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Mopar Underground unveils concept Jeeps at Moab safari

Noah Joseph — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:29:00 EST

Filed under: Concept Cars, Tuners, SUV, Jeep, Misc. Auto Shows

Jeep Lower Forty concept by Mopar Underground - Click above for image gallery

Every year, the off-road faithful gather for the annual Jeep Safari. This year's was held in the Moab Desert, held out of the limelight while all eyes - including Chrysler's and our own - were focused on the New York Auto Show. So while Jeep itself was unveiling the new Grand Cherokee, Chrysler's skunkworks division, Mopar Unlimited - the same crew responsible for most of the company's SEMA show cars - brought out a pair of concept trucks for its most hard-core enthusiasts.

The first, called the Grand Canyon II, is based on the outgoing Grand Cherokee Overland, upgraded with some extra luxurious touches. Little information is available on that concept truck, but the real excitement factor was in the Jeep Lower Forty concept (above). Based on the Wrangler, the truck is immediately characterized by its oversized tires, which required a fair bit of hack-sawing of the bodywork by the Mopar crew but no suspension mods, leaving the center of gravity in tact while increasing the ground clearance. Under the hood lies a 5.7-liter Hemi V8 with six-speed manual transmission, capped by a custom carbon-fiber hood and a windscreen cut down by 3 inches and raked back 10 degrees. The concept was painted a special shade of red called Red Eye No. 3.

Unfortunately, there's little information available on either concept truck beyond what the team at Inside Line was able to get ahold of, which is a little surprising for a company steered by a guy named Press. So in the meantime we'll just have to suffice with these initial details and the low-res images in the gallery below.

Gallery: Jeep Lower Forty concept by Mopar Underground

[Source: Inside Line]

Mopar Underground unveils concept Jeeps at Moab safari originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SEMA 2008: Dodge Rams its new truck down our throats

Frank Filipponio — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:18:00 EST

Filed under: Aftermarket, SEMA Show, Truck, Dodge

Click above for hi-res gallery of the four Ram concept trucks

We noticed that the Chrysler Group is pretty excited about the Challenger after visiting the Mopar Underground display at SEMA this year. We are too, but it's not just Challengers on display in Vegas. There are also a handful of custom '09 Dodge Ram pickups here, as well. We previewed these four Ram truck concepts recently, all tuned by the automaker's in-house Mopar Underground division. Seeing the trucks in person gave us a better understanding and appreciation of each. Where we previously only had sketches and descriptions, now we have live shots and a sense of these pickups' grandeur.

The bright yellow Dodge Ram TRXtreme looks a little less aggressive than the official sketch, but more than capable of tackling the artificial dirt mound set up in the booth. The blue-with-black-stripes Dodge Ram R/T is based on the '09 Ram Sport and looks like a good hauler for a race-spec Challenger. Actually, it looks like it could keep up with a Challenger. The Ram Sportsman, meanwhile, was the one with the "blowing leaves" camouflage paint job, which was so effective that we couldn't find it anywhere in Dodge's display. Last, but definitely not least is the Dodge Ram Mopar Street Package (above). It features a special Mopar Underground body kit with side sill extensions and a chin spoiler, a slight drop in ride height, 22-inch Mopar wheels and a dual-snorkel hood. This 4-door street machine is the one we'd most like to park outside our garage. Full details of each are in the press release after the jump and lots of live, high-res pics in the gallery below.

Gallery: SEMA 2008: Mopar Underground Dodge Ram concepts

Continue reading SEMA 2008: Dodge Rams its new truck down our throats

SEMA 2008: Dodge Rams its new truck down our throats originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SEMA Preview: MOPAR ready to Ram Las Vegas with four concept trucks

John Neff — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:29:00 EST

Filed under: SEMA Show, Tuners, Truck, Dodge

Click above for high-res gallery of all four Dodge Ram truck concepts

In addition to the Dodge Challenger SRT10 Concept, the Chrysler Group will also be bringing four Ram truck concepts to the SEMA Show in Las Vegas early next month, all tuned by its in-house Mopar Underground division. The first is the bright yellow Dodge Ram TRXtreme, which takes a quad-cab Ram with the TRX off-road package and adds an extra 4.5 inches of ground clearance, 20-inch Mopar wheels wearing BFG 73X12.50 series tires, fender flares, a tube step and box rail. The steel hood features cooling louvers and the grille is extra large, so the Ram's V8 should have no problem expelling excess heat while being worked.

Gallery: Mopar Underground Ram Trucks

[Source: Chrysler]

Continue reading SEMA Preview: MOPAR ready to Ram Las Vegas with four concept trucks

SEMA Preview: MOPAR ready to Ram Las Vegas with four concept trucks originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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