Rags to Riches

HOW ONE QUEENSLAND COUPLE TURNED TWO JUNKYARD SPECIALS INTO EPIC 4X4s

- DAN EVERETT

THERE’S no two ways about it. Life is about compromises. The rolling countryside of an outback station might be the perfect slice of paradise for some, but it’s a world away from beach-front barbecues with your mates. A big-shot career in the hustle and bustle of the city might fill a fat wallet, but if you’re dreaming of your own business spinning spanners it might as well be a dead-end job. So what do you do if you’re daydreaming of a hi-po V8 wagon singing to the heavens with supercharged whine and beadlocked 35s scrabbling for traction, but you really need the practicality of an allout touring ute for that big lap of a lifetime? Well, if you’re Queensland couple Michael and Taylah, you throw caution to the wind and build both. Simple, eh?

Gracing these pages we have not one but two built-to-the-nines Patrols, both rolling out of the same shed with two very different purposes. An epic electric blue ’02 GU space-cab Patrol with a touring setup that’d rival any killer camp on the sandy shores of Cape York. And a totally insane ’98 GU wagon with a powertrain sure to put a horn on a jellyfish.