Rags to Riches

HOW ONE QUEENSLAND COUPLE TURNED TWO JUNKYARD SPECIALS INTO EPIC 4X4s

- DAN EVERETT

THERE’S no two ways about it. Life is about compromises. The rolling countryside of an outback station might be the perfect slice of paradise for some, but it’s a world away from beach-front barbecues with your mates. A big-shot career in the hustle and bustle of the city might fill a fat wallet, but if you’re dreaming of your own business spinning spanners it might as well be a dead-end job. So what do you do if you’re daydreaming of a hi-po V8 wagon singing to the heavens with supercharged whine and beadlocked 35s scrabbling for traction, but you really need the practicality of an allout touring ute for that big lap of a lifetime? Well, if you’re Queensland couple Michael and Taylah, you throw caution to the wind and build both. Simple, eh?

Gracing these pages we have not one but two built-to-the-nines Patrols, both rolling out of the same shed with two very different purposes. An epic electric blue ’02 GU space-cab Patrol with a touring setup that’d rival any killer camp on the sandy shores of Cape York. And a totally insane ’98 GU wagon with a powertrain sure to put a horn on a jellyfish.

Let’s get one thing out of the way right from the get-go. While both Patrols rolled off the production line as wagons, the two have followed very different paths to get where they are today. The ’98 had been sitting in a paddock for 10 years untouched when Michael and Taylah took ownership, worth every dollar of the 1000 bucks they paid. The ute on the other hand came to the couple as a rolling shell riding on an earlier GQ chassis. The space cab chop already done and in primer by the previous owner; the rest, a blank canvas ripe for their touring plans and a strict six-month deadline to get it done.