1997 Toyota TroopCarrier
1997 TroopCarrier
Engine -1HZ 4.2L
Transmission - Manual
Tyres - Bridgestone Dueler A/T’s
Equipped For - Full-time Touring
What made you choose a TroopCarrier over other vehicle options? Are there specific features or qualities that drew you to the Troopy?
From our teenage years, we’ve both always been passionate about 4WD touring and the feeling of freedom that comes with it. To us, the Toyota LandCruiser is the epitome of Australian touring and the Troopy is the elegantly simplistic, legendary workhorse that suited our lifestyle best.
Jenny is our second Troopy now, our original one had the standard roof and a full-size bed setup in the back with storage underneath. This was a simple and convenient setup for weekenders and short term touring, however, we knew that if we were going to live on the road full time that an internal living space was essential. The weather in some parts of Australia can be notoriously unpredictable so having a safe and secure space where we could still cook up a hot meal, knock back a few beers and just hang out was a huge draw card for the pop-top Troopy.
(Not to mention the legendary reliability, mechanically controlled engine, ease of maintenance and repairs, and wide availability of parts throughout the country).
Can you share any modifications or personal touches you've made to your TroopCarrier to make it better suited to your full-time travelling needs?
Obviously, the pop-top and interior fit-out make all the difference when it comes to full-time touring. We also spent a lot of time modifying other aspects of the Troopy to make it uniquely ours.
All of the bar work is custom and one of a kind, our good mate built it all in his shed at home so there’s nothing else quite like it.
If you look closely you’ll also notice we chopped the rear quarter panels. We had some rust festering there and figured why not just bring them up higher. We prefer the look and there’s less potential for the panels to become damaged.
Once we had the body in shape we had our sunrise stripes designed and fitted. We first saw the stripes on an old Land Rover about ten years ago and decided if we ever got our dream Troopy to the point where it had clean, rust-free panels then we’d love to have our own version of the sunrise stripes slapped on to help her stand out from the crowd.
Being an ex-hire camper, she has a side hatch which was originally used for storing gas cylinders. We weren’t sure what we should do with the space until we realised it would be the perfect spot for a hard-wired compressor. We ditched the factory ARB wiring harness and built our own power and control circuits from scratch and installed it all neatly within the hatch. We usually air up and down multiple times a week so it’s super handy having it right there ready to go.
A few of our other simple but favourite mods would have to be the Akubra holders, our Outback Gear Solutions storage bags, the barn door drop down table, our RAM iPad mounts and the OneStone armrests.
What is your favorite spot the Troopy has taken you?
We get this question a lot and it’s always a tough one to answer. After travelling the country extensively over the last two years we’ve seen some very unique and diverse landscapes (and some ripper outback pubs). If we HAD to decide we would probably have to say the Kimberley region (Western Australia), Cape York (Queensland) and Tassie as a whole, but if you shout us a beer around the campfire and have a few hours to spare we’d be happy to rattle off the full list.
Can you tell us a bit about your brand Outback Gear Solutions?
Outback Gear Solutions is our business but to us it’s more of a hobby and passion project. We design and market creative, top quality, 4WD gear bags that are 100% made in Australia, from Australian materials. Living on the road full time has given us a unique insight into the realm of functional touring storage and we love that we can bring our quirky ideas to our customers. We get a real kick out of what we do and it makes us happy as a pig in shit to see others benefiting from the products we release.
What are your future plans for the Troopy and OGS?
When we eventually settle down for while we’d love to give the old darlin’ some TLC. Nothing major, just tidy up some cosmetic blemishes and freshen her up a bit. We’re pretty sentimentally attached through the experiences and adventures we’ve shared together, so providing we can keep her kicking and stay on top of the rust we’d love to hang onto her. Then maybe when we’re 80 years old we can still jump in the old girl for a Sunday pub lunch and our grandkids can take the reins when we eventually kick the bucket.
As for OGS we’re very pumped to grow and develop the business when we have a home base. On the road we’re obviously quite restricted in how much we can do, so the prospect of being able to really put our wholehearted energy into it is very exciting.
We would love to one day have a sort of hub/workspace where our customers can come and hang out, grab a coffee, browse our gear, get some bags fitted or just have yarn. We’re big on maintaining a connection with this little community we have created and giving back to the people that have supported us over our formative years and into the future.
That’s our eventual dream anyway, for now we’re focused on doing the best that we can for our customers and seeing where the road takes us…
Photos by Nick and Lil