This Year’s Easter Jeep Safari Concepts Are Pretty Tame But There’s A Restomod XJ Cherokee That’ll Give You Trouser Feelings

April is just around the corner, which means it’s about time for America’s largest community of off-road enthusiasts to gather in the home of four-wheeling: Moab, Utah. The 60th annual Easter Jeep Safari kicks off on March 28, and keeping with tradition, Jeep has unveiled a gaggle of concepts specifically for the event. There’s just one problem: This year’s showing feels particularly anticlimactic.

Here’s the thing: Even I, a serial performance road-car snob, know that many of the Easter Jeep Safari concepts used to be wonderfully wild. There’s something inherently purpose-driven about a short-wheelbase off-roader with a solid front axle, because you know it’s going to trade some streetability for articulation. You know, like how trackday specials trade comfort for speed. And with Jeep’s ladder-chassis construction allowing customization to genuinely go as far as builders’ imaginations, I’m disappointed that Jeep doesn’t seem to have gone particularly far this year. Even 2024’s offerings were more dramatic than this year’s, which made writing this harder because we’ve written about Jeep going down this path every year for the past few years.

Rounding up the new stuff, let’s take the Wrangler Buzzcut concept, for starters. It’s basically just a compilation of OEM and aftermarket accessories, from a Jeep Performance Parts suspension and wheel setup to a Katzkin leather-and-suede interior. Aside from a slightly chopped top and some of the painted details, much of this build is just a large credit card bill away from being easily replicable.

Then there’s the Wrangler Laredo Concept, which really isnt changed much beyond great upholstery, slot-mags, and a retro livery. It gets a Sky Slider roof converted to manual operation, a suspension lift and onboard air compressor system you can buy from your local dealership parts counter, and vinyl flooring. That’s it.

Possibly the most interesting thing about the Grand Wagoneer Commander concept is that it shares a name with a model former Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne deemed “unfit for human consumption.” It’s basically just the same large SUV you can buy off the lot, but with topo-map graphics, a roof rack, some lights, and a wheel-and-tire package.

Even the Anvil 715 concept feels a bit anticlimactic. This one’s a Wrangler 392 restyled to look a bit like an SJ-series Cherokee, although heavy-set grilles aren’t anything new for the Wrangler crowd. The true centerpiece of this build is a non-removable hardtop with safari windows, and while that’s cool, Jeep used to go so much further.

Cast your mind back to 2018, when Jeep unveiled the Wrangler 4Speed concept. It had eight forward gears, but let’s gloss over that for now. The real point of this build is that it pulled 950 pounds of weight out of a standard two-liter Wrangler despite a seriously beefy wheel and tire package. This was a current-generation Wrangler that weighed as much as a loaded Honda Civic. Understandably, alterations were extensive, including a carbon fiber composite tub that sheared inches from the rear overhang to increase departure angle, a raked windscreen, ultra-minimalist bumpers, and no doors whatsoever. Even the roll bar was completely different, and the concept’s diet alone added two inches of suspension lift.

Then there was the Jeep M-715 Five-Quarter of 2019. It started with a 1968 military truck and then went completely bonkers, changing just about everything. The front end’s carbon fiber, the bumpers both came from the front of a modern Gladiator pickup truck, the soft top height’s been chopped, and the frame’s been reinforced. Beefy Dynatrac Pro-rock 60 front and Pro-rock 80 rear axles support both 40-inch off-road tires and the sheer output of a supercharged 6.2-liter Hellcat V8 crate engine, for goodness sake.

Oh, and then there was the Wrangler Magneto 2.0 concept of 2022. Sure, it was a battery-electric JL Wrangler, but nobody could accuse it of being boring. A 70 kWh battery pack fed an axial flux motor bolted to a six-speed manual transmission. The result was 625 horsepower, 825 lb.-ft. of torque, no torque converter slush, no need to slip a clutch to get going, and zero-to-60 mph in a claimed two—yes, two—seconds.

That XJ Cherokee Though

Meanwhile, the most interesting Easter Jeep Safari concept this year is really just a nicely restomodded XJ Cherokee, but what an enticing (or “trouser-feeling-arousing,” see headline) build it is. The quick-disconnecting anti-roll bar integration and custom carbon fiber fender flares certainly pique my interest, and the vehicle’s tastefully executed, but you don’t wonder how on Earth Jeep made it. Still, there’s something tasteful and fetching about it in the way good restomods often are. You have to squint to notice it’s been redone, and those subtle flares really help this early two-door model look sharper.

The interior of this Cherokee is pretty great, too. I haven’t seen classic beaded seat covers in ages, and they’re just one of the retro touches inside. Peep the Rubik’s cube in the dashboard storage tray, along with the classic key ring in the ignition. I also appreciate how Jeep hasn’t completely ironed out the slightly baggy sun visors. That’s a historical finish, right there. There’s even a cooler that looks like an Apple MacIntosh box stashed in the cargo hold for those impromptu beach runs. Tab, anyone?

As for mechanical alterations to this XJ Cherokee, there’s a period-correct two-inch lift, 33-inch all-terrain meats wrapped around custom retro-look 17-inch wheels, low-profile color-keyed rock sliders, and that’s really it. A real case of less truly being more.

I guess what I’m getting at is that there used to routinely be at least one completely bonkers Easter Jeep Safari concept. This year, there are none, and that’s disheartening. With the weight of manufacturer resources behind the initiative, the idea of a flagship build the aftermarket will want to recreate is important north star-type stuff – a signal that Jeep is just as obsessed, and dreams just as hard as its fans. There have always been underwhelming Easter Jeep Safari concepts, but there have historically also been over-the-top builds that blew enthusiasts away. I want to be amazed again, but if a gently massaged two-door XJ Cherokee is a consolation prize, things could be a lot worse.

Top graphic image: Jeep