If you follow anyone who builds Jeeps on YouTube/Online/TV you probably already know who 4xFred Williams is. He hosted Dirt Every Day for 10 years on Motortrend, and he's been doing automotive journalism for 3 decades.

Fred builds cool things, often out of classics, and sometimes blended with modern vehicles.... That's the case with this build, that we're happy to be a part of it.

WHAT is a CJL10?

Now this is a great question. It's a combination of a couple vehicles. The JL part might be obvious to some as a 2018 to current Jeep JL Wrangler.

A CJ-10 on the other hand is a pretty rare find these days, and not many are familiar with it. You're probably familiar with a CJ-2, 3, 5, 7 or CJ-8 Scrambler if you have ever driven anything pre-dating the YJ Wrangler.

The CJ-10 shares some of the CJ sheet metal near the front, however rides on the J-10 Jeep pickup chassis of the era (in factory form at least.) It was built as a pickup truck, and had a much greater capacity than the CJ line up.

This particular CJ-10 however was a CJ-10A; with even more capacity for pulling. Up to 40,000 lbs. Why?

CJ-10A

The CJ-10A has a shorter 88" wheelbase, and essentially a ballast for a bed and super low gearing. It's built to do one thing -- tow aircraft. If you need to move 40,000 lbs across a tarmac this is what AMTEK came up with, by modifying the CJ-10 platform in the mid 1980s.

So what is Fred doing with it? and what does that have to do with Next Venture? Are we coming out with CJ-10 parts?

NO: We aren't coming out with any CJ-10 parts. Not anytime soon.

We are focused on our core products.... one of those products however, makes for a great way to modify your JL chassis in the event you need a custom transmission crossmember for an engine swap: our JL HD Transmission Crossmember! Remember, that CJL10 is a modern JL underneath 😉

This one features a big block chevy swap, and we really don't know exactly where it's transformation may lead next, but we're hoping to see it out at Easter Jeep Safari 2025 and we'll be staying tuned to find our where it goes from here!