Part exploration machine, part
tow rig – this V8 79 is all good
WORDS BY BRENDAN SEYMOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BY JESS SEYMOURW
e’ve spent a
fair bit of time
up in Darwin
recently. It has
to rate as one
of Australia’s best 4WD
playgrounds – a day or two east
and you’re in the Gulf, the same
amount west and you’re off to
the Kimberley, and that’s not to
mention Darwin’s own epic
off-road backyard in Kakadu
and Litchfi eld NPs. The
camping’s incredible, the
fi shing is off its head and the
whole place has this ‘do
whatever you want, just don’t
stuff it up’ sort of mentality that
the eastern states lost
sometime in the 80s. It makes
sense then that if you live up in
Darwin, you’ve got a tough 4WD
to get you out and making the
most of every free minute.
Darwin crane operate Jamiedepartment. When I could
afford to upgrade, I bought the
79 and haven’t looked back.”
What Jamie found himself in
was an absolutely immaculate
farm-spec 2010 VDJ79R in
‘Sandy Taupe’ (camel brown in
everyday speak). It had
66,000km on the clock, with an
alloy tray, dual batteries, a
winch, bullbar, water tank and
split rims. Jamie resisted theWoods is a bloke who loves his
tough fourbies.. Jamie’s fi rst
4WD was an 03 HZJ105R
Cruiser, a good rig but by his
own admission just too slow for
the long hauls where you can
legally sit on 130km/h for
hours at a time.
With a missus who rides
horses and a CanAm buggy in
the shed, Jamie found himself
towing way more than the 105
really was happy with.
“I bought the 79 cause I’ve
always wanted a V8
Landcruiser ute,” he explains.
“I loved the comfort of the coils
all round with the 105, but the
old 1HZ lacked in the powerurge that plagues every young
4WDer to buy something that
already had all the gear on it but
had been bashed around
off-road. Instead, he had the
perfect basis to turn into the
perfect escape machine and tow
rig, and this is how he did it.
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