The Condor that can

It’s not the typical sort of vehicle you’d find tackling a local trail, but Jan Wink from Plattekloof Glen in Cape Town swears that’s exactly why he loves it.

When his family started growing, Jan Wink reckoned it was time to let go of his Toyota RunX and look for another vehicle. Fortunately, his brother was willing to buy the RunX and his dad had a perfect Condor. He convinced his old man to let it go for around R70 000, which was the trade-in value five years ago.

Idrivea 2000 Toyota Condor

3 ℓ diesel RV 4x4 that had about 230 000 km on the clock when I took ownership. It’s a little on the rare side as Condors go, because most of the ones you see on the road are either in Estate or TX specification, the latter of which can also be had in a 4x4 version.

We call it The Blue Monster. The colour is a dark shiny basecoat blue, which Toyota called Calypso. The black detailing I’ve had done contrasts nicely with the bodywork. The spare wheel carrier is black as well and the windows are also tinted dark.

Although the Condor is my daily drive, I take my family off-roading in it quite often. The modifications I had done were with 4x4 trails in mind, so there’s an off-road bumper in front and I also had a diff lock fitted. The Condor has a permanent four-wheel drive

system and is also equipped with lowrange gearing, but the diff lock allowed fora dramatic improvement in tough offroad conditions.

I also wanted more power, but these old-school 5L motors are very basic in design and a turbo and chip wasn’t really

recommended. Instead, I had a freeflow exhaust fitted and the fuel pump

recalibrated. Just those upgrades have resulted in a peak power output of 90 kW, up from 66 kW, while the torque output also went up to 246 Nm from 192 Nm.

If I’m being honest, the centre of gravity is quite high now that the suspension is raised. The Condor is only 1,4 m wide, which is half a metre less than a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, so it’s very high and very narrow. Depending on the angle of attack or the ditch, the Condor could easily tip over. Toyota should have widened the front and rear wheel tracks a bit, but they probably didn’t build the Condor with serious off-roading in mind. I’ve also added a bash plate, custom rock sliders, a custom spare wheel carrier over the rear door, Camil and Bilstein shocks front and rear, dropped another leaf spring per rear wheel, as well as diff and transfer case breathers. Now that’s it’s got more off-road capability, I’ve started taking it through more challenging obstacles.

Visually, one of the most noticeable things that sets the Condor apart, are the 225/70 R16 BF Goodrichs that wrap wheels one size up from stock. Unfortunately, I couldn’t go any bigger or wider because there’s rubbing in front when I’m close to full lock with the steering. Next on the cards are a set of spacers to add width on the track and remedy the rubbing underneath and maybe replace the wheel arches to make space for even bigger wheels.

It’s a practical vehicle, and when I don’t have my wife, three daughters and two dogs init,thenIcan remove the rear seats and help move furniture or drop a mattress in the back there. When we go away for weekends, we all manage to fit, with all our gear and without the use of roof racks or a trailer.

There are two kinds of onlookers who approach me; the first group don’t recognise the Condor at all and think it’s just amazing, and then there’s another group who ask me why I didn’t just opt for a Prado or another ‘real’ off-roader. But I don’t want a Fortuner or something that thousands of other South Africans own. My Condor is unique, has oodles of character and stands out above the crowd.