So we're getting to the pointy end of this build,
because I'm here at Creative Conversions this morning.
Now it's getting there, trust me. There's so much involved in a build like this.
There's so much organization between getting all the people involved in it.
Now Mike from Clearview--so Uncle Mike from Clearview rang me up the other day,
and he goes, ‘Jase, I'm going to throw a spanner in the works.’
And I'm going, ‘oh come on, Mike, I'm getting to the end here. What do you got?’
And he goes, ‘I've got a new mirror.’
And I couldn't believe it when he said it to me. He goes you're kidding me,
like I've got your latest and greatest on my truck now.
And he goes, ‘nah, this is the new thing.’
So today, I'm going to meet Mike here at creative,
and he's going to show me--apparently he's telling me,
I'm going to be the first one in australia to put these brand new
Clearview--and I don't even know what he calls them yet,
that's how new they are--on this new 200.
So let's see where Mike is. There he is.
Hey mate, look what I got for you.
Okay these are the new Clearview [Next Gen].
Oh, I couldn't believe it when you said to me. Like you're on the phone and going,
‘oh Jase, by the way, those mirrors you just chucked on your car... I've got something better.’
Yeah, yeah. So we've been working on these now for a while.
And it actually all started about 4 years ago when we got the idea.
And we've just been doing different samples.
I've not been happy with them, and and I've told you a little bit about that.
But over time, we just kept improving and getting 'em better and getting them better.
And now I can honestly say...
He's got it done.
...I'm really happy.
So you've been working on this for 4 years.
Yeah, but we do a sample and we put it on the car and we try it. And I just go no.
Not happy with it. Let's go back, redo it again, redo it again and do it again and do it again.
Gotcha.
And anyway this is the new product.
Here we go.
As you can see, it's a lot shorter. Still has two glass.
It comes on our Powerfold base.
Got a category 6 indicator. Pull on the head.
Look at that.
This comes here with a removable cap,
so if you've got a 200 Sahara, and you want to put a camera in it,
you remove that cap, pick the wire and loom up, plug it in,
sit the camera in there, screw it into place, and just pop it back in there.
The indicators are category 6,
and it comes with a built-in clearance light if you want to hook it up.
And if your car's got a puddle light in it, you can hook the puddle light up as well.
Gold. Let's get them on and see how they roll.
Okay let's do it. Let's grab some tools.
All right.
For fitting a set of Clearview, all you need to do is remove the trim.
You need a little short flat screwdriver, a phillips head, and a 10mm socket.
And to get your door trim off, we just give it a pop out with a screwdriver.
They come on and off in five minutes, I guess.
You've done this a million times, haven't you?
Ah, yeah, I did it once. I did it once.
Well I've seen you at the shows, mate, where you
literally--people can buy them and then literally you fit them for them.
Yeah like that, like you have a fitting bay.
Literally just like... It's almost like getting a car wash.
So this is the old mirror, right? Still a really, really, good mirror.
There's no doubt about it. Used it for many, many years.
You'll notice that it has an extension, so you pull out the extension.
That's the extension amount there, and it's just basically in and out.
So it's just a one-piece design.
These are Powerfold, so you press the button and they fold in and they fold out as well.
But they can also, if you were to hit a tree or something like that,
obviously you won't damage the mirror.
Now let's see what the new ones are going to be like compared to the old ones.
And that's the part I want to see.
All right so Mike's already got the old mirror off.
That was pretty quick, mate. So let's get the new one on.
Yeah.
All right, I'll grab the new one out of the box.
Make sure we get the lefthand side.
So it's just a matter of feeding that in there.
That's it, one at a time.
[music]
All right, so the first thing you're going to notice straight away is the compact design.
Very compact compared to the other mirrors.
So is that really what you were after, Mike?
You were trying to get that more compact design?
We wanted the mirror in close to the car, because that's
what a lot of people are always asking. You know, they stick out a long way.
When they're closed.
Yeah when they're closed, but when you extend your mirrors out for towing,
you've also got to be able to get them out past the outside of your carriage.
So you can see.
So you've got to do something in here to make it actually compact in.
And that's where this unique design comes in.
This has got a double slide on it. We've got a full-blown patent on that concept on the slide.
And when I designed that, I actually drew it all up on the clear glass window in my office.
And the rest of the office just stood around, and they're all looking at what I'm drawing.
They thought I was designing something for a cannon or something.
