You know the one, it has had three new blades and four new handles but it is still grandad’s original axe!

Billy Prescott’s Land Cruiser 40 is a bit the same – very few of the pieces on it are the same originals that came from Toyota San’s factory in 1978, but it is still the original Land Cruiser.

A Pauanui local bought it from a chap in Hamilton in around 1998 to tow his boat. It had been built for 4WD Rallies (Trials today) so had a rugged roll internal roll cage fitted along with front along with side and rear custom protection bars, seat belts and various other mods including LPG fuel. The local didn’t like the LPG, so Billy bought it from him and converted it back to petrol and has now owned it for a round 26 years.

Billy’s brother-in-law had owned one of the original 1970 Land Cruiser 40 models,which Billy had driven and liked and he wanted a replacement for his Series One Land Rover – something with a bit more power and reliability, which the Land Cruiser looked to provide.

He used it a bit and then it sat around doing what all good Land Cruiser 40’s do – quietly dissolving into rust! 

Having the advantage of owning his own fuel station and automotive workshop, (Prescotts Garages at Hikuai) by the Pauanui turnoff, Billy decided to do a comprehensive rebuild. The LC was stripped back to the chassis and sandblasted. New crossmembers were built which were set two inches higher than the originals to achieve a body lift, Hilux body mounts were added (the factory Land Cruisers just have the body bolted to chassis) which gave some extra lift plus some comfort. Large parts of the body were replaced with the fire wall and windscreen being some of the few original parts. The clever wooden half doors were already on the vehicle, these are made from marine ply with gate bolts for latches. A new fuel tank was made to sit under the rear deck rather than under the passenger seat, which aids ground clearance. The soft top is custom made to fit over the roll cage.

Mechanically a later model five-speed gearbox was added, a latter model front diff housing complete with disc brakes and a latter model rear diff with separate handbrake mechanism (rather than the original on the Carden shaft). A rear LSD diff head was installed in the replacement housing. The2F petrol engine is basically standard but was rebuilt and Billy made a 2-inch exhaust system from the manifold to the rear which he says makes a noticeable difference in performance –and sounds great to boot.

The suspension was upgraded with Terrain Tamer 2-inch lift springs, shocks and shackles. Billy modified a Toyota Surf power steering unit to fit (the box needs to be rotated and new mounts machined to sit correctly).

Billy has several wheel and tyre options with a set of 35-inch wheels with 12.5x35x16 tyres fitted when we saw the vehicle and a set of 12.5x31x15 for road use.

There is a snorkel, but Billy has removed it as it interfered with the door opening.

The pièce de résistance is the PTO winch which Billy fitted, apart from being handy when exploring local bush and farms it also earns its keep on the job. Part of the Prescott’s Garage business is a tow truck service, and the Land Cruiser is a great adjunct for tighter recoveries such as around the narrow roads on Paku at Tairua or some narrow country roads – the winch can get the customer vehicle out to a place that the tow truck can’t reach.

Billy has lived in the area all his life so knows all the tracks and trails in the Coromandel Hills and the Land Cruiser has explored most of them at one time or another.

As far as the colour scheme goes, he has a friend with a good collection of military vehicles, and he liked the Desert Sand colour used on some US Army vehicles from the collection and decided it was the best colour for the Cruiser.

Billy was inspired after some visits to Australia to also build from scratch a camper trailer to complement the Land Cruiser when these were not locally available. The living area folds out to the back and there is a pull-out kitchen, mounting on draw bar for fridge and gas cylinders. One clever feature is the use of old car screw jacks for the camper’s stabilisers.

Apart from owning and operating the garage Billy was quite involved as a mechanic on some of the early New Zealand rallies including the legendary Heatways, amongst other vehicles he worked on the first Fiat 125T rallied here by Trevor Tapper, and also Walter Hart’s 125T and other vehicles along with some of Rod Millen’s so has quite a pedigree for fettling fine vehicles.

Billy has some full doors on order to replace the half doors after deciding it’s just a bit chilly at times with all the air flow from the half doors which I can vouch for after taking the Cruiser for a drive up the highway!

When I asked Billy for his impressions of the Land Cruiser his parting comment was “It’s just a good truck!”