MOUNTAIN MOVER

IT’S ALL FUN AND GAMES UNTIL YOU’RE BURIED UP TO THE CHASSIS WITH NO HELP IN SIGHT. IF YOU’RE IN WA, YOU’LL BE CALLING WEST COAST 4X4 RECOVERY TO GET YOU OUT.

- BRAD MISKIEWICZ

THERE’S no doubt getting stuck is a big part of the job when you’re out in the sticks; and for the most part some experience, a pair of recovery tracks, or a snatch from a mate and you’re on your way again. But what happens when you’re bogged to the eyeballs, all the snatch straps are snapped, and, worse still, the tide is on its way in and you’re below the water line? That’s when guys like Shaun Barrett and his team at Westcoast 4X4 Creations & Recovery come in real handy.

They bring a tonne of 4x4 experience along with up to seven tons of off-road artillery to get you out, at any hour of the day or night anywhere along the left coast of Australia.

Case in point being quite possibly the ultimate recovery rig right here. Shaun’s 1986 U1700 Unimog. Originally purchased from the Australian Defence Force’s surplus stock mid-2019 after doing around 13 years in military service, it has been rescuing stricken vehicles all over the Sandgroper state ever since.

One does not simply buy a ’Mog and start a recovery business, and Shaun is no stranger to the off-road life, with two suitably kitted-out Patrols doing the early recovery duties. But the need to go bigger had Shaun eyeing off the surplus auctions.

“We decided to do it, as that kind of service wasn’t available on the scale that we wanted. Back in the day when I was FIFO, I’d spend a lot of time out there (in the bush) and people would pay you for recoveries. The ’Mog was a personal want, so I decided to get it and let it pay for itself, but I didn’t expect it all to take off like it did,” Shaun says.