After driving the Mighty Jeep FC Concept, you will be tempted to pound your mighty chest and yell to the heavens, “I am all that is MAN!” … even if you’re a lady.
Yes, it is that amazing. You feel like you’re driving a military issued 4X4 that can go over any obstacle (which it pretty much can). It is big, brash and totally unsafe – which makes it cool – and totally non-production ready. Jeep’s kooky designers created a vehicle just because they wanted to and the end result proves to be one of the most talked about concepts built.
Using Jeep/Mopar’s all new portal axles, which costs about $12,500 a piece, and the underpinnings to a modern Jeep Wrangler, Jeep created something more akin to a Mercedes Benz Unimog than anything else. It could pass for a Soviet, Cold War era military transport too.
Jeep’s design amigos wondered what would happen if you pulled a Wrangler off its frame, placed a seat over where the battery once dwelled and crossed it with an Imperial Walker from Star Wars, the Empire Strikes Back. It is a pickup truck that has an incredibly shallow eight-foot bed. Mark Allen from Jeep Design called it a “tray” bed.
The cab is remarkably tight and anyone over six-feet will lament their lack of detachable legs.
It’s while driving this monster that you realize why Jeep will never build the Mighty Jeep FC. If you hit anything with the FC, you’ll die. Anything… bikes, walls, cars, large rodents… anything. That’s because the cab’s shape precludes anything in front of you of being a crumple zone. The first thing to go “splat!” when you hit something is your face.
The only thing Jeep opted not to do (yet) is remove the Pentastar V6 and replace it with a fire-snorting HEMI. Could you imagine this baby with a HEMI, 6-speed manual and a .50-Caliber mount?
I think it’s a bummer that the FC will never see the light of production. There is just too much safety gaffes to make it a logical production vehicle. It’s so ridiculous, so bombastic that I would love to terrify my rabbi with a ride in the Rockies in the Jeep Mighty FC!
Check out the video and tell us what you think!
