The Jeep Gladiator, Jeep Pickup or J-series is a series of full-size pickup trucks based on the large Jeep SJ (Wagoneer) platform, which was built and sold under numerous marques from 1962 until 1988. The Jeep Gladiator/Pickup design is noteworthy for remaining in production for more than 26 years on a single automobile platform generation. The Gladiator was the basis of the first post-war U.S. Army trucks designed to be civilian vehicles and adapted to military use. Numerous versions of the Jeep pickup were built in other markets, including Mexico by Vehículos Automotores Mexicanos (VAM) and Argentina by Industrias Kaiser Argentina (IKA). The Gladiator nameplate was revived on a midsize pickup truck based on the fourth-generation Jeep Wrangler (JL). It was unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show on November 28, 2018. Jeep pickup truck history The original Jeep pickup truck was the Willys-Overland one-ton 4x4 also available in platform stake, chassis cab, or bare chassis versions manufactured from 1947 until 1965. Several sizes of Forward Control pickup trucks with a cab-over design were manufactured by Kaiser from 1957 through 1966. The first Gladiator pickup trucks were developed by Kaiser in the early 1960s and were continued with improvements through the 1970s by American Motors Corporation (AMC) and also in international markets. The Gladiator-based Jeep SJ full-sized pickup truck models, as well as the compact XJ-based Jeep Comanche pickups, were discontinued by Chrysler after acquiring AMC. Chrysler claimed capacity limitations to manufacture new Jeep pickup models. However, after over 25 years, Jeep reentered the pickup market using the Gladiator nameplate for a four-door midsize truck based on the Jeep Wrangler platform. The new Gladiator is in concept similar to the compact two-door Jeep CJ-8 (Scrambler), a long wheelbase version of the CJ-7 made from 1981 through 1986, but offering more amenities and features. Gladiator 1962–1971 The first Jeep pickup development mule was operational around May 1960, about three months after the first station wagon-type development vehicle. Introduced in 1962 for the 1963 model year, the Gladiator was a conventional body-on-frame pickup design that shared its basic frame architecture and front end with the Jeep Wagoneer four-wheel-drive station wagon. Gladiators were available in RWD and 4WD, with optional dual rear wheels. A remarkable innovation was the available independent front suspension (IFS) instead of a solid front axle on the 4WD half-ton Gladiator trucks. It was a simple IFS design with a