Buying a car, especially after the experience we had had with Cherry, was a bit of a nerve-racking state to be in as both of us were plainly clueless about mechanical and off-road required specificities of a vehicle. Our ignorance regarding engines was becoming ever so more evident during our countless car viewings which not only included getting to know bit by bit more about engines, suspensions, transmission cases etc but also Cape Town’s suburbs and getting in touch with a very special kind of South African personality. The 4x4er.
The 4x4er is in his early 40s, married with kids, lives in the wealthier suburbs of Bellville, Blouberg, Noordhoek in rather large family houses with a nice garden and a dog or two... Their 4x4 is standing in the garage next to the city car of the wife, his motorcycle, the quad bike and of course his fancy new 4-wheel drive vehicle which is the reason for the old ‘Baby’ to be sold. Despite the newer toy they have acquired to play with, their heart out of some reason is always connected to the older one as this has taken them to the trips they have such good memories of. Now however, the wife is insisting of getting some more space in the garage (the children are getting old enough to get their own cars) and does not relate to the sentimentalities of the husband, so the old needs to make space for the new.
This is where we come into the story. Whereas, for a proper South Africa 4x4er every little piece of equipment needs to be of the ultimate quality we were satisfied with what looked, sounded and felt reasonable as in the end it was all coming down to the simple fact of affordability. This is rather contrary to the highly equipped SA 4x4er who seems to only buy the top range of whatever he might buy. This can become rather intimidating and many times in the process we doubted our approach but then quickly reminded ourselves again of where we come from and that we would do with what we got and try to get the best out of it. 
No matter which car we viewed and in which suburb, people approached us with the same curiosity and excitement about our trip. We could spend up to a couple of hours in someone’s garage even after having mention that the vehicle in question would not be the one for us simply because a 4x4er has a genuine passion for his car and is thrilled to share every bit of knowledge mechanical or not.
A Land Rover Defender was the car we were aiming for, relatively affordable with a right size and a rather trendy style and most importantly the car that any European would most directly associate to a safari... However, after reading, viewing and listening to a lot of people phrases like,
‘A Defender never dies, but is always sick’
‘Where do you most often find a Defender? Broken on the side of the road’
‘Half the time you spend with a Defender is under it’
Kind of got to us as for a vehicle like this it seemed the owner needed to have the knowledge of how to repair thus, we settled with the decision to buy the much more robust Toyota Landcruiser.
To make a 6-month quest short we found our companion one afternoon in a garage of a half-Austrian half-South African in Milnerton. Cruisi or the Beast is a 60 FJ series equipped with a 2F engine from 1982, she had 270 000 km on the clock, a very neat interior and exterior, she came with a roof-rack and tent and some more little overland accessories like a very convenient drawing system at the back.
We did not proceed to make great alterations to the car as it was in great shape, we were told and we felt. Since that time we have been maintaining it as good as possible and Fred for our (and especially my) peace of mind has been sacrificing many hours on firstly, as a proper academic, reading the “Engines for Dummies” (thank you Phil Gelvan!) and secondly translating the theoretical knowledge into practice with the help of the invaluable Jason, to whom a Land Cruiser 60s series has the same impact as a beautiful woman. Thank you Jason for all the tips and enthusiasm you have been giving and showing us.
We viewed the car on a Friday, agreed to buy it on a Monday, all paperwork was done by the Wednesday and on the Friday morning we were on the road to our first 17 day road trip to Namibia and Botswana.
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