Winch trucks lead a hard life. Fortunately one of New Zealand’s most well-travelled originals has been given a second lease on life. Daniel Richardson has the story.

Back in 2000 Winch Challenges were just getting started here in NZ and though they were mainly based in the North island, local Southlander Roger McKay built up a mid-1980s Hilux to compete in these events. 

I first saw the Hilux in about 2000-2001 at a local 4WD event and liked the look of it right away. I guess the lift kit, large mud tyres and bright graphics looked pretty cool to a young kid.

Roger competed in the Hilux locally and nationally before shipping it all the way to Malaysia in 2002 to compete in the Rainforest Challenge (which you can read about in a great article in NZ4WD magazine February 2003). While they didn’t win the event, the Kiwis won the respect of locals and fellow competitors.

Roger later sold the Hilux when he built his GU Patrol and I lost track of the Hilux until many years later I spotted it behind a shed on a property owned by a mate of my father’s in Oamaru – unfortunately not for sale.

Fast-forward about another 15 years and I see a For Sale post online for a rusty old Hilux with little info and one average photo. And – long story short – after tracking down a phone number and making a call, a deal was done and I became the proud owner of one rusty old Hilux with what I thought was some great 4WD history.

As I’m sure you can imagine, I was in my ute headed north to Oamaru ASAP with trailer in tow to collect the Hilux, and luckily, when  got there and got to have a good look at it, I found that not a lot had changed on it since it competed in the Rainforest Challenge back in 2002. 

Once home and in the workshop it sat for a while until my local 4WD club planned a trip to Barn Bay (way south-west of Haast, Ed). on the West Coast. I had six months before the trip, so the restoration began. 

I stripped it down in one weekend, finding the roof was badly rusted with various previous repairs. I figured the best way to fix it was track down another cab. Myself and mate Simon, a panel beater by trade, then cut the roof off and refitted the replacement from the cab I had purchased. It would have been easier to change the complete cab but I felt it wouldn’t be the original truck if I had done so.

Simon had the panel and paint sorted on the cab while I refurbished the flat deck, built a winch bar and went through the running gear. I also had the original stickers recreated and fitted to the panels just days before my deadline of the West Coast trip; though as I write this, I’m still waiting on the Rainforest Challenge one for the bonnet.

So, with the Hilux all finished (a job which included new rego and a WoF for the first time in eight years) I loaded it on the trailer and headed for Haast. Needless to say the Hilux performed faultlessly for its maiden trip and has done many trips since.

Sure it is a very basic truck by today’s quality of builds, but I still like it as much as I did when I first saw it. Which in my book counts for a lot.