SPLIT PERSONALITY

THIS FJ CRUISER HAS BEEN CHOPPED, STRETCHED AND TURNED IN TO WHAT SOME MIGHT DESCRIBE AS A QUIRKY FARM TRUCK ... BUT IT'S ALSO A DAILY WORK HORSE AND A HANDY WEAPON OFF ROAD

- WORDS MATT RAUDONIKIS PHOTOS ELLEN DEWAR

The styling of Toyota’s FJ Cruiser wagon was polarising at the time of its launch. It was one of those 4x4s that you either loved or hated, and it remains so to this day. For Melbourne fabricator Les Camilleri, the FJ Cruiser fell into the first group, and he just loves the quirky looking rig.

“When I first saw the FJ Cruiser I said, ‘I’ll own one of them, someday’,” Les told us when we were checking out his latest creation.

Les is the bossman and chief floor sweeper at Tinman Fabrications, a business that specialises in chopping 4x4 wagons and turning them in to utes or tray backs. Most of his business is converting Nissan Patrols including late-model Y62s, but there’s been a fair share of LandCruisers through the shop as well. Among Les’s own past personal vehicles are a couple of 60 Series Cruisers, one a twin-cab ute, the other a single-cab ute with a 30mm chassis extension.

A few vehicles featuring Les’s handiwork have graced the pages of 4X4 Australia over the years and this FJ is just the latest.

This is the first FJ Cruiser Les has chopped and he says it will be the last. It’s not that the FJ was a particularly difficult job to carry out, just that it took a while to get right, and his time is better spent on the more popular conversions. That, and the fact that Les says he’s thinking of packing up the grinder and welding gear and retiring in the near future.