6 Of The Best

When bigger is better, only six-wheel drive will do. We take two of the best 6x6 landcruisers to tasmania for some off-road touring.

- Matt Raudonikis

When the 4X4 Australia crew ventured to Tasmania earlier this year for our latest adventure, we had in the convoy two of Australia’s more remarkable off-road touring vehicles. The six-wheel-drive LandCruiser 200s of Shane Miles and Brad McCarthy have each been featured on the pages of this magazine in the past, but having them along on the same trip, we just couldn’t resist comparing the duo.

While both of these remarkable rigs are similar in concept, and they both came out of Michael McMillan’s Australian Expedition Vehicles (AEV) workshop in Townsville, they each have their own unique features.

The biggest difference in the two is the cabin space within them. While Brad’s Cruiser chop followed the design of most wagon-to-double-cab ute chops that cut the wagon body behind the second row of seats and then have a custom rear wall fitted there, Shane needed a vehicle to carry his family and wanted to retain the third row of seats and accommodation for seven passengers. That presented a unique challenge to the bodybuilders at AEV.

“It’s not our normal conversion,” explained AEV’s Michael McMillan at the time of the build. “There’s a lot more custom manufacturing in panel beating than we initially anticipated … we’ve had to rely on the skill of a tradesman to put the many bits and pieces together.”

The guys worked through many challenges, such as needing to relocate the rear air-conditioning unit and reroute the drain channels for the factory sunroof, among others, as well as retain the third-row leather seat just as you’ll find in any regular LC200 VX wagon.