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First Look

This is a 707bhp Jeep Wrangler

The Trailcat is what happens when you put a Hellcat engine in America’s iconic off-roader

Published: 11 Mar 2016

Each year, around the Easter holiday, Jeep enthusiasts drive to a remote part of Utah to crawl up some rocks and wax lyrical about how much they love Jeeps.

It’s an annual event called the Easter Jeep Safari, and this year just happens to be extra special. It’s the Jeep jamboree's 50th anniversary and just so happens to coincide with the off-road brand’s 75th Birthday.

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To celebrate the anniversary in style, Jeep has decided to stuff a 707bhp engine into a Wrangler. Now, that’s our kind of birthday cake.

Known as the Trailcat, it features a bonkers 6.2-litre supercharged ‘Hellcat’ Hemi V8 engine, strapped to a six-speed manual transmission and stuffed into the iconic Wrangler shape.

That’s 707bhp in the same car Barbie and Ken used to roll around Toys ‘R’ Us in. Which, for car nuts at least, is fantastic news.

To make the engine fit, the wheelbase has been stretched by 12-inches. With the angle grinder already out, Jeep’s mechanics also decided to chop the windscreen down by two inches.

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A very powerful, screaming supercharged V8 is all very nice but it’s not very useful on an off-roader if it can’t go off-road. So, to make the Wrangler good in the rough stuff, 17-inch beadlock wheels, 39.5-inch BF-Goodrich Krawler T/A KX tyres, Fox shocks and Dana 60 axles front and rear were added.

There’s also some cool custom details like a power-dome vented hood, satin black grille, LED headlamps, some more lamps, a set of rock rails and carbon fibre, and leather wrapped seats from a Dodge Viper. Just so you don’t fall out when the lime green machine decides to do a roly-poly over a rock.

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