Written by Johannes Steudel

I can remember paging through outdoor adventure magazines and picture books as a child, being awe-inspired by the colourful images of deserts, jungles, and other far-away places. These were the times before I could actually read the magazine but I remember one photo in particular that is still burned in my memory some twenty years later. It was an image of a rugged-looking white box on wheels, most likely a Land Rover Defender 110 or a Toyota Land Cruiser, parked on top of a large sand dune overlooking a sea of dunes in all directions, for miles around. Something must have happened to me at that moment, looking at that image of the confidence-inspiring vehicle because now, nearly two decades later, I’ve become completely and utterly obsessed with 4 Wheel Drive vehicles (mainly older ones). Over the years, I’ve owned several 4x4s myself including the Toyota 4Runner and the Jeep Wrangler, and have thoroughly enjoyed exploring my local regions and beyond yet, something in me still demands to push further into the unknown and to see more of this beautiful world we live in. The vehicles I have owned over the years have done an excellent job getting me to and from remote destinations. However, I’ve found they have been rather limited by their size, weight carrying capabilities, and the fact they have had virtually zero interior living space. The maximum amount of time we’ve been able to spend off-grid before needing a restock and a shower was just four days. I demand more; more days, more time away. For the past five years, I have been tugging on the long and controversial thread of the most suitable vehicle for extended overland travel. I know what I want. I want a simple, rugged, off-road inspired machine, capable of carrying several days’ worth of fuel, water, and food, in addition to having the ever sought after interior space to retreat to during inclement weather situations. I want all of that plus a high degree of reliability and durability. Is that too big of an ask? It’s simple really, but also the most complex topic I have yet to explore in this vehicle-based adventure theme, what is the perfect overland vehicle? I want everything a house could offer me but put on wheels and not the size of a Winnebago. To answer that question, we need to take a trip across the pond to the 4 Wheel Drive mecca of the universe, “the Land Down Under”, or Australia if you will.

So what makes Australia the 4WD capital of the world? If you take a close look at their culture and lifestyle, you’ll notice a multitude of factors that come together to make this place truly special for the vehicle-based traveler. First of all, Australians are very outdoor-minded, being that they have warm, beautiful weather almost all year long in most regions. Other contributing factors like the incredibly long distances Australians have to drive from one town to the next, mostly on dirt roads, packed with corrugations (in places like the Outback) call for a reliable 4WD that will get them there and back with little drama. The vast remoteness of this continent requires a dependable vehicle that can handle the rigorous abuse these roads dish out on the daily. Let’s also not forget that Australia’s mining industry is a significant contributor to their local economy by providing export income, royalty payments, and employment to thousands of people. Such an industry requires reliable equipment that can handle the strenuous day-to-day use of such operations. Only the most rugged equipment that has been engineered to the highest degree can withstand years of these harsh mining conditions. Enter the Toyota Land Cruiser. Are you sensing a theme here? It’s reliability.

The Land Cruiser ticked all the right boxes for me. It’s simple to work on and has durable solid front and rear axles capable of carrying heavy loads that were sometimes offered with high pinion differentials. It can also be found with either a gasoline or diesel, automatic or manual transmission, has virtually no complex sensors or wiring, and has the increased payload I so desperately desire. The only question is, what model of Land Cruiser would work best for our application? There are several to choose from. Here in North America, we’re limited to the 40, 55, 60, 80, 100, and 200 series and in Canada specifically, Toyota discontinued the sale of Land Cruisers in 1996. In reality, these are all excellent choice models, but I had my eye set on something more unique. The 70 series Troop Carrier, affectionately known as the “Troopy” or more formally known as the “HZJ75”, had been on my radar for quite some time. The first time I saw a photo of the 75, the sheer size of the cargo hold in the back mesmerized me to the point of obsession. It was something I had never seen before in any vehicle other than a van- truly incredible. But surely there is something comparable or similar, no? What van has solid front and rear axles, a manual transmission, true 4X4 capability, and a low range transfer case? I’ll tell you. There are none. The first time I heard of one of these Troop Carriers, it seemed as if I was reading about the Holy Grail itself. I was instantly captivated and determined that one day I would own one of these spectacular vehicles for myself. Only a few small problems… I had no money and they were never sold to the North American market. This meant if I wanted to own one I’d have to save my pennies, go searching through classifieds in other countries, and learn how to import one into Canada. Was that even possible? Quite a daunting thought that required a stack of questions as thick as a phone book to be answered.

