While TLC 4x4 proved its worth, Ward soon wanted to do
more than routine, purist restorations. “You build it to per-
fection as it was done back in the day, but oftentimes those
vehicles don’t really get used or driven,” he says. “The client
quickly becomes disenchanted because their rosy ideas don’t
really translate to the archaic reality of driving it. They don’t
understand the martyrdom. When I started Icon, it was a
very simple premise of revisiting classic transportation in
a modern context, and that meant in essence two things:
taking significant engineering control over the mechanical
improvements to truly evolve the whole user experience and
acknowledging the fact that we are all corrupted by the per-
versions and functionalities found in modern production
vehicles. I worried the market wouldn’t understand the Icon
approach as something new unless I defined an aesthetic
that visually differentiated it from the original.”
His worrying is absurd in retrospect: Icon has now built
more than 100 bespoke FJs, each sold for $200,000 or more.
At first Ward held to a tough, clean, monochromatic aesthetic,
but he slowly let his personality peek through and seep into
builds. Now most of his repeat clients, who account for“YOU BUILD IT TO
PERFECTION AS IT WAS
DONE BACK IN THE DAY,
BUT THOSE VEHICLES DON’T
REALLY GET USED OR DRIVEN.”