This Jeep Grand Wagoneer Is An Off-Road Hotel With A Hard-Sided Rooftop Camper, And It Looks Incredible On 35-inch Tires

It’s that wonderful time of year again. Jeep has rolled into its 57th Annual Easter Jeep Safari with a lineup of awesome concepts for Jeep fans to drool about. My colleagues, Thomas and David, have you covered on most of the concepts hitting the trails this year. I want to focus on just one of them, the Grand Wagoneer Overland Concept. In this concept, Jeep took its Grand Wagoneer, slapped a custom RedTail Overland Skyloft on its roof, then modified the Grand Wagoneer to make it more capable. The Skyloft is basically a roof tent hard-sided camper! Let’s take a look.

Jeep has a record of bringing incredible concepts to the Easter Jeep Safari and it looks like this year is no exception. Tuscadero pink rocks on the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4xe Concept and the Jeep Wrangler Magneto 3.0 Concept has some seriously meaty tires. As I said, you’ll read about those from David and Thomas. We’re here for the camper, which is just as cool inside as it looks outside.

Jeep says that the Grand Wagoneer Overland Concept starts with a Grand Wagoneer powered by the 3.0-liter Hurricane Twin Turbo 510. As the name suggests, this powerplant produces 510 horsepower and 500 lb-ft torque. Jeep touts this engine as providing both good performance and better fuel economy than a naturally-aspirated V8. Starting with the exterior, the overlanding camper took a regular Grand Wagoneer, hacked up some of its sheetmetal, and stuffed in 35-inch tires mounted to custom 18-inch wheels. Jeep says that this gives the Grand Wagoneer a 1.5-inch lift over stock.

David commented that this concept is the coolest of all of this year’s because of the wheels. I agree. The Grand Wagoneer is fine as it is, but adding some off-road kit? Now it’s looking pretty sweet! [Editor’s Note: The Grand Wagoneer just looks right with these big tires, given its giant dimensions. -DT].

Jeep only added to the awesomeness with a Warn winch, laser lights, and orange accents. Framing the aforementioned wheel and tire package are larger wheel well openings featuring large wheel flares. Toss in the new front and rear valences with everything else and Jeep says that this Grand Wagoneer also has “aggressive approach and departure angles,” though it does not say what those numbers are.

From Uranium To Safaris

We’ll get to the interior in a moment, but something has caught my attention. Every year at about this time, car sites love to write about the Easter Jeep Safari and Jeep’s alluring concepts, but it’s actually pretty wild how it all started in the first place.

The very first Easter Jeep Safari was held in 1967 by the Moab Chamber of Commerce. Back then, the Safari was just a one-day trail ride on the Saturday before Easter. According to Jeep aftermarket retailer Quadratec, the original idea was to bring tourism to an area then known for the Atlas Uranium Mill uranium-ore processing facility. Moab itself was once apparently known as the “uranium capital of the world.” Here’s what the tractors used in uranium mining looked like:

The Moab Sun News reports that in those days, the uranium boom was so huge that Moab schools had multiple shifts, you had to wait to use the phone, and the infrastructure just couldn’t keep up with the insane demand from the influx of prospectors. Wells ran dry, sewers clogged up, and people were renting out backyards and living out of travel trailers. Everyone wanted a piece of the nuclear future.

In creating the Easter Jeep Safari, the Moab Chamber of Commerce created another kind of boom. The first Safari drew in nearly 150 vehicles, which is pretty awesome by itself. The Times-Independent reports that in 1978, that number rose to about 2,000 participants. Chamber leaders acted as tour guides as groups of off-roaders traversed a route through the Behind the Rocks Trail. In the early 1980s, the torch would be passed to the Red Rock 4 Wheelers organization.

Jeep has long been part of the action and over the years it has hauled out concepts that make us dream. Who can forget the fantastic 2012 Jeep Mighty FC Concept (above)? Anyway, it’s pretty neat how well the Chamber’s plan for tourism has worked out. Every year, thousands of off-roaders descend into Moab and I bet some of them don’t even know the town’s connection to the nuclear industry.

This Concept’s Party Trick

Back to the Grand Wagoneer Overland Concept, the highlight of this build is the RedTail Overland Skyloft and how Jeep crafted the Grand Wagoneer’s interior around it. Now, this looks like a rooftop tent, but it’s really a camper on a roof. However, RedTail Overland does things a little differently. The company was founded in 2020 by husband and wife team Ty & Annie Tatro. The pair spent years at an expedition vehicle manufacturer where Ty eventually became co-owner and lead designer while Annie was the chief sales & marketing officer. In 2019, the pair decided to design a camper that fit their desires for something nimble, easy to set up, and with more amenities and safety than a tent.

The pair felt that building a motorhome wasn’t going to work because those can’t really go everywhere and they can require a lot of maintenance. On the other end was the rooftop tent, which solved the mobility and maintenance problem, but it’s also a tent, which isn’t the best for camping in wind, rain, or snow. The pair also note that tents are not recommended for bear country. Their solution? A roof hard-sided camper!

When traveling, the RedTail Overland Skyloft is closed like a rooftop tent. When you’re ready to set up camp, the carbon fiber-constructed camper unravels in just 10 seconds and you’re ready to sleep in 30 seconds.

Then you can hop inside and enjoy some of what a travel trailer has to offer. RedTail Overland says that its roof camper has an insulated shell, dual pane windows, a diesel heater, and even an electrical system. You can get it with up to 380 Watts of solar and with a lithium power station with up to 60 Amp Hour capacity. The company notes that the camper has a bunch of LED lights as well as outlets for your USB devices as well as 110V appliances.

All of this is independent, so no vehicle modifications are required. RedTail Overland compares this to a teardrop trailer, but on your roof. Though, it should be noted that this weighs 330 pounds, so it’s also a bit heavier than many rooftop tents. RedTail Overland is yet to release a price, but says that to expect a cost “significantly higher than a traditional rtt.”

For the Jeep Grand Wagoneer Overland Concept, the design team ditched the second and third rows of seating then converted the rear-most sunroof into a weatherproof pass-through entrance to the Skyloft on the roof. A fore/aft sliding door with a step allows for easier access. That step also functions as a table.

The Skyloft appears to offer a comfy sleeping space for two while the Grand Wagoneer below looks like a nice living room. Jeep says that the cargo floor has been covered in truck bed liner so you could have your muddy gear back there without messing up the nice interior. The rest of the Grand Wagoneer’s interior has been given a little makeover with a throw rug, two beanbags, some pillows, and a custom ambient lighting setup.

Forbidden Fruit

Like so many of these concepts, I wouldn’t expect to be able to buy the Grand Wagoneer Overland Concept anytime soon. That said, the roof camper is eventually going into production with pricing to be announced. Sadly, as RedTail Overland says, you can expect it to be an expensive and heavy piece of equipment.

Overall, this concept rocks and I’d love to spend a weekend with it. Really, this Grand Wagoneer would be a blast to take to King of the Hammers and basically camp wherever I want to. Given the deletion of the rear seats and the roof camper, this is really ideal for two people, maybe three in a pinch, which is fine! I’d love to watch a sunrise from within the camper.

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