Vigilante Stuffed a 485-HP Hemi Into the Retro Jeep CJ-8 Scrambler

The CJ-8 Scrambler was a commercial flop in its day. Jeep moved fewer than 28,000 of them between 1981 and 1986, and most of America shrugged and bought a Toyota pickup instead. Forty years later, it’s the Jeep cult classic everyone wishes they’d held onto, and Texas-based Vigilante 4×4 is here to charge a quarter-million dollars for the privilege of having one with a modern Hemi under the hood.

The shop has been quietly setting the bar for high-end Jeep restomods over the past few years, mostly by stuffing absurd powerplants (Hellcats, Viper V10s) into Wagoneers and Cherokees. With the new Scrambler, Vigilante’s downshifting into the rawer, top-down side of the Jeep universe.

A Bespoke Chassis Doing the Heavy Lifting

Every build starts with an original CJ-8 donor that gets stripped to the frame rails and discarded in favor of a proprietary chassis Vigilante co-developed with the Roadster Shop. Out goes the original leaf-spring setup; in comes a four-link suspension front and rear, Currie Enterprises Dana 44s up front, Dana 60s out back, and a heavy-duty steering box for actual modern precision behind the wheel.

The braking system is its own flex. Baer six-piston forged calipers clamp onto 14-inch cross-drilled and slotted rotors at every corner, with a Wilwood electronic parking brake to handle the boring bits. Sitting on those new axles are Vigilante’s signature 17-inch wagon-wheel steelies wrapped in BFGoodrich KO3s, which is the closest a 2026 build will ever get to looking factory-correct.

The 485-HP Heart Transplant

And now for the main attraction. Bolted into the engine bay is a Mopar 392 HEMI crate motor, which is the same naturally aspirated 6.4-liter V8 that powered SRT-badged everything for the better part of a decade. Power output sits at 485 horsepower and 475 lb-ft of torque. For context, that’s more power than a Wrangler 392 Final Edition, in a package that’s significantly smaller and lighter.

Standard transmission is a Tremec TR4050 five-speed manual, with a Bowler Performance automatic available for buyers who’d rather row through the gears with their right foot. Either gearbox links up to an Advance Adapters Atlas II twin-stick transfer case, the gold standard for shift-on-the-fly four-wheel drive in this kind of build. The fact that Vigilante is offering the manual at all (and making it standard) is the kind of decision that earns a lot of goodwill from the people writing the checks.

An Interior That Knows What It Is

Step inside and the cabin reads exactly like a 1983 Scrambler should, right down to the AMC-badged three-spoke wheel and the knee-level gauge cluster. Fret not, there’s still plenty of modern amenities throughout: Vintage Air Gen IV climate control, a discreetly Bluetooth-converted period radio with JL Audio up front and Audiofrog in back, and Sunbrella upholstery with color-matched Chilewich seat inserts that won’t disintegrate the first time someone climbs in wet from the beach.

Three interior environments are on offer (Black, Camel, or Blue), and the showpiece Ice Blue build pairs a navy-and-grey Chilewich treatment with a body-colored roll bar that ties the whole thing together. The rear seat is an actual bench, which means you’ve technically got a four-seater. The bed behind it, on the other hand, is closer to a glove box with ambition.

Spec Sheet

Pricing & Availability

Pricing for the Vigilante Scrambler starts at $260,000, with deliveries running roughly nine months from order. Configurations are handled through Vigilante’s online builder, with 13 heritage colors, eight decal packages, and a long list of bespoke options to chew through.