El Rubichero: 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee El Camino
If you take a Jeep Grand Cherokee and turn it into a pickup, does that make it a Rubichero or an El Cherokamino? That should be a hypothetical question I am asking, but no, this is a real thing, complete with Hemi power and a functioning tailgate. The strangest part of the entire car is that…it works. It isn’t a bad looking vehicle and I’d drive it. Find this 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee El Camino offered for $18,500 in Walla Walla, WA via craigslist. Tip from JB1025.
From the seller:
2007 jeep grand cherokee
fuel: gas
odometer: 90000
title status: clean
transmission: automatic
The objective of this build was to create a hot rod little pickup much like the Chevrolet SSR but with 4 wheel drive, also kind of like my SC1 pictured here. All the options like memory leather seats, dual climate control, great stereo in a cool compact package that whips into the lot at Home Depot without backing up and repositioning like a current full size pickup. It turned out great and I have so enjoyed driving it and drawing a crowd everywhere I go with people saying they didn’t know Jeep built this and wondering if it is new. The build started out with a mint, top of the line, fully optioned 2007 Grand Cherokee (currently only 90K miles). The back end was removed and fitted with a steel floor out of a Colorado, wheel wells cut and refitted, and a window out of another pickup, and a new tailgate. Many hours of fabrication went into this all steel conversion. It was then match repainted in the fabricated areas all professionally done. Then a Bed liner was sprayed in.
I love it and think it turned out better than I had hoped. I have built many hot rods over the years, this is my favorite. Usually you start out with a rusty old body (no rust here), add a big V8 (factory Hemi here) add a leather interior (beautiful factory leather here) add vintage air ( factory dual climate control here) and this has a plethora of options you wouldn’t have like 10 way memory, heated leather seats and adjustable pedals…then paint, add 5 spoke wheels and tires (new tires here) and end up in it 50K. It’s fun, goes like hell (not like any other little optionless 4 banger mini truck) and gathers eyeball. Graphics easily removed if you don’t like them.
$18,500
See a cooler Chrysler Camino? tips@dailyturismo.com
Not my cup of tea , I’m more of a French press or burbon guy depending on the time of day, but wow. I love that it looks totally stock.
If I had it I’d tell Jeep nerds that there was an option on the back of the order form that you could check to get this from the factory.
‘Oh it’s 542-a sub 3 rear window delete, you have to provide proof of a degree in horticulture (“You can lead a horticulture but you can’t make’r think”) to order it.’
I’m impressed.
No, strike that. In a world of half-a**ed conversions, this is a stellar vehicle.
Well done.
-Stan (who can’t find a single snarky thing to say about this… which is a first)
This is sweet! And of course you would call if a Grand Comanche. Or a Jr10.
great looking little truck, although living in the great white North, I prefer a dual cab (grandkids) and in the big city, anything I put in the rear, may not be back when I return unless I put a cover on it. He really did not say why he is selling it as far as I could see?
When I had a pickup in Manhattan, the big problem was not getting stuff stolen from the back but finding weird stuff that people would put in the back. Two standouts were a pair of really nice chairs with a matching 50s kitchen table and a working office photocopier.
Of course, it was painted with about a hundred different colors of paint and had a real art car vibe, so maybe that had something to do with it.
Mark Smyth (of Factory Five Racing Fame) has been making kits that fit the modern Cherokee (as well as for the New Beetle, Dodge Charger and VW Jetta). That this is NOT one of them is a testament to the builder of this impressive Cherokee truck. I love it and when considering that Jeep long stopped production of the Comanche pickup and the Gladiator is outrageously expensive, this is a viable alternative to a handy guy to get into his own Jeep pickup at the fraction of the price for a new one.