All Conquering Everest

Climbing mountains and any other terrain in ford’s too-often underrated everest wagon.

- Matt Raudonikis

Creating your perfect four-wheel-drive vehicle can be a mammoth task. One that is not undertaken lightly and requires meticulous planning, recruiting the right team, skilled execution, and knowing when to say enough is enough. It’s a task akin to scaling a mountain, but once you reach that zenith, only then can you truly enjoy the fruits of your toiling.

Sydneysider Richard Bookhouse knows the feeling of achieving his goal. He set out to build a car that can be used every day, yet still be able to take him on challenging tracks; so after a diet of a few Toyota Prados, he changed teams and climbed into a Ford Everest.

“I was bored of Prados,” says Richard. “I loved the Ranger and how it could be improved but I wanted a wagon not a ute.”

Lucky for Rich, Ford had just the answer, and most of what can be applied to a Ranger works on an Everest.

The Everest shares its architecture with the Ranger utilising the Australian engineered and developed T6 platform, but riding and handling better with its Watt’s link and coil-spring equipped rear suspension which is what was adapted to the Ranger to create the Raptor.

“I like that it (the Everest) has Australian origins and I got to speak with an engineer who worked on it (the Ranger/Everest program),” says Richard.

The Everest hit the market in 2015 and Richard was an early adopter snaring this 2016 model. It wasn’t long before he set out his plan to make the Ford the off-road touring vehicle he wanted. However, being the first to try comes with extra challenges.