4x4 of the best
hidden talents
S
ome people get into off-roading and head straight for a Land Cruiser, while others come to Toyota after finding their way through one or more other brands. This being Britain, those other brands normally include Land Rover, but John Abram was different. He owned a Suzuki SJ and Jimny, a Jeep CJ5 and a heavily
Words: Paul Looe Pics: Harry Hamm
modified Cherokee before taking this 70-Series under his wing. A spanner man by trade, John wasn’t about to get scared by the prospect of beefing up an ageing truck. And he had plenty that he wanted to do to it, too. The work included all the usual stuff like a big lift and big tyres, winch, snorkel, steel bumpers
and so on. But the Land Cruiser gained some deep-down engineered modifications, too – one of which is, beyond doubt, the one that makes it stand out in a crowd. Actually, strictly speaking it doesn’t make it stand out in a crowd, because it does that anyway by dint of being a 70-Series – and because the really good stuff is hidden underneath it. By this
It doesn’t look particularly radical at first glance, but this is a 70-Series with a hidden secret – which is that it’s running on a pair of 80-Series axles. These are massively strong, being designed to carry a much larger vehicle with a much larger engine, and as well as having disc brakes at the back, plus bigger rotors up front, they widen the truck’s track and contain locking diffs. Result all round
62 | MAY 2023
10pp 4x4 of the Best May 23.indd 62
4x4 11/04/2023 00:57
