It’s technically called the Dynatrac CODEX Gladiator. We simply call it awesome.

There was plenty of internet bleating when the almighty Gladiator was introduced last year in L.A., with keyboard warriors proclaiming that Jeep shoulda made a 2-door regular cab model. What these buffoons fail to realize is the miniscule market for such a truck and that carmakers, by and large, aren’t in the business of losing money.

The forum bedwetters are right on one count, though – a regular cab Gladiator would be ultra-cool beans. Fortunately, there are custom shops in this country with the cash and know-how to make it happen. We get to enjoy the fruits of their hard work through YouTube.

After taking a bite out of the Gladiator frame, the crew went to work modifying the body. Cleaving it just aft of the B-pillar, their plans called for a near twenty-inch shrinkage in length.

An example of the hiccups into which they ran was the fitting of a fuel tank. They knew the stock unit wouldn’t fit and planned to use one from a JL. Problems cropped up with the shape of the rear frame rails, so a custom tank was needed. One can only imagine all the other details that had to be sussed out getting this all to work.

But work it does, as proven by the video above! A Hellcat engine sounds great in any application but to know it’s bolted to a Gladiator is very satisfying indeed. With a relative lack of weight over the rear wheels, this thing must be a burnout machine. The person driving it in the video would surely agree.

Hellcat? Hell yeah!