If you’re not familiar with the off-road vehicles Australians consider “iconic,” here’s your chance to see how well four of the all-time greatest hold up against the outback. And if you do know these trucks, you know they’ll be fun to watch.
Off-road aftermarket outfit ARB has been making upgrades for everybody’s favorite 4x4s for years, and it’s especially big in its homeland of Australia. Their latest advertising effort involves specially setting up four truly classic Australian off-road vehicles—a 1995 Land Rover Defender, 1994 Toyota Hilux, 1976 Toyota Land Cruiser and a 1991 Nissan Patrol—with all of their fancy farkle and cutting them loose on a long walkabout through the heart of Australia.
This “ARB Icons” expedition is running from Alice Springs near Ayer’s Rock (that big red rock on every other post card from Australia) down into the Simpson Desert and on to a place called Eldee Station.
The terrain in these areas generally ranges from hardpack rocky surfaces to loamy, soft sand. But there should be plenty of opportunities for the vehicles to work their winches and air lockers.
Here’s a closer look at each “icon” truck built for this showcase:
Toyota Land Cruiser
Nissan Patrol
Toyota Hilux
Land Rover Defender
ARB will be poking and prodding at its own equipment to see what works well and what they might want to adjust. Meanwhile, a few journalists you may have heard of will be at the wheel.
Hopefully they’ll be able to find enough cell reception to do some shares from the trail. And just in case they can here’s how to find them:
Chris Collard is a photographer, writer, and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him climb out of a few race cars down Baja. You can tell by his hat he’s into the “overlanding” thing. He’s on Instagram and Facebook, and should be posting to Overland Journal and Expedition Portal as well.
I know you’ve seen Fred Williams if you’ve read Truck Yeah more than a few times. We pretty much post all his antics on Dirt Every Day because who else is creative enough to turn a Jeep into a working submarine? He’s on Instagram and Facebook.
Wes Siler will be part of this pack as well, and probably posting about it on Instagram and Facebook.
As of Saturday (Sept. 10), the crew was flying in to Alice Springs to get the trip going. Keep your eyes on those social media accounts along with ARB’s own Instagram, Facebook and YouTube channel over the next few days. If we don’t see anything, I have no doubt we’ll get a bigger-production video out of the whole thing after it wraps up.