Enthusiast III
Guys, thought I would do something different and post up a History of my past and present 4WD's here in Australia (hope this is ok?):
So, here goes... starting back in 1986
With my parents always taking me camping, I always wanted to eventually get a 4WD, but since $$ was hard to come by back then, I eventually bought my 1st 4WD - 1982 Toyota Blizzard. This was basically a rebadged
Daihatsu F50/Scat. It had a 2.2ltr Diesel engine which was also found in the 1st Diesel Hiluxes.
This 4WD served well in gaining experience in 4WDriving. We hit the bush back then as often as we could and also the beaches as well.
In 1987 saw our 1st attempt at a touring trip when we headed up to do The Cape in north Queensland. It was fairly wild country back then but it was this trip that gave me the passion for exploring/touring around the
country whenever the opportunity came up. After coming back from the Cape, I realised I needed a bigger/roomier 4WD, so in 1988 this lead me to buy my 1st real tourer - 1984 2.4D Hilux Single Cab. This vehicle basically
was unbreakable with what it was put through. In its 1st trip took me around Australia of sorts, crossing the Oodnadatta Trk; The Gunburrel Hwy; The Canning Stock Route(CSR); The Gibb River Road(GRR) - some
15,000kms in 6wks. The vehicle was put through hell and made it back in one piece. From there it completed more trips across the central Aust Deserts,etc.
During our very muddy CSR Trip back in 1989, I realised how much easier the 60's Cruisers handled the conditions with the taller tyres, so I continued to save my $$ and in 1993 I eventually had enough to buy my 1st
Cruiser - a 1984 Blue Landcruiser HJ60 Wgn. This Cruiser was to become the best 4wd tourer that I owned for a long time. I set it up for touring mainly and completed many trips in it which included Simpson Desert;
Litchfield & Kakadu NPs; Lawn Hill NP; Flinders Ranges NP; The Great Ocean Road; the Victorian High Country. As time went on, I changed the setup where by I ended up sleeping in it as I was mainly touring around by
myself.
From there, I sort of went off track a bit and bought a 89 Subaru "L" series Wagon (sold it a few years later after I realised I could achieve what I wanted to do):
After I got my head back on straight... I bought a '92 Landcruiser 80's HZ Wagon. I thought this would have been a long term keeper for touring but that's not how things turned out with myself only doing a couple of smaller
trips in it before I got married and that's where things slowed down a bit...
After settling down & getting married and with the wife not wanting to drive a manual, it was time to say farewell to the 80's Cruiser and hello to my '99 105's Cruiser Wgn (Auto). This vehicle at the time was the biggest
financial outlay I had ever done when buying a vehicle... With now having kids, this 105's Cruiser became our family tourer as we bought a Campertrailer and when that became too much, we bought our 1st caravan and
this combination stayed with us for a few years as the kids grew
During this period, I realised how expensive the 105's was as a daily driver, which lead me towards my next purchase - 1993 Suzuki Vitara 5dr Wgn. This was to become my daily driver + my weekend 4WDriving/Exploring
Toy and is also where I started learning more mechanical skills as I found I broke more things on the Zook as I became more confident in where it would get me. With this being my very 1st Independant Front Suspension
(IFS) 4WD I was constantly impressed as to where this little 4WD would take me. I fell in love with the little Zook (& I still own it to this day as well). I found it would keep up with a lot of the solid axle Suzuki Sierras as
well. Being narrow it was great for exploring those narrow tracks too.
During this period, I was a member of the local Suzuki 4WD club and I found a Suzuki Sierra LWB in a guy's shed. I bought it with grand plans but it just didn't turn out that way and ended up selling it.
As time went on, I sold the 105's Landcruiser and bought our 1st brand new 4WD - a Toyota Landcruiser Prado 150 D4D Auto and this was to become our family tourer for years to come. As a family we did a Van trip
through NSW/VIC country when we 1st got it, then moved on to Tent camping with Trips across the Simpson Desert; Central Australia; Cape York; along the Darling River through NSW. This quickly racked up the kms as it
was also the Wife's daily driver as well.
During this time, I bought myself another 4wd as I wanted to go further a field and the little zook had limited in range, so I ended up buying a Nissan Navara D20 DualCab ute. The thought was that it may become our family
tourer and take some yearly kms off the Prado - I was wrong and sold it again within a few years...
As I was doing more & more self 4wdriving/exploring I wanted something with more range and cousin of mine had bought and old Landrover Discovery-1 Diesel. He had to pick me up one weekend when I snapped a rear
axle in the Zook coming out of Sundown NP and I was taken back by the ride & comfort of the Disco. It wasn't too long before I had sold the Nissan and had bought myself my very 1st Landrover - 1996 LR Disco-1 Tdi300
Diesel Auto. This vehicle was simply brilliant in its comfort on and off road and it's 4wd ability was fantastic.
