Everything but the grille and hood is re-engineered on this off-road terror
You have already read about Winslow Bent’s conversions of 1945-68 Dodge Power Wagons. Bent remakes those classic trucks in all their original glory but with improvements ranging from fully boxed frames to modern GM LSA V8s. In between are remade classic gauges, modern seats and paint so thick it looks — and for all we know tastes — like cherry frosting.
Well, it turns out Power Wagons aren’t the only thing Bent’s company, Legacy Classic Trucks of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, can make.
“I knew I wanted to do a Jeep,” he says.
Problem was, everyone with a parts catalog had already done a Jeep, and in every conceivable way. Maybe.
“We wanted to re-envision the Jeep using our style,” Bent says. “I quickly focused on the Scrambler.”
Scrambler was an appearance package on the long-wheelbase 1981-86 Jeep CJ-8s. It was 2 feet longer overall and almost a foot longer in wheelbase than the CJ-7.
“When Jeep came out with the longer-wheelbase vehicle, it achieved two things,” says Bent. “First, all of a sudden it became a lot less tippy off-road, and (second) they rode better.”
So Legacy Classic Trucks started making Scramblers, but not just out of the CJ-8.
“Bring us any original Jeep CJ, and we’ll turn it into a Scrambler — a 1981-86 long-wheelbase with the beautiful butt that hangs out an extra 14 inches or so.”
The model has several advantages.
“When I see most Jeeps running around, half of people’s possessions are strapped to the outside. With this setup, two adults, two kids, dogs and camping gear all actually fit inside the vehicle. That allowed us to go with a design where we didn’t have to worry about spare tire carriers and all of this body armor hanging off the Jeep. It keeps it really clean. I actually like the way a Jeep looks.”
Our Jeep came with the Dual-Sport package for better off-roadworthiness.
Legacy even does that 1980s custom striping. But, as with the Power Wagons, this is a lot more. Or less, if you’re looking at weight.
“When I started thinking about ‘Jeepness,’ I went all the way back to the beginnings of Jeep,” says Bent. “They were supposed to be really light so that four soldiers could pick one up and carry it across a trench. There’s a whole less-is-more concept with Jeeps. Now, when you’re running around Moab, you see people in these new JK Jeeps that are fully outfitted and weigh 6,000 pounds. They struggle to get up a rock obstacle and can’t understand why they can’t get up it. It’s kind of an oinker.”
So the answer, as is often the case, is to add lightness. In this case that means making everything possible out of aluminum.
“Every place we could: an aluminum body, doors, hood, fenders, engine, transmission, transfer case, wheels.”
Bent says that gives it a curb weight of 3,300 to 3,400 pounds. The frame and axles are steel, of course, “much stronger than a Jeep traditionally comes with.” The axles are Dynatrac Dana One Tons: a full-floating ProRock 60 in back and a 44/60 in front. The rear diff on our test-Scrambler was the optional locking unit. Shocks are long-travel Kings with bump stops; our rig had 37-inch Toyo Open Country RT tires.
“It looks really tough — and is really tough,” Bent says.
DynaTrac Dana One-Ton axles.
To investigate this claim, we hop in and take off up a trail. Four-wheel low engages via floor-mounted levers. Within a couple hundred feet from where we got in, in the mountains of Southern California, we are creeping up semi-washed-out trails like a four-wheeled centipede. Our Legacy is the Dual-Sport model, the more rock-crawlinger of the two Legacy Scramblers offered. The Legacy Classic rides lower and has better on-road manners. While a Chevy LS3 V8 is standard, ours has the optional Gale Banks 630T turbo-diesel V6, the same engine used in the Maserati Ghibli diesel but re-engineered by Banks to make 240 hp and 420 lb-ft of torque. It is mated to a six-speed automatic. It crawls happily up anything we aim it at.
“Go ahead, put the left wheels in that ditch,” Bent says.
We do, and the Scrambler eats it up.
On the pavement, it is a little bit more of a handful; not difficult, but not something you’d drive to Moab and back. You might trailer it to Moab, though, and then start having fun. You could tow it with your Legacy Power Wagon!
With all those newly-engineered parts –- only the hood and grille remain from the donor Jeep — these projects are costly, from the Speedhut CJ gauges to the hand-stitched Nardi steering wheel and the Recaro seats. Thus, the Legacies start at about $ 110,000 for the LS3 V8-powered rides and $ 125,000 for the diesel. Wait time is six months.
“It’s not for the guy who wants to buy a $ 6,000 CJ on Auto Trader and add his own lift kit,” says Bent.
Indeed, we imagine somebody like Ralph Lauren owning one of these at the Double RL or maybe Tom Cruise for his Telluride cabin. Who knows? And if a Scrambler’s not enough, you can still order a Power Wagon from Legacy. But be patient, there’s a one-year wait for those.