But once we got it into Autocad, and we could see it would actually work, we started sampling.
[music]
Stage one.
Yeah, stage one.
Stage two. Yeah look at that.
Comes out and it comes out a lot further, or the same sort of distance.
The dimensions from here to here are exactly the same as the previous mirror.
But when it goes in... So when it's in, this distance now is much tighter.
Yeah and it's only 30 mil wider than a standard Toyota mirror.
30 mil wider than a standard Toyota mirror. So that's about that much.
30 mil, yeah. Well there you go, so that's what a lot of people do.
The conventional mirrors on a land cruiser are completely useless for towing.
It's actually illegal to tow things, right?
So it's illegal to run a 200 series land cruiser and tow a caravan with standard mirrors.
You actually have to put those things. I don't know, you buy them.
That's pretty cool, mate. I really like this. I'm not kidding. This is good.
All right so these mirrors are no different to the other ones.
They've still got the same Powerfold mechanism.
So if you have a look here,
you can still press the button on the inside to push them in and out.
Whether you're in the bush or whether you're just at the car park
and you want to push them in so no one runs into your mirrors.
And then you want to extend the mirror.
Out she goes.
Quick adjustment on here.
And I'm ready to go towing.
So you'll also notice that they've got the two lenses as well.
So the convex lens down here.
So this one is operated manually. You just push that in like that.
And then this one, which is full electric.
Just like the normal mirrors. There's also the indicator, have a look at that.
So if you're a bit old like me and you can't remember whether you've got your indicator on,
because you can't hear the clicker, look at that.
All right, there we go there's the old ones. We'll put them away in there.
Now we're gonna...
Ah Jase.
Oh I don't know how it goes in.
The cardinal sin.
Don't look at me.
Anyway while Mike's putting the old one back in the box... Mike, um what about Simon?
I can't be rocking up with these mirrors, and Simon's D-MAX has the old ones.
Simon?
Yeah, Simon.
He'll get over it.
No he won't.
Trust me, he will.
Did you do D-MAX ones? Did you do D-MAX ones?
You want me to quickly make a set up for it, is that what you're asking me?
Yeah do you reckon we could get a set on Simon's truck?
I reckon we can do that. I knew it.
So he's got a set for Simon's truck. Let's get 'em on the D-MAX.
You know what's going to happen, don't you?
What?
Simon's going to bash them off trees.
Yeah he will do that. There's no doubt about that.
Tough mirrors.
I know somebody else that does that too.
Not me. Not me.
Did you see that?
I'll get this truck out of the way.
D-MAX are really, really simple on their door trims. Yeah there's only two screws in them.
There's one behind the door latch, and one in where you grab the door to close it.
And once you take them out, the panel just pops off.
Obviously you've got to take your corner piece up here off first.
There's a gap down here under the door.
That's about as hard as it gets.
[music]
Out she pops.
Gonna unplug that?
There you go. I asked the boys to pack them well, and they pack them well, all right.
We use our own bolts here,
because they've just got a little bit more thread on them than the originals.
Just a little bit more weight, so we'll just have a little bit more thread.
Yeah that's it. You might have noticed, Jase...
Look at that, fits like a glove, Mike.
Yeah.
[music]
Okay so we've just fitted our new Clearview [Next Gen] version of our towing mirrors onto the D-MAX.
And slide the mirror head out for towing. When we're not towing, we just slide it back in again.
Obviously it's on a Powerfold.
The indicators are category 6 for any upgrades.
The electrics still work as per standard specs,
and I'm really, really happy with the final product. I just think it's great.
All right, Mike, so the mirrors are on. Mate, they fit up awesome.
There's no doubt about it, mate, you've outdone yourself when it comes to the mirrors again.
I'm keen to get them out into the field. Now apparently you're telling me,
and you didn't sort of let on too much, but you've got a little surprise for Simon's D-MAX.
We have, but I'm not going to tell you any more about it.
Oh okay.
Until it's ready to go.
All right, so we're going to have it for the trip?
It's ready.
Okay has it something to do with food? It involves food? Then Simon's gonna love it.
Simon's gonna love it.
So there you go, guys. The mirrors are all on.
The trucks are coming together nicely. We're very, very close.
There's a new surprise going in Simon's D-MAX, because we're doing an overhaul for him.
The 200, well I can't wait to reveal that thing in all its glory.
We're nearly there, so let's keep going.