The great monthly response to the NZ4WD ‘Kumho Your 4s, Our Places’ photo competition – and the ever-growing number of enhanced 4WDs on our roads – have convinced us: it’s time we got a bit more interactive with our readers. Specifically, we’re keen to see exactly what you are all driving, and what you want to do to (and with) your 4WDs. Introducing ‘My 4WD’, a feature giving readers the chance to get their vehicles into the magazine. We are looking specifically for the cool, the unusual, the vehicle builds that take things to extremes. Our first contributor for the year is Richard Mulholland, who sent us images of not one, but two awesome builds.

First came the ‘legacy’ Prado. Richard Mulholland had spent many years touring the country with his dad in a 1993 Toyota Landcruiser Prado. They had even hit Stewart Island in the tough wee truck.
Richard says the Prado became part of the family, having been handed down to his dad from his grandfather, who passed away in 2001.
“Dad reckons when he dies, he wants to be buried in the Prado,” Richard said. “One thing is for sure; it will never be sold off.”
With each adventure the Mulhollands undertook, they added accessories to make the drive more fun and make the Prado more capable.
Between exploration and work duties, the Prado was starting to look a bit beaten-up and was spending more and more time in the workshop.
Looking to take some of the load off the old 4WD, Richard was looking for a vehicle to shoulder some of the hard miles.
“I wanted to help take the load of using one vehicle by buying my own truck and upgrading it to the point where we have two very tough, off-road capable trucks.”
The annual Fieldays convention and expo in Hamilton delivered Richard a result in 2015.
“After my first trip to Fieldays, I’d found the right truck and I walked away on a mission to get myself a black Isuzu D-Max 4WD.”
That was in 2015. Richard says ever since he bought the D-Max he has been working on upgrades for serious hunting expeditions and touring so that it can run alongside the Prado.
The following years have been a process of continuous upgrades and ever more satisfying adventure runs.
“It’s been an adventure just building the truck. Of course, there have been highs and lows along the way.”
No sooner had he brought the D-Max home than it went off to get tinted windows, a tow bar, a protector panels for the bonnet and ‘monsoons’ for the windows.
A chemical protection coating was applied to the paint work and a set of Maxxis Bighorn MT tyres went onto the factory alloy wheels.
Accessorising is addictive.
“Soon, I was spending most of my spare time researching accessories for my Isuzu and other custom ideas.”
A brief pause to let the bank balance recover, and the truck received an ARB Ascent canopy and de-luxe bull bar. A five tonne Kingone Orca winch with synthetic rope went on the front, along with left and right hand 8000kg recovery points.
Underneath, the D-Max received a 30mm Nitrocharger suspension kit. A twin onboard compressor provides air for the front and rear airlocker diffs and also to ‘air up’ the tyres when the truck returns to the tarmac.
The engine was upgraded with a throttle controller and Steinbauer ECU chip upgrade. A Safari snorkel feeds the engine clean air from the roofline.
Wheels and tyres are now Fuel 16X8 alloy wheels and Gladiator X-Comp 265/75R 16 tyres; a set of Kutsnake wheel arch flares keep the wider wheels and tyres legal.
Lighting is something special: combination spot and flood lights and a roof-rack mounted light bar (for off-road use of course) and a fog light and indicator kit for the front bull bar.
The vehicle’s safety revolves around a 1kg ABE fire extinguisher fitted in an area where it is accessible to front seat occupants.
Finishing off the look of the build is an olive drab green Raptor coating.
Roughing it: going camping is made more enjoyable with a quick-pitch ensuite featuring a Joolca hot water system that can be shared between D-Max and Prado. There’s a 270-degree awning, power sockets, a 132-litre food grade plastic water tank featuring one tapped outlet, two lidded inlets and a breather.
Next thing, the Prado was in line for a big birthday. It had received a lot of TLC from the team at Auckland 4X4 Performance in Papakura over the years.
“After some trial and error in finding quality and trustworthy mechanics, this led me back to the guys at Auckland 4X4.”
Richard came up with a cunning plan.
“After the D-Max was finished and had been used a fair bit, I was amazed with the Raptor coating’s durability and decided to surprise my father. I told him that Toyota had seen his truck on my Instagram and wanted it in a photo shoot for a TV commercial. It was very hard convincing him to lend me the keys of his Toyota due to its sentimental value.”
The upshot was a seven day ‘holiday’ for the Prado during which it received a top-to-toe refresh. In went a 50 mm suspension lift kit and 50mm body lift, the same Kingone winch as the D-Max, onboard compressor and four litre air tank and a front airlocker diff. A new touring awning creates a full base camp when both trucks are out in the bush.
Standard lights are enhanced by a light bar and 9.5-inch spotlights with a 6-inch reversing spot.
The Prado runs on 33’ - tall Maxxis Bighorn 764 M/T tyres.
“Taking dad to the shop for the unveiling brought tears to everyone’s eyes and to this day my father regularly visits the shop to thank them for the work they did.”

Afternote: as our featured 4WD owner for March, Richard Mulholland receives a set of LED daylight running lights from Braxton Car Lights. If you have a special 4WD and want to see it featured in the magazine, all we need is a set of images (300dpi, up to 6Mb file size) and some info about what you’ve done to make the vehicle unique. If there’s a ‘back story’ to the vehicle, give us that too, but don’t worry about having to do all the writing; that’s what we do. Even a ‘bullet point’ list of info is fine. We’ll come back with any questions to make the story work. Email us at editor@nz4wd.co.nz2