SHOW OR GO?

ON the cover of this magazine, we ask the question: Is the Landcruiser 79 Series still a workhorse or has it become more of a show pony? If you were at the Brisbane 4x4 show earlier this year, you might think the latter is true as there were countless 79s done up to the nines, with more money spent on them than some would think possible. Yes, we love showing you these incredible Landcruiser builds in this magazine and it’s obvious you like to see them. Plus the popularity of the 79 has created a whole industry of clever businesses creating products and building full turnkey Cruisers for whatever the customer wants. Some of the builds we are seeing are mind-blowing!

Our cover car this month is a bone-stock, plain white LC79 single cab. A truck that has for a long time been the workhorse of choice for the man on the land, mine workers, or anyone that needs a solid and dependable work truck for rough conditions.

Sure, it’s a limited edition 70th Anniversary commemorative model, a vehicle I’m hearing some owners are locking away in sheds in the hope they will become collectible and more valuable than they already are. Which raised the question, is the 79 still a workhorse?

There are plenty of haters out there who say Landcruiser 70s are overpriced and, when you look at what you get in them compared to other cars, you’d have to agree. But the reality is, there is nothing else like a 70 Series available on the market today.

American pickup trucks can’t withstand the sort of torture that a 70 faces day in, day out on outback roads; they are just not made for it. Neither are the popular mid-size utes up to the task of regular bush use and abuse.

I remember being on a grazier’s property in western NSW 20 years ago and talking to the farmer about what vehicles he used on the station and why. Most of them were 75s with a couple of Hiluxes in the mix, but he told me then that the Hiluxes were only for town use and around the homestead. He said that nothing else lasted on the station tracks like the 70 does, and for that reason alone they were worth the extra money over anything else.

With that sort of durability and built-for-purpose engineering in them, it’s no wonder they are so well-suited to outback travel. Sure, they cost a lot and don’t have the luxuries a lot of cars offer, but they are massively customisable and built to handle whatever the bush throws at them. Is the 70 Series the perfect outback truck?