By this time I had come to realise that all the stories I had heard about Landrovers weren't necessarly all true as it basically came down to your maintenance, so I started thinking about Defenders and what they would be
like, so one day I made the mistake by driving down the coast to just "have a look" at a Defender that this fella was selling. Like most old Defenders, it had been used for what it was built for and it showed with dents, etc
but I just wanted to see what they drove like so I took it for a drive. Two weeks later it was sitting down in my back paddock (unregistered). For nearly 2yrs it sat there before I grew tired of seeing it there, so I decided to
get it fixed up and registered purely so I could sell it... This is where the Defender Community kicked in when I put the shout out for help and I was blessed to meet a guy that was super patient and helped me restore the
old Defender back on the Road. Once registered and I started driving it around, I simply fell in love with it and set about making it our family Touring Vehicle with its 1st Family Trip being down through the Victorian High
Country(VHC) towing our Campertrailer. By this time the number of registered vehicles I had grown to 4, so it was time to de-register the Zook as the Disco & Defender became my daily drivers and weekend explorers near and far.
The VHC went well, except now my nearly fully grown 3 teenage kids felt too cramped and the rear seats in old Defenders don't come with headrests, so on our return home I started looking at a newer versions of the Defenders (called Defender Pumas) that had better seating front and rear and had a more modern interior of sorts. These later Defenders were starting to rise in price in the 2nd market due to them not being made anymore but I eventually found the right one that had been highly modified and with most of the LR issues sorted out - so I bought it - a 2009 Defender110 2.4 Tdci Wgn. This gave me a dilemma though, I was back to having 4 registered 4WD's again, so something had to go....this is the dilemma I'm still faced with to this day :( (especially now that I've re-registered my little Zook so my Daughter has a car to drive). We took the newer Defender Puma on its first big overland Trip across the desert twice last year in 2019. We did the Madigan Line East to West (an complete off-track journey of some 700-900kms), then returned via the south via the Rig Rd and French Line to Birdsville and home. Trip went well, except for a dose of dirty fuel in Alice Springs. In these newer Modern CRD engines, it doesn't go well but we were fortunate to get ourselves home to where the fuel tanks had to be removed and cleaned...
So... that's pretty much where we are at currently.... 5 Registered 4WD's... The plan for this year was to sell the wife's Prado and get her a little run around and then also sell the LR Disco as I no longer really use it too much as the 2 Defenders I have is what I drive now. The Disco is good for the kids to learn to drive in though and as I have another child getting his learners this year, I'll see how things go but due to the COVID-19 issues, there's no real point in trying to sell any cars in this climate...
Sorry for the long drawen out story but I thought this would be just something different to posting the normal vehicles pics w/o a bit of a history story...
cheers...
Rob
So, here goes... starting back in 1986
With my parents always taking me camping, I always wanted to eventually get a 4WD, but since $$ was hard to come by back then, I eventually bought my 1st 4WD - 1982 Toyota Blizzard. This was basically a rebadged
Daihatsu F50/Scat. It had a 2.2ltr Diesel engine which was also found in the 1st Diesel Hiluxes.
This 4WD served well in gaining experience in 4WDriving. We hit the bush back then as often as we could and also the beaches as well.
In 1987 saw our 1st attempt at a touring trip when we headed up to do The Cape in north Queensland. It was fairly wild country back then but it was this trip that gave me the passion for exploring/touring around the
country whenever the opportunity came up. After coming back from the Cape, I realised I needed a bigger/roomier 4WD, so in 1988 this lead me to buy my 1st real tourer - 1984 2.4D Hilux Single Cab. This vehicle basically
was unbreakable with what it was put through. In its 1st trip took me around Australia of sorts, crossing the Oodnadatta Trk; The Gunburrel Hwy; The Canning Stock Route(CSR); The Gibb River Road(GRR) - some
15,000kms in 6wks. The vehicle was put through hell and made it back in one piece. From there it completed more trips across the central Aust Deserts,etc.
During our very muddy CSR Trip back in 1989, I realised how much easier the 60's Cruisers handled the conditions with the taller tyres, so I continued to save my $$ and in 1993 I eventually had enough to buy my 1st
Cruiser - a 1984 Blue Landcruiser HJ60 Wgn. This Cruiser was to become the best 4wd tourer that I owned for a long time. I set it up for touring mainly and completed many trips in it which included Simpson Desert;
Litchfield & Kakadu NPs; Lawn Hill NP; Flinders Ranges NP; The Great Ocean Road; the Victorian High Country. As time went on, I changed the setup where by I ended up sleeping in it as I was mainly touring around by
myself.
From there, I sort of went off track a bit and bought a 89 Subaru "L" series Wagon (sold it a few years later after I realised I could achieve what I wanted to do):
After I got my head back on straight... I bought a '92 Landcruiser 80's HZ Wagon. I thought this would have been a long term keeper for touring but that's not how things turned out with myself only doing a couple of smaller
trips in it before I got married and that's where things slowed down a bit...
