One of the most iconic mail vehicles of all time is the humble postal Jeep. Ask any mail nerd about their favorite truck and the postal Jeep would probably be second only to the more legendary Grumman LLV. Sadly, America has been without a proper mail jeep for a long time, and step van builder Morgan Olson wants to change that. Meet the new Morgan Olson Kestrel work truck, and oh yeah, the postal Jeep is back. Chances are, if you’re driving one of these, you’re getting paid to drive the coolest new Jeep in America.
The Morgan Olson Kestrel was recently unveiled at the National Postal Forum, which is a thing I didn’t know existed until now. The National Postal Forum, which concluded on April 30, calls itself the “Premier Mailing and Shipping Conference” where players in the mail space show off their latest innovations. Presumably, the National Postal Forum is the most times you’ll probably hear “if it fits, it ships” outside of a post office.
On May 8, Morgan Olson went to social media to talk about what it brought to the mail show. Parked next to a Morgan Olson C250e electric delivery truck was this, the new Kestrel. People on social media were so shocked that they thought it had to be a joke or a render. But, dear reader, this ride is so very real and so awesome.
Resident postal Jeep man David Tracy tells me that this is not a revival of the iconic Jeep DJ like his old Project POStal. In case you’ve forgotten what that rustbucket looked like, check it out:
Instead, David points out that this is more of a spiritual successor to the modified Jeep CJ8 Scramblers used for postal service in Alaska.
As the story goes, sometime around 1984, the U.S. Postal Service commissioned approximately 230 Jeep CJ8s to be built for evaluation on rural postal routes. These Jeeps had a metal roof that Jeep called the World Cab and the roof wasn’t meant for the domestic market, from Curbside Classic:
CJ-8 bodied Jeeps were produced both in Australia (sold as the Overlander) and Venezuela – with both countries receiving a fixed hard top version dubbed the “World Cab” by Jeep. World Cab CJ-8s were never sold to the North American public, though the US Postal Service purchased 230 right-hand drive examples for rural Alaska mail delivery vehicles.
Those Jeeps still show up from time to time, often in a somewhat corroded state. As for the United States Postal Service, it hasn’t officially used purpose-built Jeeps for mail service since the Dispatcher was retired. Amazingly, the folks of Curbside Classic did find a DJ still in use as a mail vehicle in 2012! That’s not to say that Jeeps aren’t in use in the postal service today. I’ve seen plenty of postal Wranglers out there. But they’re not anything like this.
Morgan Olson, a company best known for its aluminum step vans, is announcing something big with the Kestrel. This truck starts life as a regular Jeep Gladiator, and everything in front of the B-pillar is unchanged. But things immediately get really cool right behind the front seats. Morgan Olson adds an aluminum box on the back, and the idea here is to give businesses much of the durability and versatility of a step van, but in a smaller form factor.
This box is apparently light enough that the Gladiator should stay close to its original weight of around 5,000 pounds. The truck’s payload is also largely unchanged, as a Kestrel can haul a hefty 1,700-pound load. Reportedly, the 137-inch wheelbase is unchanged, but the truck is eight inches smaller than a normal Gladiator at just 210 inches. Nice!
Morgan Olson says that the Kestrel is named after the falcon because it is known for “known for its precision and efficiency.” The company also notes that the box is customizable, and in addition to delivery service, it expects some customers of the Kestrel to be emergency services. Chances are, if you’re going to drive one of these bad boys, you’re getting paid to do it. The truck can even be ordered in right-hand drive.
A Jeep Gladiator Forum member who went to the National Postal Forum alleges that Morgan Olson says that the new truck will cost around $80,000, or nearly double the price of a base model Jeep Gladiator Sport S. Of course, this isn’t really a product for you or myself to buy, but vehicles that could be bought by your local fire department or, maybe by a rural postal operation.
I will note that even though the trucks at the National Postal Forum had clearly USPS-inspired liveries, we haven’t seen any announcement from USPS about these trucks yet. So, who knows if you’ll see one of these delivering mail one day. One thing’s for sure, and it’s that the Kestrel is the coolest version of the Jeep Gladiator and it’s already on my bucket list for things to drive.
Hat tip to The Drive!
I hope that in 30 years, DT’s kid will be doing a “I need to get this running in two days” on one of these.
Cool looking truck but it would suck to work out of. Delivering mail out of right hand drive, tall, passenger Jeeps actually isn’t all that great. The window sill is too high, openings a bit too small and the fenders stick out a lot farther than the window, making reaching the box more challenging. Been there.
Even the Mercedes Metris is better, the other vehicle we use aside from the LLV and the Metris is mostly crap to work from too. At least it has modern safety features.
