two months ago I purchased a 20 year old Land Cruiser I was in Australia with the
vehicle in South Africa it's for my own use in Africa when I visit to come and
explore and now I'm here to rebuild this vehicle and turn it into an overland
Tora well it's too bad if I didn't like it hey see I paid for it
I'm Andrew st. Pierre White join me as I share my passion for building four-wheel
drive trucks and traveling to the remotest parts the world so we decided
to choose it to the light color in Australia that's called sandy tap here
what do they call it
it is a Toyota color I know they call it a different color here but I think it's
a lovely color I spent yesterday showing the cruiser to the project manager
that's Paul Marsh and he's brought me to a Land Cruiser specialist near Cape Town
to see a way back in Africa yep his name is four-wheel drive and Brecon
fell outside Cape Town I've driven past history or every single time I've driven
past the toys because I've always got interesting language there's always
stuff parked outside there's always amazing projects that these guys do yeah
are these vehicles you obey open posts from Australia sources and people bring
them to rebuild and what's really interesting a truck will come in like
this and often in much worse condition I've seen some of them really you
wouldn't want to even think about rebuilding it and the whole process
starts and I'll take this whole vehicle and you'll see the potential because
we probably still original and they'll strip it down to every last nothing
bulbs the body comes off the chassis everything gets redone and you have this
beautiful vehicle emerging from what was probably a rusty old heat
it's just very wrong there's actually one inside is there the blue one a
beautiful on if you need again see we don't have a look at that in a minute
I mean they have done modifications and changes that you cannot believe so you
your your your business model is I will find the best to do all of these
different jobs manage a project and deliver a via like I mindfully choose
who I want to work with in South Africa because it really is about you know
choosing companies that have got the right values that align to my who is my
values ours and when I look for someone who could do mechanical work it's
something we used to do ourselves in the UK yes but now you know be working with
someone is a lot of trust you putting into a company when you're taking
someone's vehicle and you want them to do it yes for one of your clients yeah
so I spend a lot of my time making sure that I'm I work with the guys to check
out the work is done to the standard I would want to be done for my vehicle yes
and that they're using the right parts I have I trust the workmanship and like
anything we wanted us make sure that the client gets what they deserve and the
vehicles prepared to the standard to take them across Africa let me introduce
you to your banjo I'm gonna go and fetch him and bring him out I know it's very
excited to see you here and very keen to see the truck I have a feeling that I am
about to you see I know the basics these guys are in a different league when it
comes to machinery mechanics drive trains engines ok I'm about to learn an
enormous amount and that is not I mean that's that really is fantastic for me
meet Andrew nice to meet he doesn't meet you I know this ball you know this car
yes a couple years back he came on the
trailer the whole roof was flat would mean the roof was flat it wasn't a
massive accident we had to fit in other the roof and say you fitted the roof the
rear the whole thing was cut off in the back chassis part was bent that's not
great news no not really
is that why I was sprayed oh yeah don't see any marks did you wreck it I don't
know well we did a good job not bad isn't bad
it's there's no could we could it didn't crack participate I better figure on the
inside we'll find the well we you see right there well what color was it
before yellow you care like a chronic hello because
this is a silver cup it was yeah that's the same time which is the same car you
sure
if you can't honestly believe that that's the case but the look on your
face is price this is not this is not how I was hoping to look at this moment
you mean you're singing we are absolutely taking initiative resistant
okay full marks but you do understand this is not gonna go out and go
unanswered okay okay I will never trust you again I
don't know whether to laugh or cry been cuttin hasn't been in an accident but we
couldn't risk another scar the artists in a massive accident and they had no
roof and then this chassis was business
should we have going to have coffee so I could calm down a bit but I think you
know you've been I've been very excited about the project because you know he
knows me we very passionate about these 80s and the 105 so in this particular
105 it's a good it's a great color it's and lovely looks in very good condition
and the mechanical stuff we are going to go through and pull apart and change but
you do that on any vehicle hmm and that's to be expected I mean we
the time when we pulled diffs apart we check the backlash and we redo wheel
bearings and you know as we go through the whole car bumper to bumper so we
expecting to find stuff on this car but there's nothing that can't be repaired
because in the integrity of the body and we'll look inside to snow it's good but
that's for me is the key thing the chassis the body gearbox can be repaired
diffs can be repaired there's always a balance to strike on
what you what you're gonna spend on a sassy and you never want to pick a car
that you've got to do everything because then the bill becomes enormous and
ridiculous I always say you can come by car that's
mechanical Rock but you could buy a car that's rattleballs it's difficult to
repair that okay but mechanical you can repair take it back to you right but the
rental box the new yes it's just not a rattle box
would you consider the door lines it drove well didn't it was solid on the
road that the suspension layout is not good but let's get you gonna change that
but the basic feel of the gearbox the pull solid good it's a good solid
vehicle it doesn't actually feel twenty years old and three hundred thousand so
I actually even drove it on a little bit of gravel road it wasn't i sudden didn't
suddenly hear a whole lot of really horrible noises not at all so i think
it's good and solid I knew they were there when I said you run these engines
in at 100,000 kilometers so the fact it's got two and three hundred thousand
kilometers it's actually not a lot if the engine is sounding good it is not
using a lot of oil is not smoking massively they go on for long
that's nice a little bit on the start no they will do that so it's smooth it's
not particularly heavy on fuel consumption that's heavier than normal
but not a lot yeah you know it's not it's gear change
is all good the gearbox shift good smooth clutch it's got a chatter in it
we're going to sort that brakes have got a there's obviously one of the dis maybe
two have got a war because when you brake lightly you can feel the you know
yes watch you when you even look at the car name what you're going to change
it's not yes into a home in going I can see the bigger picture I paint this up
witness do the garden up and it'll be a really nice home well this is exact this
is someone's home so what we want to look at and say what are we changing mmm
what are we gonna make new and what integrity like you bear says the
integrity of the body the chassis the engine the gearbox they strong
especially in these models so if these are intact and good then the work you
have to do can't can be looked at as service maintenance preventive I'm
making more reliable right and also the the 105 the 80 was both on the same
principle yes same chassis same suspension yes
spicy gesture brakes and obsess difference yeah
yeah so you've heard something that works it's not something new that needs
to be tested these costs are proven to work you can't
knock you know take someone taking a brand new vehicle if you buying a brand
new vehicle I think what what I look at in these older vehicles is one is there
a simple vehicle that can take bad fuel and you don't have to go far in Africa
where you were likely to pick up some really bad fuel we did yeah yeah when we
did actually you're right when we drove through hunt see so you know that can
happen and then you're sitting really high high and dry when you've got a car
that can't drive on bad fuel you know so it's it's considerated considering where
you're gonna have it worked on in Africa what their knowledge base is what spares
are available so that you can actually prepare the vehicle knowing you're gonna
get help you're gonna get spares and it's not the
latest cutting-edge technology which has encrypt into the smaller places where
you might be which are really remote and I think that's that's where vehicles
like this and others serve their their niche on long-distance remote over land
travel I would like some coffee yes since you
asked I'm just trying to think now can I should concentrate on what we do the
vehicle I'm just thinking about how to get you back I haven't come up with
anything quite yet but I will
who's gonna catch you first I'm going up there yeah I think you might even one up
actually you'd be worrying a bit yeah I would that's the whole point of this
exists that you worry in the next episode and in the weeks ahead Paul you
bear and I will be untangling the history of this vehicle by stripping
down its major components and rebuilding them our aim is to create a long-lived
Overland tourer what we will find and what it will cost to fix is all ahead of
us