Witness Me: Jay Leno Meets the Apocalypse Hellfire 6X6
Centered around a Gladiator’s cab, Apocalypse Hellfire 6X6 snakes through Los Angeles like a ferocious serpent bent for destruction.
For most Jeep fans, the Gladiator is plenty of Jeep truck for them. Four doors, a long bed, a Trail Rated badge. What more could anyone want? It’s certainly the perfect platform for all sorts of off-road mods from Jeep and the aftermarket. Not to mention that few trucks stand out the way the Gladiator does, its looks echoing older trucks for a modern era.
Some fans, though, want more out of their Gladiator. They want their rig to be ready not just for the trail, but for war on the streets. Thus, the Apocalypse Hellfire 6X6, a machine Jay Leno invited to his garage recently. He also invited its inventor, Joseph Ghattas, to talk about how the Hellfire’s flame was first ignited.
“Say you’re married, and your wife needs something to take the kids to school, to run to the market, but she’s not popular,” said Leno. “You need something that’s bulletproof. Maybe you got a couple extra wheels. This is the thing to do. This is a heavily modified Jeep.”
Looking more like a ferocious serpent ready to unleash burnination than the friendly Jeep it once was, the Apocalypse Hellfire 6X6 starts with a Gladiator’s cab. From there, the backside is lengthened to accommodate the second rear axle. Then, a custom body is built and assembled in-house in Ghattas’ shop down in Fort Lauderdale. Power comes from either a 500-horsepower LS3, a 3.0-liter twin-turbo diesel, or the Hellcat V8, all linked to an eight-speed automatic from a Ram 3500. A full set for 40-inch tires wrapped upon 22-inch wheels complete the beast.
“We were a Jeep dealer building custom trucks,” said Ghattas. “We got further and further into just more custom, more wild. Then started swapping out motors and throwing Hellcats and anything else in there. We even did an electric Jeep. Just natural progression. We just started trying different stuff. We said, ‘What about six wheels?'”
After working on a 6×6 conversion for a Mercedes G-Wagen, though, Ghattas knew things could be done better for a cleaner, quieter driveline. Thus, the idea to build the second axle in-house. The whole affair takes three weeks to build, with 79 having left his shop thus far, most going to California.
“It’s not my type of vehicle,” said Leno. “But I like the whole idea behind it. The idea that a guy who fixed cars with his dad starts his own shop, and turns it into a business. He’s turned out 79 of these already. He ships them all over the world. That’s kinda the American Dream.”
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