Fast forward 4 years. I graduated from my paramedic program and am now a proud working member of society. Let the penny saving begin! Throughout my schooling, I had to put aside the thoughts of vehicle-based travels and off-roading through remote lands, but I never let go of the dream of one day owning a Troopy. As the months of work passed, the bank account slowly grew, and finally, the day came in which I had saved enough greenbacks to think of beginning the importation process of a Land Cruiser. But, there were still many questions needing an answer.

I had been doing my research on these vehicles and felt comfortable that I was making the right choice but I needed to step it up a notch. I needed to not only understand the vehicles themselves and a how they worked, but also understand the space in the 4WD market they occupied and what people valued them at. Through my own experiences of having previously owned Japanese imports, I knew that in order to import a vehicle from another country into Canada the vehicle has to be at least 15 years or older. We’re lucky here in Canada because in the US, that law is increased to 25 years old. I messaged a friend of mine who imported his own 4X4 vehicle from Australia several months ago and began to question him on the import and export process from Australia. Thankfully, he was very supportive of my rookie questions and gave me the time of day to outline the basic process in which I would need to follow in order to have an import of my own. I am a firm believer that if you want to do something in life, ask the people that have truly been there and done it before you. Do not accept the words of people who throw their opinions recklessly in your face, who have never attempted what you are trying to attempt. Their words are meaningless and often destructive. People that discourage you from chasing your dreams are often projecting their own fears onto you. Don’t let their graveyard of dreams take yours down with it. My friend (we’ll call him “Dave” for the purpose of this blog) informed me that I would need a contact in Australia who would go to look at vehicles for me, inform me of their condition, and ultimately make the purchase on my behalf. He recommended the same person that he had used when importing his own. My next task would be to contact this person in Australia to see if he would be willing to help me with the import. This was an intimidating step for me, as it would be the first real step to acquire the vehicle. I realized that after I sent him the message, it would no longer be a dream but a reality.

Dave provided me with the name of his contact and instructed me to send a message to him over Instagram. I thought it was strange to be potentially buying a car through social media from someone on another continent, halfway around the world, but I was determined to gain more information, take a risk, and find out just what it would take to get ahold of a legendary Troop Carrier. While on one hand, I was quite nervous to be using Instagram to set up the purchase of the vehicle, I thought to myself, “well it’s not like I can just go down to my local Toyota dealer here in Canada or set up a private sale with a seller”. I realized that if I wanted this unique vehicle, I’d have to go about getting it in an unorthodox manner. The best thing I could do was to be smart, use common sense, and look for any red flags which would indicate a scam. I was already feeling confident though because I had actual proof that it had been done before me with the vehicle Dan had imported.

On Friday, March 5th at around 10:00 in the morning, I sent the first message to my Australian contact (we’ll call him John). I introduced myself, informed him that Dave had recommended him to me, and explained what exactly I was in the market for. Then I waited… And waited. I had to remind myself of the time difference between us as to not get too anxious while waiting for his reply. His first reply came in just before 2:00 pm, I remember it well. He informed me, in a very casual way, that he would most definitely be able to help me out and that exporting cars to Canada was actually a side business he had been running out of his home in New South Wales for the past few years. Needless to say, I was an appropriate level of excited after receiving his reply. We messaged back and forth over the next few hours as he walked me through the process step by step. I have to admit, even though we were speaking the same language, there were several words and phrases in his vocabulary that I was not familiar with. Phrases like “arvo”, “my oath”, “old love”, and others were making me resort to google to find out what exactly he was saying. I was receiving the authentic Australian experience! He informed me I would need to search the local class fields in Australia for vehicles I was interested in, then send him the ad so he could look it over. He then told me to message the sellers directly to set up a time and place in which he could view the vehicle, the closer it was to his house, the cheaper his cost would be. I was apprehensive about telling these sellers that I was not from Australia, that I actually lived in Canada, and that their vehicle would potentially be shipped overseas. I figured most people wouldn’t understand why I would want to do such a thing and that I was attempting to scam them. After all, if you’ve ever tried to sell a vehicle privately and a weird number or message from another country comes up asking to buy your car, you’d feel a little skeptical as well. I didn’t want these people to be uncomfortable or view me as a scam, so I decided to politely leave out the part about exporting their vehicle to another country while messaging back and forth.