After settling down & getting married and with the wife not wanting to drive a manual, it was time to say farewell to the 80's Cruiser and hello to my '99 105's Cruiser Wgn (Auto). This vehicle at the time was the biggest
financial outlay I had ever done when buying a vehicle... With now having kids, this 105's Cruiser became our family tourer as we bought a Campertrailer and when that became too much, we bought our 1st caravan and
this combination stayed with us for a few years as the kids grew
During this period, I realised how expensive the 105's was as a daily driver, which lead me towards my next purchase - 1993 Suzuki Vitara 5dr Wgn. This was to become my daily driver + my weekend 4WDriving/Exploring
Toy and is also where I started learning more mechanical skills as I found I broke more things on the Zook as I became more confident in where it would get me. With this being my very 1st Independant Front Suspension
(IFS) 4WD I was constantly impressed as to where this little 4WD would take me. I fell in love with the little Zook (& I still own it to this day as well). I found it would keep up with a lot of the solid axle Suzuki Sierras as
well. Being narrow it was great for exploring those narrow tracks too.
During this period, I was a member of the local Suzuki 4WD club and I found a Suzuki Sierra LWB in a guy's shed. I bought it with grand plans but it just didn't turn out that way and ended up selling it.
As time went on, I sold the 105's Landcruiser and bought our 1st brand new 4WD - a Toyota Landcruiser Prado 150 D4D Auto and this was to become our family tourer for years to come. As a family we did a Van trip
through NSW/VIC country when we 1st got it, then moved on to Tent camping with Trips across the Simpson Desert; Central Australia; Cape York; along the Darling River through NSW. This quickly racked up the kms as it
was also the Wife's daily driver as well.
During this time, I bought myself another 4wd as I wanted to go further a field and the little zook had limited in range, so I ended up buying a Nissan Navara D20 DualCab ute. The thought was that it may become our family
tourer and take some yearly kms off the Prado - I was wrong and sold it again within a few years...
As I was doing more & more self 4wdriving/exploring I wanted something with more range and cousin of mine had bought and old Landrover Discovery-1 Diesel. He had to pick me up one weekend when I snapped a rear
axle in the Zook coming out of Sundown NP and I was taken back by the ride & comfort of the Disco. It wasn't too long before I had sold the Nissan and had bought myself my very 1st Landrover - 1996 LR Disco-1 Tdi300
Diesel Auto. This vehicle was simply brilliant in its comfort on and off road and it's 4wd ability was fantastic.
By this time I had come to realise that all the stories I had heard about Landrovers weren't necessarly all true as it basically came down to your maintenance, so I started thinking about Defenders and what they would be
like, so one day I made the mistake by driving down the coast to just "have a look" at a Defender that this fella was selling. Like most old Defenders, it had been used for what it was built for and it showed with dents, etc
but I just wanted to see what they drove like so I took it for a drive. Two weeks later it was sitting down in my back paddock (unregistered). For nearly 2yrs it sat there before I grew tired of seeing it there, so I decided to
get it fixed up and registered purely so I could sell it... This is where the Defender Community kicked in when I put the shout out for help and I was blessed to meet a guy that was super patient and helped me restore the
old Defender back on the Road. Once registered and I started driving it around, I simply fell in love with it and set about making it our family Touring Vehicle with its 1st Family Trip being down through the Victorian High
Country(VHC) towing our Campertrailer. By this time the number of registered vehicles I had grown to 4, so it was time to de-register the Zook as the Disco & Defender became my daily drivers and weekend explorers near and far.
The VHC went well, except now my nearly fully grown 3 teenage kids felt too cramped and the rear seats in old Defenders don't come with headrests, so on our return home I started looking at a newer versions of the Defenders (called Defender Pumas) that had better seating front and rear and had a more modern interior of sorts. These later Defenders were starting to rise in price in the 2nd market due to them not being made anymore but I eventually found the right one that had been highly modified and with most of the LR issues sorted out - so I bought it - a 2009 Defender110 2.4 Tdci Wgn. This gave me a dilemma though, I was back to having 4 registered 4WD's again, so something had to go....this is the dilemma I'm still faced with to this day :( (especially now that I've re-registered my little Zook so my Daughter has a car to drive). We took the newer Defender Puma on its first big overland Trip across the desert twice last year in 2019. We did the Madigan Line East to West (an complete off-track journey of some 700-900kms), then returned via the south via the Rig Rd and French Line to Birdsville and home. Trip went well, except for a dose of dirty fuel in Alice Springs. In these newer Modern CRD engines, it doesn't go well but we were fortunate to get ourselves home to where the fuel tanks had to be removed and cleaned...
So... that's pretty much where we are at currently.... 5 Registered 4WD's... The plan for this year was to sell the wife's Prado and get her a little run around and then also sell the LR Disco as I no longer really use it too much as the 2 Defenders I have is what I drive now. The Disco is good for the kids to learn to drive in though and as I have another child getting his learners this year, I'll see how things go but due to the COVID-19 issues, there's no real point in trying to sell any cars in this climate...
Sorry for the long drawen out story but I thought this would be just something different to posting the normal vehicles pics w/o a bit of a history story...
cheers...
Rob
