Retro Gladiator build, my modern take on the Old Honcho

[AndyB]

So pictured is a quick shot of the custom headliners I had made from Black 501 jeans. This was the nod to Levi's tie to Jeep at the time. The pockets hold keys and nickknacks just fine.

Early on before the build I bought a 1/20th scale white gladiator model on the jungle store. I made the decal from yellow tape and highlighters. Bobbed the bed on it. Put some R/C wheels in place, Plus a high tech bendy straw to confirm it needs an old school big roll bar, with some KC Daylighters.

My buddy built the rollbar, my bender only goes to 2". This is .120 wall tubing not muffler pipe like the old ones from back in the day.

Time to take it to Jeep Bash in Huntington Beach. It's first outing since I finished it.

We were completely surprised to find out this event was judged. We took best in show.
So here is where it gets interesting. A friend tells me, it looks like a Hotwheel. You should enter it to be in their legends tour. ..... so I did.....

It wasn't quite ready though. It may look like one from the side, the front, the back, but not from the top. The bed was ugly. Here is how I solved it. This is the spare tire mount build. I cut 2, 1/4" rounds with holes for studs and carriage bolts. 3" .120 wall tubing and a 10x10 plate mounted underneath the bed for support.

Then cut some 11 gauge aluminum and added hinges for access and install.

Now wrapped in 1/4" foam, then black marine vinyl.

Sponsored

 

[AndyB]

A late night of thrashing, tons of cleaning, then debased myself by breaking all the rules and used (yes I'm embarrassed by this) tire shine.

Well it looked cool, but didn't win. I was very proud to have made it here. So many kids came to have their photo taken next to it. I felt like I won.
So is this the end of the story?
Tomorrow I will post some small detail work I did after the event. Including the last fix which involved me finding this forum where I looked for help.
Plus I'll talk about my insane test drive.

 

[Rusty PW]

This is awesome.

 

[Cwg33]

Absolutely incredible detail to something you loved. I don’t have the balls for this, but truly well done.

 

[Stan H]

Tears,just tears good luck

 

[gecko_rubi]

Man if I see you on the road in So Cal I’m going to flag you down so I can see this thing in person. So cool!

 

[Warped]

Absolutely stunning.

 

[zy1337]

awesome work man

 

[GeneralMaximus]

This is awesome! What a fun build.

 

[RubiNewbCB]

You could probably finance the whole project with sales of that visor.

 

[DailyMoparGuy]

Remarkable work. Bravo

 

[Joe A.]

Very, very impressive. I could have done this also except that it is out of my skill level and above my pay grade! Congrats, that will be impressive!

 

[Cap10Glad]

Absolutely amazing build. The skills both visual and physical are outstanding. They 100% should make a hot wheels version. Congrats!!

 

[Minty JL]

Killer build!

Love the attention to detail in every element of the build

 

[813 Fabrication & Design]

Awesome build! Nice work

Sponsored