For weeks I scoured the internet, searching for the perfect Troopy. This task proved to be more difficult than I had originally anticipated. I was under the impression that the hard part would be saving up the money to buy one and that once my bank account had adequate funds, finding the Troopy would actually be “the easy part”. Oh, how I was mistaken. When I asked what websites to use to find local listings, John told me to use Facebook Marketplace, gumtree.com.au, and carsales.com.au. These are similar to the sites we have here in Canada such as Kijiji, eBay, AutoTrader, and of course, Facebook Marketplace. Every day I would flip flop between these sites in the morning when I woke up, after lunch, and in the evenings. I didn’t want to miss any new listing opportunities. Unfortunately to my surprise, it was actually very difficult to set up appointments with sellers. The fact was, either people wouldn’t message me back or I’d have a potential vehicle on the hook and it would be sold right out from under me. Finally, I managed to successfully set up an appointment with a seller. I sent the listing to John who finalized the details with the seller on the exact time, date, and place they would meet for a showing.

On the day of the showing, my anticipation and excitement were at an all-time high. I remember John telling me he was leaving his house to go see the vehicle and that he would send more info and photos upon his arrival. Sure enough, to my delight, about an hour later photos of a 1994 Troop Carrier started rolling in on my phone along with the disappointing words “it’s no good”. I was surprised. Was this a mistake? The photos and information in the ad had all indicated that it was a solid choice vehicle. I sent a reply, then waited. “Too much rust” was the next message. Then, photos of the roofline, windshield frame, and A-pillars of the vehicle started coming in. Obvious crack marks and rust holes filled my vision. “This one is no good, we can find one better for you” were the next words I read. I thanked him for taking the time to look at the vehicle and regretfully agreed that we should keep looking. Back to the class fields we go.

Over the next few days and weeks, a whole lot of nothing happened in the search for the Troopy. Fatigue and frustration were setting in from one failed attempt after the next. I simply couldn’t get anyone to hold my spot in line and it constantly felt like I was being pushed to the back. Looking back now, I realize that during those moments of frustration, I was learning a valuable lesson. I learned how big of a disadvantage I was at, not being in the same country as the seller, and how having to go through a 2nd party to look at a vehicle for me was taking too much time to coordinate. By the time I had everything scheduled and coordinated with both the seller and John, the vehicle would be sold to someone else. I learned just how fast these things were moving in the market. By not being able to immediately go look at the vehicle myself and throw in a potential offer, I was effectively decreasing my chances of success. I believe the first step in overcoming a disadvantage you may have is to recognize why you are in that position in the first place. Once you are aware, the only way is up. If I were to be successful, I would have to be quick. Even quicker than I already was. I would have to pounce on potential offers and not let go as a cat does prey. I pushed myself to bump up my coordination skills and decrease my response times to a minimum and make sure to solidify a meeting date as soon as possible between my contact and the seller. If I didn’t, the vehicle would seamlessly slip through my fingers.

