Land cruiser or is it something else?

Its not all too often that a request comes up to do a restoration on a FJ45 1970 Land cruiser. That will be converted into a mobile coffee truck. This is how this once rusted Land cruiser was given a new lease on life and a new job description. This is Will Hudson story.

I’ve pretty much always been in the hospitality industry. I grew up in a fairly touristy town (Halls Gap, The Grampians) and my first job was in a cafe.

I pretty much stuck with that industry while moving around Melbourne and Mildura, and now I’m back home, the owner of the same cafe I had my first job at! You meet plenty of interesting people, certainly a beautiful area to live in, and I get the perk of working on projects like this one where I can combine my passion for old cars with my work pursuits too!

I have wanted to expand my business for quite some time. With limited space my, and the little town I’m currently located in has limited real estate available, yet an abundance of festivals and events etc. Being a bit of a car enthusiast, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to go mobile, and I wanted to do something different that would stand out. I love the shape and style of the iconic 1970’s Toyota Landcruisers, so decided that’s what I am going to base my mobile coffee concepton. It can go anywhere, handles a big tray load which is essential for all the equipment I need, and just has the nostalgic feel of a vehicle you really enjoy driving.

You feel the road, really experience the journey. I hunted around for a while and settled on this one that was located up in Cairns. It had all the upgrades I was looking for engine and transmission wise so we flew up and drove it back down here to Victoria over a few days, and haven’t looked back since. It was an epic road trip with one of my best mates, and the Toyota didn’t give us any trouble the whole way!
Finding the right car restorer

It was really hard to find a good restoration business to give the Landcruiser to. I looked around locally and nobody specialized in restorations, certainly not to the level I needed. I looked further afield and did a few web searches before taking the ute around to a few of the top picks to get quotes. At the end of the day I went with PJ’s as they were very straight up and to the point, and knew exactly what they were doing. Seeing some of the previous jobs they had done was all the confirmation I needed. I got the quote. They explained how it would all work and what needed to be done. As it turned out, they did an amazing job that ran on time and to budget.That seems to be rare to find these days when dealing with anyone, so I couldn’t be happier. You get what you pay for with these guys.

While I don’t have an immediate plan to do another coffee Ute (one is enough to manage currently), I wouldn’t mind something else down the track to keep life interesting, maybe an old Landrover or a F100. I specifically designed the coffee Ute canopy to be easily removed, so that one day when the time comes to retire the cruiser, I can put the fit out on the back on another vehicle. It’s just hard trying to decide what would be next! Whatever it happens to be, its going to have character!
I couldn’t be happier with the finished restoration on the Landcruiser Ute, PJ’s did a fantastic job. There was quite a bit of work that went into the Restoration process, but the job is spot on straight and no more rust! Stoked. I highly recommend PJs panels if you are looking for a quality car restoration company.

So if you are in the area of Halls gap drop into his cafe and have a chat to Will and grab a coffee and a bite to eat. Check out his website for all the details: http://www.livefast.com.au/