A couple of weeks back a few of us were sitting around having a work meeting (we may or may not have been at the pub at the time…) and the talk was turned to project vehicles. Ev has his GQ, Dex has his FrankenForty and Sam has his old Series Landy that consumes most of his weekends.
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And while they’re all cool vehicles, they’re not exactly new, powerful or going to win any awards in the looks department. So around beer three it was decided that we needed to look for a new project vehicle to build up in Unsealed 4X4.
The problem is, most newer 4X4s that are worth investing time and parts into ain’t exactly cheap, and somehow we didn’t think Mercedes would give us an AMG 6X6 G-wagen to go nuts with so we had to come up with a plan B.
How do you get a newer vehicle with plenty of power and reliability that’s a blank canvas from which we can build the ultimate expedition vehicle – without taking out a second mortgage on the house?
Of course, the mines!
Fast forward a couple of days (we move quick around these parts) and a truck pulled up in the work car park with an ex-coal mine Toyota 76 LandCruiser on the back of it that cost us the princely sum of $17K. It’s sporting a 4.5L V8 turbo-diesel, cold air-con, what looks to be an Ironman 4X4 front winch bar and not a whole lot else. One turn of the key though and it started straight up before we headed out for the local tracks (which it handled with ease). Considering the engine alone is almost worth the asking price, this has to be one of the bargain buys of the century – and it leaves us heaps in the kitty for mods.
We’ve got some massive plans for this bus after we clean it up and de-mine it, so feast your eyes on what must be one of the best value 4X4s in the country. Oh, and in case you’re wondering where the name came from, take a look at the photos of the underbody – and yep, stripping it back and repainting the frame, diffs and suspension are high on the to-do list!
What do you think we should do to turn Project Rusty into the ultimate adventure machine?
