If you’ve fantasized about spending weeks of your life, or tens of thousands of dollars, or both, on a Jeep off-road camping vehicle here’s some inspiration. This ’74 Jeep J20 and JK Wrangler with a house on its back represent two different approaches to custom-vehicle building, but both results are sweet.
Check out these two truck-and-builder profile videos from HeavyMetalConcepts’ Terminal Apex series: One’s a 1974 Jeep J20 passion project, wrought from a $1,000 crapcan. The other’s an over-engineered scientific masterpiece of modern off-road living.
The two vehicles are not opposites per se, but I think it’s fair to say the upgraded oldie is a little more of a creative right-brain expression while the squared-off Wrangler feels more like an exercise in exact science. Not that the J20 here appears to be half-assed in any way, but I mean, Dave Harriton of AEV says he spent “seven 100-hour weeks” on design of this JK Wrangler camper before the vehicle was assembled.
Anyway, would you rather roll in this restomod J20 with a melodious AMC 401 V8:
Or this intuitive and tactical-looking AEV Outpost II:
Also baked into that second video is a little bit of backstory on how AEV, probably one of the better-known off-road shops in America right now, started out as a business plan Harriton had to make for a college class. He took that to a bank, got a $35,000 loan, and kicked off a company that grew into a powerhouse in its industry.
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So yeah; stay in school, kids.