Pull into Dave Evans’s driveway and the first thing you see is a gleaming blue, 2019 Toyota Hilux Invincible Double Cab. Dave is a carpenter on the Isle of Wight and uses the 2.4-litre diesel Hilux as a work vehicle. Parked to its left is a 2019 RAV4, bought at a year old with 9,000 miles on the clock. Now adorned with custom graphics, it’s the “completely trouble-free” base from which wife Louise runs her mobile hairdressing business. When you get chatting with Dave, however, you realise that this is no ordinary Toyota-owning family.
“I love Toyotas,” he admits. “The Hilux, an automatic, is my most recent one and they hold their money better than other pickups. But it’s not my first Hilux, that was a 1982 truck in bright yellow. It was a smaller truck then and we used to jack them up, with a roll bar in the bed and lights across the top. It was awesome, but I had to sell it to get a deposit together for our first flat! I also owned a Tercel 4WD Estate and a Hiace.”
Tucked away in extended garages and carports that Dave has built on just about every square inch of the front garden is a collection of vehicles that reflects his eclectic tastes. There are track cars, off-roaders, military vehicles and even a Dakar Rally motorcycle. He uses some of them to give Sporting Bears Dream Rides, raising money for children’s charities in the UK.
Immaculate blue Hilux nestles among the eclectic vehicle collection on Dave Evans’s driveway
Inevitably, there are more Toyotas in Dave’s fleet, with the stars of the show being two BJ40 Land Cruisers that he imported from Portugal. Others have Toyota connections. He notes that the 2011 Lotus Evora track car boasts a 276bhp, 3.5-litre, 2GR-FE V6 from the Camry, while his original, World War II Willys Jeep was a forerunner of the FJ40, of which the BJ40 is the diesel-powered variant.
“American Bantam designed the first Jeep, which was later made in greater numbers by Willys and Ford,” he explains. “During the war, Japanese forces captured a Bantam Jeep and Toyota reverse-engineered it to create the…
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