It used to be that the rural mail carriers used their own vehicles with LHD, a bench seat and a column shift, driving from the right seat using only their left hand and foot. I occurred to me when the subject of bench seats came up the other day, that bench seats and column shifts are pretty much extinct, even in pickups where you would expect them to still be the default.
Can one of the Autopian readers who is USPS knowledgeable tell us what carriers who use their own cars drive these days?
I live in an area where there are lots of homes served by contract carriers. For awhile Subaru offered a RHD postal carrier edition and while my carrier didn’t use one some in my area did. Most recently I’m seeing RHD Wranglers. For a while we had someone who was doing ours in a 3/4 ton Chevy van. Not sure exactly how he was driving it but he was on the right.
Many years ago a guy I knew who’s wife was a contract carrier and he a mechanic so he had 3 DJ for her. The primary ride, the back up and a parts truck.
Yeah, but it’s no Studebaker Zip-Van.
I bet you have to sit down to drive this. Not like the mighty Zip-Van.
Another thought – with the exception of a RHD option, the new base Tacoma SR extended cab would seem to offer an easier (and better) starting point (no cab modifications required, and it’s built in Texas, so USA). The Tacoma also offers a higher payload and better predicted reliability.
Just one word: Slate
Doubt it would be any good at mail carrying, but as service vehicle in a mine or remote worksite it would be pretty cool. Work Jeeps always look right. As for a mail carrying vehicle, I think a lightly modified Toyota JPN Taxi would be the best all-around USPS delivery vehicle.
Looks like Grumman Olson is trolling for Postal business- they must know the LLV replacement is way behind production rate and the Postal Service is gettin’ desperate. The Transit they showed next to this makes more sense, pretty close to what Oshkosh is supposed to be building and relatively spacious. The only place I can see for the Jeep is on rural routes where the loads are lighter, but having to get outa the cab several times a day to access the cargo box is a deal killer. A RHD minivan or SUV with a tray in place of the passenger seat and easy access from the drivers seat to mail behind the front seats makes more sense.
If I were in the exec suite at Stellantis I’d be on the phone to them immediately to buy a couple thousand of the cabs alone, have the skunkworks knock together some Gladiator 6 1/2″ pickup beds for them and see if there’s really a market for them.
This. So this. I had an extended cab Ranger I absolutely loved. Now everything is a full four door. I need bed length more than I need back seats.
I’m not sure why they kept the rear fender flares. For this use case, making the box 4″-6″ wider would seem to make far more sense (and still completely cover the rear tires).
I also question why there are two roll-up doors on each side. It would be simpler and more durable to eliminate the side doors on the back 30%-40% of the box and just use the back roll-up door.
I saw it the other day and was generally puzzled with the concept. The rural carriers get a deal every so often to buy right hand drive wranglers. It looks more like a jeep service truck then a mail or package carrier. They really just need a kei van that’s what alot of rural carriers have turned to. You can only slide across a lesabre seat so many times a day.
And people wonder why manufacturing left the US…
Help this make sense. Is it because you can’t buy a two-door, cab-only Gladiator, so you’re paying to convert a normal one to that configuration before even STARTING on the utility box?
Also, if my in-law’s Gladiator is any indication, this will be by the side of the road with engine and transmission failure by 15k miles.
It does sound like yes they are buying a 4dr Gladiator, pulling the bed and getting out the sawzall.
Why couldn’t the Postal Service just buy a Gladiator and put a camper shell on it? Save what, about $30k-$40k if you buy in any kind of volume?
I used to run Circulation Departments for newspapers for 30 years. If I saw this pickup with a camper top in my new job I always eliminated them. Climbing in and out of a small metal box with no temperature control is the equivalent of slave labor. Try climbing in and out of that in 90 degrees 20 times a day. This is a garbage delivery truck.
Judging by Ben Franklin standing next to it, I don’t think anyone is climbing inside that cargo area. My assumption would be packages would be accessible from the outside via the numerous roll up doors.
That also is a bad design. The ergonomics for reaching around the wheel wells are not great. The reach in length from the rear is also too long, and that gets worse if you get the version with the tiny shelves. Plus there’s the issue that you’re assuming the packages will stay stacked upright instead of shifting or even falling, which means when you open those slide doors there’s a chance they could fall out.
The DJ-5s, Kurbmasters, LLVs, FFVs and NGDVs were all designed so that boxes could be stacked and loose mail could be racked. They did this by providing rails to mount shelves and nets in order to keep mail from moving. Other pictures from elsewhere for the Kestrel show only two tiny shelves between the wheel wells and the rear door, so it looks like you’ll just be placing stuff wherever and hoping it stays put.
Proper shelving would be an extra cost option in order to keep the base price so low…
Since 90% of what the USPS delivers is basically garbage (mailers and sale papers and political nonsense), then this seems to fit the need. Seriously, I routinely dump most of what shows up in my mailbox directly into the recycle bin without even looking at it.