HEAVY HITTER

PATROLS ARE BACK IN THE TITLE FIGHT, AND THIS CHOPPED MONSTER THROWS ONE HELL OF A PUNCH WORDS DAN EVERETT PHOTOS MATT WILLIAMS

- DAN EVERETT

FOR decades, an epic battle has raged in boardrooms and bush tracks. Two titans of touring trading blows to dominate the off-road market and the outback alike. Ever since way back in the 1950s, Toyota and Nissan have been throwing engineering might at their off-road programs to build 4x4s that’d dominate in every continent on earth. From the early days of the soft top short-wheelbase G60 Patrols and FJ Cruisers, through the ’80s as they both ballooned into family wagons, and the ’90s when both hit their stride with big turbo-diesel six-cylinder engines and coil springs reining in solid axles.

For many, it was peak 4x4 territory and something we still haven’t bettered. Unfortunately, with both manufacturers looking to get an upper hand with a giant leap forward, the war swung in the favour of Toyota’s LC200. The Y62 Patrol with its 400hp V8 failed to capture the hearts of Aussie 4WDers.

In recent years the Y62 has clawed back to be a serious contender, and we’ve never seen a better example of that than this epic super-sized dual-cab.

TRANSFORMATION