First rolled out to the public way back in 1963, the Jeep Gladiator has a long and storied history in the 4X4 market. Now that FCA has revived the name for a new midsize pickup, here’s a quick retrospective.

We’re not branding wizards here at Mac’s Motor City Garage, so we can’t tell you if it’s a great idea that with the new Jeep Gladiator, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has resurrected a model name that many buyers are too young to recall. But personally, as old geezers who’ve been around long enough to remember the name well, we think it’s pretty cool. Here’s a brief history of the Jeep Gladiator.

Introduced in late 1962 as a ’63 model, the Jeep Gladiator full-size pickup shared its platform and front sheet metal with the new Wagoneer station wagon, which made its debut at the same time. (Read a backgrounder on the Wagoneer here.) In classic Jeep fashion, the J-Series, as it was also known, spawned a wide variety of variants, including a panel delivery, chassis-cabs, and pickups with both Townside (lead photo) and Thriftside beds (above). Two novel features, an overhead-cam six-cylinder engine and an unusual 4WD independent front axle, did not work out in the field and were discontinued after a few years.

American Motors, which acquired the Kaiser Jeep operation in 1970, dropped the Gladiator badge in 1971, but the J-Series pickup soldiered on pretty much as before. To suit the evolving 4X4 audience, a number of option and graphics packages were introduced, including the Honcho, 10-4, and Golden Eagle (1985 Pioneer shown above). But when Chrysler acquired American Motors in 1987 for around $1.5 billion, the company found itself with two pickups in direct competition, J-Series and Dodge Ram. So the Jeep pickup was finally dropped in 1988, ending a very respectable 25-year run.

Maybe the most colorful Gladiator variant was the M715/M725, an extreme-duty vehicle manufactured for the U.S. military. More than 30,000 of these rugged 1.25-ton, 4×4 trucks in various body styles were built between 1967 and 1969, and a number of them are around today in the hands of enthusiasts and collectors.

Over the years, Chrysler and its successor company FCA have experimented with the J-Series/Gladiator theme on a number of design exercises. Our favorite might be the 2012 J12 concept (above) that made its debut at the Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah that year. Designed by Kyle Evans, it was based on a lengthened and modified Wrangler JK chassis.

Of course, the latest Gladiator (below) is also Wrangler-based. Word for some time was that the new four-door, midsize pickup would be called the Scrambler, but a few weeks ago the name Gladiator was leaked to the public, then confirmed when the vehicle was officially launched at the Los Angeles Auto Show this week. Noteworthy features include a removable top and doors, just like the Wrangler, and optional 280 hp diesel power. The 2020 Gladiator will be built in Toledo, Jeep’s ancestral home, and will be available in showrooms early next year.