Nick Bentivegna’s watercolor of a black 1958 Chrysler 300D appeared on the front cover of Old Cars Weekly in the spring of 1993. Besides being an artist, he is a collector. Bentivegna is ahead of the curve. “I have always enjoyed collecting the Kaiser built (pre-American Motors Corporation) J-Series Jeeps of the 1960s. I have several including Wagoneers and a rare Panel Delivery,” he says. “For a long time, no one in the hobby was interested in them, so I would buy nice ones at reasonable prices.” One of Nick’s gems is a 1969 Jeep Gladiator J-3000 four-wheel drive pickup.
It seems that the Gladiator played second fiddle to the Wagoneer. Like the SUV, the Gladiator came out in the fall of 1962 as a 1963 model. It shared a conventional body on frame construction with the Wagoneer. The pickup also shared the front end with the sport utility.
Jim Angers and his Jeep styling assistants created a boxy, upright design that was rugged looking. Brooks Stevens contributed the “rhino grille”. There was no visual connection to previous Jeep trucks. The Gladiator was the first Jeep truck to feature a slab-sided cargo box. It looked as good as any pickup of its day.
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