The day came on March 25th at 10:05 pm Mountain Standard Time, which was early afternoon for John. I had arranged a meeting to view a 1996 Troop carrier a few days prior. I made sure the meeting was solidified between John and the seller of the vehicle and was sure to gain as much information about the vehicle’s condition before-hand as to waste as little time as possible. It all seemed to be heading in the right direction. The next step after setting the appointment was to send over the amount in which I negotiated with the seller over messenger to John so that he would have the cash on hand when going to look at the vehicle. The seller’s original listing price for the vehicle was $21,000 AUD. A good lesson to learn early on in life is to never pay the full asking price for a vehicle, whether it’s brand new on the dealer lot or used at a private sale. Always, always attempt a negotiation. After several back and forth messages with the seller, we both agreed on a price of $18,000 AUD- roughly $17,000 CAD. The hope of a negotiation reflects a final price that both the buyer and seller are happy with. Two days before the showing, I went to my bank and requested to wire transfer the money from my account to John’s, plus his fee of $1000 AUD for his services. He sent me the required info to his bank account and before I could think twice, the bank teller pressed enter on her keyboard and the money was gone. As you can imagine, this was a stressful moment for me, putting my faith and hard-earned cash into someone who I’d never met. But I was optimistic and felt like I had done everything in my power to mitigate a scam. Maybe I was relying a little too heavily on good karma and fate, but maybe not.

Just as before, I began receiving photos of the vehicle shortly after he met with the seller. I could immediately tell that this vehicle was in much better condition than the last. There were still a few rust spots around the windshield, a few scratch marks down the side, a small oil leak from what appeared to be the oil pan, and a few other small items. But overall, the vehicle looked to be healthy and in decent shape so I pulled the trigger right then and there. Not a chance I was going to let this one slip by me! John had sent over two dozen photos and several videos of the vehicle and I was happy with what I saw. Several minutes ticked by before I got the next response which to my pleasure, was a message telling me the transaction was complete and that I was now the proud new owner of a 1996 Land Cruiser. Oh, what a feeling! Several minutes later, I received a photo of the Troopy on the back of his trailer. John chooses to trailer the customer’s vehicle home after making the purchase on their behalf for legality reasons, as the vehicle is neither insured nor registered to him or the new owner. He then trailered the vehicle several hours back to his home where he would prep it to be loaded into a shipping container over the next several days. The Troopy had a long journey ahead of it, and there are strict rules and regulations that must be followed in order to be allowed access to a container and onto a boat.

The requirements for shipping container prep include cleaning the vehicle, draining the fuel tanks, ensuring there are no loose objects inside that could potentially shift during transport, and coordinating times and dates with a shipping company. As if this process wasn’t tedious enough already, the most complicated piece of the puzzle is still ahead- finding a shipping company and coordinating a shipping schedule. This process isn’t difficult due to a lack of shipping companies, it’s difficult because there are so many, too many to choose from. Having no previous shipping knowledge and no experience with any shipping company, how do you choose one? Also, the hope for my original shipping plan was to RORO the Cruiser from Sydney to Vancouver. It took numerous emails to multiple shipping companies to finally find out that there actually is no RORO service for that shipping route. Before I go further, let me touch on RORO. It’s an acronym for “Roll On, Roll Off”, which effectively means skipping the shipping container and simply driving the vehicle onto the ship, parking it, strapping it down, then driving it off the ship once it gets to the destination. It’s a simple and more cost-effective way to ship a vehicle rather than using a container. Of course, I was looking to save a dime wherever I could, so RORO sounded like a great option. But as I mentioned, there is physically no RORO service that is offered for that specific shipping route, which means I would have to use a container. Back to the subject of choosing a shipping company, I ended up taking the advice of my friend Dave after a long phone call with many questions and chose the company who had shipped his Toyota Hilux before me. He gave me the name of a company called “TSL Australia”, saying that they had handled his truck during the process. He also informed me not only would I need a shipping company to export the car from Australia, but also recommended that I have an agent to import the container into Canada once it arrived at the port in Vancouver. He informed me that having an agent to handle the stack of customs paperwork would be very beneficial to my mental health and well-being. The to-do list seemed to be getting longer instead of shorter. Over the next several days, I emailed back and forth with TSL, informing them of what I wanted to have shipped. They assured me they would be able to ship the vehicle after asking for its dimensions such as weight, height, length, and width, as well as the make and model of the vehicle. They also needed personal information from me such as my address, photos of my drivers’ license, and asked if this was for personal or business purposes. TSL asked me to put them in contact with two other people: one being my contact in Australia (John) so they could inform him of the address at which to drop the vehicle off, and two, my agent that I would be using in Canada who would be handling importation and customs on my behalf. I gladly gave the names and contact information. As I’m sure you can tell, there are many moving pieces that you need to keep track of during this entire process. Picture it as a game of chess. Your opponent is missed deadlines, miscommunication, and a lack of understanding. In order to be successful, you must move and coordinate your pieces many moves before they’re needed in order for them to be positioned for the best possible strike and most favourable outcome.

