Arno van Bakel and his team are a brand independent 4WD specialist. Fully focused on off-roading and camping. They make the ultimate 4×4 experience accessible to everyone.
What makes Arno so special is that he listens carefully to what we want to do with the car. Not a standard story and not just screwing as many things on the car as possible. “What are you going to do” and “where are you going”. Important questions!
After a long test trip, we experienced the car fits our purpose perfectly. We’re going to travel, not race. We prefer small roads. They are often unpaved. We’re not going to crawl over rocks.
For over three years we searched for the perfect car for our trip. Not an easy job if you don’t know anything about cars. They often look good on the outside, but you can’t see what’s behind a thick layer of filler.
Time to call in a specialist. Henry and Gerry of Hengers Classic Cars, are specialised in finding honest travel cars. What you see is what you get. Within six months, they found our perfect travel car in a small village in the French Alps!
In 2000, when Alu-Cab Cape Town (H/O) opened its doors and their journey began, their own African travel experiences taught them that space and weight were the two greatest hurdles facing any overland traveler. To address this, they developed the first-ever aluminium canopy – specifically engineered for adventure travelers. But the development didn’t stop there: and the more they refined, strengthened and accessorized the canopy, the more they realized its boundless potential. The company has grown from building the very first aluminium canopy to a full swing manufacturing plant catering to the world market. Manufacturers of aluminum products for the automotive, leisure and commercial industries
Their manufacturing plant consists of 14 factories with just over 400 staff members. They are a home-grown South African Company that has its full manufacturing facility based in Ottery, Cape Town. The Alu-Cab product range is distributed in 60 Countries.
The origins of ARB go back to 1975, when company founder, Tony Brown, was inspired by a 4WDing trip through the top end of Australia.
Back then, 4WDers relied on homemade or ill-fitting equipment that was not designed for extensive Outback expeditions. Endless corrugated roads, extreme temperatures, and the heavy loads carried by Australian travellers were tremendously punishing on vehicles that regularly tackled these kinds of conditions. Tony’s many years spent toiling on his Series 1 Land Rover proved extremely beneficial to others in the top end during his travels. Damaged bull bars and broken roof racks ensured Tony’s expertise was regularly called upon, and through this experience an idea was born – well engineered, durable equipment that would meet the vigorous demands of 4WD owners.
Pioneering Manufacturer of Heavy-Duty Seat Covers.
As a family-run business, their values are fundamental to the overall success of our business and provides a foundation for the way they serve their clients and how they work.
Black Duck® is Australia’s pioneering manufacturer of heavy-duty seat covers with over 35 years of manufacturing experience.
They cater for a wide range of industries with 2768 tailor-made heavy-duty seat cover patterns on record. Their seat covers are suitable for passenger and commercial vehicles including those used in the mining, construction and rural industries as well as by 4WD enthusiasts.
Their local knowledge and understanding of the unique and harsh Australian climate means their seat cover products are designed and built tough to withstand the most unforgiving of conditions.
Looking back you’d find an old Thornycroft vehicle being dismantled in 1936 and its rear axles and transmission being fitted to a Leyland Badger.
Why? Because this modification allowed the now famous mailman ‘Tom Kruse’ to complete the world’s most remote mail run through Outback Australia for the next 25 years. Pioneers like Tom, who had to rely on vehicles tough enough to traverse our rugged land, opened up our country. Legends like Bill King from Australian Adventure Tours (AAT Kings), one of our earliest customers, who built his business on the back of the Bedford 4WDs that we supplied him. Since the 1960’s, our company has learnt from these pioneers – sometimes the hard way. While every vehicle has its strengths, they all have weaknesses that can stop them in their tracks without a care for location.
We’ve learnt what works well and how we can strengthen a vehicle to ensure safe passage through our dangerous yet beautiful landscape. It all began with Bedfords and Leylands and continued through LandCruisers and Patrols to where we are today with a quickly spreading market of 4WD Utilities that are themselves on their own pioneering journey. Over the years, the knowledge we have shared with our customers has manifested itself into a unique range of over 40,000 4WD parts. They are the culmination of 50 years of engineering, testing and manufacture that has allowed us to assist other regions of the world, including Africa.
As a little boy, Sam had a passion for cars and motorcycles. From an early age he was already working on cars and motorcycles.
At the age of 24 he came across a vacancy for a car upholsterer in Apeldoorn. There was no training for this. You had to learn this trade in practice. However, you needed something else: dexterity and love for cars. This was tailor-made for Sam. In the following 7 years he was able to learn all the tricks of the trade.
In 2005 Sam took the step to start his own business and Mr. Sam was a fact. He started locally and became known for his work here.
After 2 years of working alone, the company continued to grow and it was time for expansion. Sam’s sister Annemarie came as first aid, with whom he has worked flawlessly for years. More and more people managed to find Mr. Sam, even across the border.
The next step became clear: a team was needed.
The combination of craft and passion is reflected in all his work. He also passes on his passion and knowledge to his employees, so that this traditional profession can be practiced for many years to come.
In preparation for our Troopy build, we visited many different 4X4 trade shows in order to find an interior for our car. We found many different solutions. Some too expensive, others not very practical. One system we really liked, build by Oryx Solutions, was only suitable for a Land Rover Defender. After talking to Florian Töpperwien, owner of Oryx Solutions, he offered us to build an interior for our Land Cruiser Troopy. We couldn’t have been happier with the result. It’s very practical, the workmanship is unreal and it’s very affordable.
Florian’s company also offers a lot of great 4X4 accessories for our car.
