The Jeep Wrangler is one of those vehicles that owners love to customize. You can get all kinds of lift kits, chunky tires, and lighting packages to make your rig your own. You can even get all kinds of grille treatments with angry eyes or teeth to make it more vicious. Or, for whatever reason, you could buy this rather awkward grille that makes your Wrangler look like the back of an old TV set.
The grille in question is the product of Chelsea Truck Company, an aftermarket manufacturer based in London. As a British outfit, the company has a wide range of products for vehicles like the Land Rover Defender, Ineos Grenadier, and even the Mercedes G-Wagen. Now, though, it’s turning its gaze across the Atlantic to produce parts for the JL Jeep Wrangler.
The result is this—the “Heritage Lattice Grille.” It’s sure to guarantee your Wrangler looks like absolutely nothing else out there.
In the company’s own words, the Heritage Lattice Grille is “a bold reinterpretation of the Wrangler’s signature front end.” The manufacturer is well aware of just how unique this look really is. “No manufacturer, not even Jeep themselves, has ventured to evolve the front fascia with such a sophisticated, design-driven approach,” notes the press release.
I might venture a delicate, if harsh, word on the matter. There’s a reason nobody has made a Wrangler grille like this before.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I get where the designer is coming from. As the provided images show, the look is directly inspired by the barebones lattice grille that was such a striking design feature on the very first Land Rovers. Chelsea Truck Company have, to their credit, found a way to port this look to more recent models from the British automaker, with moderate levels of success.
The problem is that they’ve completely missed the mark when it came to the Wrangler version. You’re not getting a simple metal mesh that looks fit for the untrodden paths of your nearest jungle. You’re getting a hunk of what looks like black plastic peppered with square holes, along with a pair of goofy headlight cutouts that can’t decide whether they want to be round or not. If you told me this grille was made out of discarded 90s home appliances, I’d wholeheartedly believe you. It looks like it should be caked in dust at the back of a hi-fi cabinet, not stuck on the front of a Wrangler.
The company also notes there are further possibilities, too. “The distinctive lattice design also offers excellent potential for personalisation, customers can easily apply painted letters or numbers to the grille surface, allowing for a unique, vintage-inspired look tailored to individual style,” reads the press release. They include an example, too—a version emblazoned with the number 1941, presumably referencing the year the first Jeeps entered production.
I get it. It’s fun to customize cars and draw elements from one and stick them on another. The first Land Rover was a rough and tumble adventurer, and that same look would surely fit on the Wrangler. But I’d strongly advise thinking about authenticity before buying the injection molds and putting out a press release.
I reckon this concept could still be good, but it should stick true to its core roots. The Wrangler might look genuinely good with rugged steel mesh for the front grille. It suits the off-road look and hews closer to the original inspiration—in just the way a hunk of what looks like black perforated plastic just doesn’t.
Anyway, that’s my opinion, and I stick by it. Maybe yours differs, and you think this is the sharpest look going for an American off-roader in 2025. I’d be
happy to hear your thoughts below, and Chelsea Truck Company will be more than happy to accept your money, I’m sure.
Image credits: Chelsea Truck Company
I really don’t hate it! looks better than the angry eye jeeps, I really hate them, says a lot about the size of their “member” and who they voted for lol
This looks like what would be on a Temu RC Jeep to avoid licensing.
A more open mesh like the OG Land Rover might work. This doesn’t.
Reminds me of the tuners in the 90’s & 2000’s would use the plastic chicken fencing to replace the stock grills. You know the black mesh that was a bit smaller spacing than snow fencing. They should have put a bit more design in it. Like under the headlights have a driving light or something built in.
Volvo Dynamind, google that. ????
It’s hardware mesh, just injection moulded. I don’t hate.
Its not god awful, but its not great. I think it would look better if the holes below the headlights were filled though.
It also needs to have the patented Wrangler angry eyes, but put in the opposite sides.
Sad Wrangler?
Some Wrangler folks will chase good money after bad all day long to make their stuff look worse than when it left the factory. I wonder if I can get a matching black mesh duck to put on my dash. Not for me, but you do you.
Surprised they didn’t make it look like the redesigned maw of the Roxor so that they could, in turn, get sued by Mahindra for trademark infringement.
I wish they hadn’t tried to square off the headlight recesses. There is so much wrong with the execution there; the bottom is not parallel with anything, the spacing on the sides doesn’t follow the lines of the sides, and there is an odd amount of space at the top. If you are going to create a grid system, why would you so carelessly ruin it with seemingly random shapes? This looks like an unfinished design that needs a couple more rounds before it’s right. B-
I imagine the lower and inner straight edges were the solution to avoiding odd interaction with the grid pattern, since a rounded inner line would require either odd partial holes, or blank spaces.
Man, I just want to run out and buy two Wranglers, one white, one black, and put this grille on both. Then I can call them Salt ‘N Pepper (or Pepa if I’m feeling daring).
Git up on this!
I’ll take over ‘Angry Eyes’ everyday and twice on Sunday.
When I sold it, my ’89 XJ Laredo wore the front valence of an ’88 Wagoneer with the 4 tiny headlamps and horizontal grille. I actually liked the look, but never painted it to match. Yes, I hit an ice patch and guardrail concurrently the winter before if asking. Paid $1000 cash in 2003, traded in for the same a few years later. I miss it – there is something liberating about a beater.
Cheap parts are cheap parts if not picky.
I prefer to call those grills “Grumpy Face”.
I like it.
Now make some for F150s, Silverados, Tundras, etc.
Now it reminds me of the grille on the Slate lol
It’s still way, way better than the stupid angry eyes everyone puts on their Wranglers
It’s amazing how much better it is, yet how much I still hate it.
I find it amusing that an English SUV accessory company is named Chelsea since “Chelsea Tractor” is a pejorative slang term for urban SUVs particularly dressed up ones.
And exactly what they are.
In west London (especially around Chelsea) they’re everywhere and will never have left tarmac.
I love how all the comments are about the same: it’s okay, but still better than anger face. Although I have to say, I’ve been seeing less and less angry jeeps. Has that trend started to die? If so, thank goodness
It’s worse than ever in Toledo, perhaps unsurprisingly.
I don’t go east of the Mississippi anymore. Trucking out there is a nightmare. Worse than California, in my opinion
Probably doesn’t help that every other road is closed for 17 years.
If they squared out the grille and the window treatment areas (take away the holes under the lights, maybe add a solid bar to the left) like the Rover, they could be on to something. It’s close, but still not quite good. Still so much better than the angry eyes.
Beats the angry front-end crap by a country mile
Agreed, nothing I hate more than an angry eye jeep, says a lot about who that person voted for lol
I actually really like it, though I suppose I’m not fan of Jeeps. The square openings for the headlights go with the square holes both to echo the shape and to match up to the grid pattern without requiring either odd-shaped solid sections or incomplete square holes to fit around circular openings. Replacing the hole area with mesh might look more purposefully badass, but a bit dishonestly retro even on a vehicle whose style has hardly advanced in 80 years and the plastic would be lower drag (as unimportant as that is on these bricks). Either way, it’s massively better than any other aftermarket grille I’ve seen for a Wrangler.
How long until someone steals this idea and markets it as a MOLLE panel front grill?
Still better than a Grumper grille / bumper.
Amazing how little it takes to make Wranglers look good and how few people actually do that.
Just looveleh! Perfect for my training my Creeping Jenny this spring. By autumn it should cover the entire bonnet 🙂
its not as good as the stock grill but better than 99% of other aftermarket options
hopefully you can find some windowpane-patterned rubber ducks to match the look I guess