6 minute read

Black Mamba

from DUB Magazine's LFTD&LVLD, Issue 16

by DUB Publishing Inc.

BLACK MA

FAB FOURS JEEP JL WORDS: KRISTIE REAL PHOTOS: DALE MARTIN

LOCATION: AREABFE MOAB OFF-ROAD TRAIL PARK

MBA

Now that the Jeep JL has officially dropped, manufacturers have been racing to the finish line to get out new aftermarket gear for the highly anticipated new body style of the most popular 4x4 ever. Fab Fours knew they had to come out swinging with some revolutionary products for the new JL in order to have a one-up on the competition. “We scoured the country looking for one of the first JL Rubicon’s to hit the lot and stumbled across this one in Detroit, Michigan via a social network connection,” says Kermit Baker, Fab Fours’ marketing manager. “This build started as an R&D project for our product development team and finished as the poster child for our newest line of Jeep JL Wrangler products.”

Because many of their products are meant for daily drivers, they wanted this build to fall in line with the rest of their Jeep offerings, but at the same time needed something that could also play with the big boys off-road. Referring to their first JL build as the “Black Mamba,” they needed to debut it with prototype parts by late February for the annual Keystone BIG Show trade show before doing their full unveiling of the finished JL a month later at Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, UT.

Like many other of their builds, the JL started out with the owner of Fab Fours, Greg Higgs, sketching out what he envisioned for the next Jeep Wrangler when decked out in Fab Fours gear. “Actually the final product did not stray far from the initial design,” Kermit confesses. “Black and red is Fab Fours’ colors, so we wanted to make sure that one of our first built JL’s would represent our company branding. Plus matte black on gloss black and gloss red just looks badass!”

Thanks to the great partnerships they’ve developed over the years with other manufacturers, they were able to easily secure parts and accessories that would complement their own product line, which include all-new JL-specific mods that accentuate the refreshed body style. Highlights of the build include new Fab Fours second-gen Grumper with 20” light bar insert, Fab Fours one-piece front and rear fender system, Fab Fours rock sliders, and Fab Fours rear bumper. They also outfitted it with a 4” SkyJacker Lift with dual rate coil springs, 38x13.50R20 Nitto Ridge Grapplers, KMC XD wheels, RIGID rock lights and 20” RIGID Adapt light bar.

While the build achieved everything Fab Fours set out to do and then some, the response from everyone else has been split down the middle. “Our builds tend to bring out a ‘love it or hate it’ response and this build has certainly proved that. Primarily because most of our new products are very polarizing and that tends to elicit strong reactions out of people. A lot of our other builds have been extremely over the top in terms of fabrication/modifications, but for ‘Black Mamba,’ you get an overall similar feel and look but with what is essentially just bolt-on parts.” Now the JL will serve many purposes for Fab Fours, especially to help market their new JL products, attend multiple shows in 2018 and, of course, wheelin’ from time to time.