Colour Me Dusty

CAN THE TRACK LEAST TRAVELLED RETURN MOST REWARD?

- BRAD MISKIEWICZ

PICTURE this, you’re trundling down a well beaten track way out past nowhere when you clock the rising plume of dust ahead signalling a fellow traveller approaching at speed. The track’s been pretty hard going on the fourby so your mind starts to speculate as to what kind of rig is also up to the task. With the mindset of most four-wheel drivers following the same tried and tested models it would be safe to say seeing a Prado 150 at this point would be a big surprise, and without a soccer field or schoolyard anywhere in sight!

Tom Ledger was tired of seeing the same vehicles being used on tourer builds, and saw the trusty Prado as an alternative. “Going against everyone’s opinions was a big risk but in the end I thought why not? I’ll just do it,” he says.

Tom shook hands on a brand-new 2019 Prado, before then enduring a two-month wait to collect his new Dusty Bronze ride, as his chosen colour had to be specially ordered. “I liked that it had dusty in its name so I took a gamble,” he said. “The dealership wasn’t helpful, the website was terrible, but I liked the name. I wasn’t too sure on the colour when I first saw it, and thought I’d made a huge mistake. But once I started fitting the black accessories to it, it really grew on me.”

Of course, the Prado was nicknamed ‘Dusty’, and Tom was soon on a mission to improve it and within a month of picking it up a plethora of gear had been fitted.