrument panel act as side mirrors, Fiat Abarth seats grip occupants, the lemon-hued bikini top sewn from a transparent welding curtain bathes the cockpit in yellow light. Daisy Duke drove a 1980 CJ-7 that had 87 horsepower to move 2,700 pounds. The Stitch weighs about 3,200 pounds, but gets 290 hp. The Stitch skimmed over rocks and floated over sand, so light on its feet that Jeep lead designer Mark Allen told us the 35-inch Mickey Thompson MTZ tires were inflated to a mere 3 psi. The 4-Speed concept's pretty close to the Stitch weight thanks to carbon bits and lighter four-cylinder engine.

Jeep Renegade Hell's Revenge is the Harley rider's Jeep

Well, here's a thing. Yes, it's a Jeep Renegade. Yes, it has flames on it. And no, we aren't really sure how to feel about it. This is the Renegade Hell's Revenge. Presumably named after the Hell's Revenge Trail in Moab, this one-off baby Jeep is the product of Italian tuning house Garage Italia Customs and draws inspiration from the collected works of Harley-Davidson. It's not the first time a car company has attached the Milwaukee icon's badge to one of its vehicles – the company has a long history of partnering with Ford for special edition pickup trucks – but it's the first time we can recall the brand teaming with Jeep. The Hell's Revenge was created because of the 25th annual European H.O.G. Rally, a big Harley-Davidson festival being held in Portoroz, Slovenia this weekend. And since Europeans have a bizarre infatuation with Harleys, Jeep probably saw an excellent advertising opportunity and slotted the off-road brand in as the event's main sponsor. We have to admire the workmanship on this diesel-powered Renegade. Ignore the fact that there's a flame motif, and the actual paint job itself is absolutely lovely. According to FCA's official release, GIC used four layers of matte paint before applying fluorescent paint. The dashboard also gets a bright, exuberant flame motif, while the seats are a combination of Foglizzo Nappa leather and black denim. The functional changes are minor. BFGoodrich tires and a jacked-up suspension provide extra capability, and there are a pair of adorable LED spotlights ahead of the two A-pillars. It's an impressive effort. Really. But when you remember that the last Chrysler product to wear a flame motif was the PT Cruiser, we wonder if Jeep knew what kind of company its newest CUV would be in. Related Video: