Yikes, this old Jeep Cherokee packs a 9.0-litre, 825bhp Viper V10

There are restomods, where an old classic is tastefully updated with subtle modern conveniences to rehabilitate beloved silhouettes. Then there’s WTF-omods, where an old classic gets a rocket bolted inside and the user likely gets a nervy pat on the back.

Welcome to the latter, and Texas-based restomodder Vigilante’s latest offering: a 1979 Jeep Cherokee S wearing a modified V10 from a Dodge Viper. Words you’d never normally see strung together in a single sentence.

And you’d be hard pushed to string a sentence together when deploying each and every one of this Old Jeep’s 825bhp. And 750lb ft of torque. Because… well because that’s a lot for an Old Jeep.

That grunt comes via the Mopar Gen V Prefix version of the Viper’s V10, which means it’s been bored out to a whopping 9.0-litres (550ci of pure, home-grown American horsepowers). That’s paired with a six-speed manual gearbox and four-wheel-drive, and while Vigilante makes no mention of acceleration or top speed, suffice to say you’d… struggle to string a sentence together.

Naturally the entire car’s been completely overhauled, starting with a teardown, a new ‘modern’ chassis built from a 3D-scan of the original, a new transfer case and sturdier axles, a new wiring harness, that monster engine and fancy suspension.

Said suspension takes the form of Fox Racing dampers matched to Eibach springs, said to provide “a more balanced stance and smoother ride”. There are six-pot calipers over bigger discs, and a stainless steel exhaust because Viper V10, that’s why.

Rather than a blacked-out, terrifying aesthetic to match its dark heart, this one’s got a blue and white two-tone paintjob for that proper mom-and-pop hardware store feel. Inside there’s proper Levi’s denim on the interior, fully restored seats, and a smattering of modern conveniences as you’d expect: Bluetooth, climate control, better noise-cancelling, that sort of thing.

This particular car was recently sold, but if you want something similar and are prepared to wait between two to three years, you too could have a V10-engined Jeep for upwards of $295,000, depending on your spec. Pat on the back likely thrown in for free.