Once all participating parties of this operation were on the same page, TSL gave me access to a range of dates on which boats would be leaving the port in Sydney. They requested that I choose a date in order for them to secure a container for me. Things seemed to be moving quickly now and I found myself replying to their emails at least four to five times per day instead of our previous conversations of one email per day. In addition, all of the emails they would send me would be ended with a request for an urgent reply. Thankfully, they were able to secure a spot on board a vessel known as the “Costco Felixstowe” in a timely manner. The Felixstowe is a large container ship that sails under the flag of the United Kingdom. It measures an overall length of 280m (306 feet) and weighs in at a whopping 69107 tons. The vessel was built in 2002 by Cosco Nantong Shipyard in Nantong, China, and is capable of carrying 5618 TEU. TEU is an acronym used in logistics which means “Twenty Equipment Unit” or, in other terms, a 20-foot container. Therefore, a 40-foot container would equal 2 TEU. Quite impressive, if you ask me. The other thing I should mention is that TSL is technically not the “shipping company”, they are what is known as a “freight forwarder”. A freight forwarder is an agent responsible for the movement of goods on behalf of the cargo owner (me). In turn, they deal directly with the actual shipping company, in this case, a company named OOCL (Orient Overseas Container Line). I myself as the customer never spoke directly with OOCL. I spoke with TSL Australia who would then relay information to OOCL.

Now that the voyage dates had been set, other aspects of the plan could fall into place. TSL contacted John and informed him of the date, time, and address in which to deliver the Troopy. In the days leading up to the voyage, John informed me that he had cleaned out the vehicle and successfully drained the fuel tanks. He also mentioned that the vehicle’s battery terminal connections would be disconnected by the shipping company, once inside the container.

My nerves were at an all-time high on the day of delivery to the port. John let me know he would send photos once arriving at the port, before handing the Troopy over to the shipping company. As I anxiously awaited his reply, he was accomplishing the real work of trailering the cruiser from his home just outside of Sydney, directly to the port. About an hour later, my phone rang. Several epic photos of his 79 series Land Cruiser towing my 25 year old 75 series met my eye as I checked the message. The Troopy had made it to the port. This was the end of the line for my communication with John, who I felt had become a friend over the last several weeks, helping me stumble my way through this endeavour. He wished me well with the rest of the process and told me to let him know if I needed anything. Truly exceptional service.

Over the next hours and days, TSL kept me updated on the status and whereabouts of the vehicle. It had to go through a rigorous inspection process before being loaded into the container to ensure it was sea-worthy. Once in the container, the battery was disconnected as discussed, the vehicle was lashed down to the metal floor of the container with thick industrial-sized ratchet straps, and the wheels chocked with heavy wooden blocks. This would establish a strong platform for the Troopy to rest on as it crossed the unforgiving Pacific. From there, the container was loaded onto the shipping vessel, a monumental moment. Now it’s a waiting game.

The original landing date was scheduled for June 7th and I was under the impression the vessel would be traveling as the crow flies from the port in Sydney to the port in Vancouver. The vehicle was delivered to the port in Sydney on April 19th, so for it to arrive on June 7th already seemed like a long time. But hey, what do I know about how long it takes to sail the Pacific? On May 20th, roughly a month later and getting close to the June arrival date, I received an email update from TSL informing me the shipment was delayed in Hong Kong. What had happened was the vessel detoured north from Sydney and ended up making a stop in Hong Kong. Once in Hong Kong, the container needed to be offloaded from the current vessel because it was in fact not going to Vancouver. The container was then reloaded onto a different ship that was headed to the correct destination. I later learned that this had been the plan all along and that the ship had not been “rerouted”. I, however, was misinformed by TSL about the stop in Hong Kong. Overall, the delay added roughly a month and ten days to the shipping schedule. Thankfully, I was not in a rush to receive the shipment. On July 16th, I received an arrival at port notice from OOCL. The vessel had officially docked in Vancouver.

