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!
Oh, hell yes. I can see buying some of these for some of my customers at work.
That said, not many for that price since i can build an F350 4×4 crew cab with a cap and sliders, etc. etc. for about the same price.
Why doesn’t the US have normal vans?
The “small van” lack of options is a problem for small business owners like me. You had me until $80K, where I could have used to buy 2 small vans for that. Instead, I’m looking at minivans and doing a hack/conversion on them. That’s all I got. RIP Nissan, Ford Transit Connect, and others.