SEPTEMBER, 2021

Mark’s a cattle farmer from Sydney with his property hidden within the hills of the Southern Highlands just two and a half hours south from home.

He’s been making do with swapping between his BMW X5 and iconic HZJ-75 farm ute every time he gets to the gate on the property and it’s not easy when the kids are asleep in the back. The X5 is great on the highway, comfortable in leather and the boys are content in the back with their iPads in their laps. The catch is, the X5 isn’t made for rural roads with its 20″ rims and low clearance, nor can it carry hay and the HZJ just doesn’t suit the highway or the family requirements.

Mark came to us with his dream to upgrade to the LC79 but somehow retain the creature comforts we’ve all grown to enjoy like comfortable suspension, leather interior, a good sound system, navigation/Apple CarPlay and a car the boys can’t wait to climb all over. He needed a comfort and reliability up front, business in the back, and presence that make all the dads envious at the school pick up point.

We started off this build with us arranging the vehicle through our local Toyota dealership, picked his colour and Mark let us do the rest. We handled this build from the first conception to handover with Mark checking in on us every now and again, usually to add more things to the build haha. Unfortunately this all happened through the 2021 Sydney Covid lockdowns so visits were not allowed, but we spoke on a weekly basis and kept him informed along the way.

As you can see on the Build Spec Sheet below there is quite an extensive build list for this one, Mark knew the importance of getting all these things done at once as opposed to taking it to different shops for different things. He didnt have time would have much preferred a turn-key solution.

Some stand out features this rig has in comparison to the others on our recent builds tab is the interior fit out and the application of the Xpel protective paint film. There’s not much we don’t offer now when considering us to deliver you a full-vehicle build so use this list below as a guide or ‘wishlist’ as you will.

All the work done here was pre-rego and fully ADR and street legal Australia wide, including the 4″ lift and 35″ tyres. She’s definitely a head turner and Mark and I have already started discussing a half canopy for his farm dog in the future so lucky our tray wiring is alreasy set up for that – just plug it in and off you go.

For more info, take a look at the rig rundown below and the photos and YouTube walk around.

Thanks for reading.

Shannons Engineering.