From now on, I would only be dealing with my agent in Canada (we’ll call him Albert) in regards to customs, dockside exams, soil exams, vehicle inspections, and unloading and unpacking the container. Albert advised me the container would be unloaded off the vessel onto a truck, which would then make its way to a warehouse in Vancouver where the container could be unstuffed. Unstuffing the container means cracking open the lock, opening the latches, and swinging open the doors to see what’s inside (hopefully a Troopy). From there, the lashings would be unbuckled, the wooden chocks would be removed, and the battery would be *zzt* reconnected. All of this sounded straightforward. However, as I’ve come to learn, there is always a stipulation to the plan. My agent Albert cautioned me that there was a very specific amount of time in which the vehicle could be at the port before I would start to incur overage charges for taking up too much time. Kind of like when you go over your set limit on your phone bill and have to pay the man a few extra coins. The thing is, this was a vehicle taking up valuable space at a busy port, not as simple as an extra charge on your phone bill. I needed to ensure I had all of the shipping charges and fees for all of the dockside exams and inspections paid for before they would release the vehicle. Nothing is free, my friend. If I had any outstanding fees that had not been paid, customs Canada would not allow the vehicle to be removed from the port and therefore start accumulating hefty overage fees. This is the part when Albert really stepped up to the plate and came in handy. He knew all the sneaky fees that needed to be dealt with and sent me a consolidated list of everything. All I had to do was send him a one-time payment and he would then settle all of the charges on my behalf. If I had not hired and utilized his skills, navigating customs would have been an outright nightmare.

Once the fees were paid and the vehicle was given the go-ahead to be released, it was put on a truck and taken to a warehouse to be unstuffed as I mentioned earlier. And now for the final coordination dilemma- getting the vehicle back to my home in Calgary. I had a decision to make: fly to Vancouver and drive it back myself or hire a company to truck it to Calgary for me. The final deciding factor for me was that I could never be exactly sure when the ship would show up at the port and how long it would take for the container to be unloaded. I was not interested in attempting to place myself in Vancouver at “hopefully the right time and right place” in order to collect the Troopy. For this reason, I hired the trucking company for an extra $700 CAD a few days before the ship was supposed to arrive. The companies name is Zen Autoworks and they mostly deal with tuner car shipments from Japan, but when I called and asked if they would be able to assist me with the Australian Cruiser, they were more than happy to accommodate my request. On the day the vehicle was unstuffed from the container in the warehouse, Zen Autoworks was there to collect it for me, put it on a car carrier, and truck it back to a yard in Calgary. However, when they went to unstuff the Troopy from the container, it wouldn’t start. I received a message stating the vehicle was a no-start and that it would need to be towed from the container to the car carrier but they were still on schedule. This was disappointing news as I had really hoped the vehicle would start on its own but, on the other hand, I understood why a 25-year-old truck with empty diesel tanks and a questionable battery might not want to start after crossing an ocean for two and a half months.

The vehicle arrived at the trucking yard in Calgary on the afternoon of August 7th, almost four and a half months after purchasing. I met the owner of Zen Autoworks at the gate of the shipping yard and he escorted me through the maze of semi-trucks, trailers, car haulers, and other containers. As we walked to the Troopy we spoke about cars and his business. He told me this was the first time he’d seen something come out of Australia and that it would be truly unique. As we rounded the next corner, my heart almost stopped. There, roughly 100 yards from me, I caught the first glimpse of the Troop Carrier through an obstructed view of hefty trailers and containers. I had to pinch myself to be sure I wasn’t dreaming. This was the first moment I had ever laid eyes on a real Troop Carrier. To make it better, I was the owner of it. Walking up to the vehicle and getting to lay my hands on the hood, open its doors, and sitting inside was a magical moment I won’t soon forget. It was a long, sometimes frustrating road to get to this point but in the end, the stress and hardship of the ordeal paid off tenfold.

After thanking the owner of Zen Autoworks, I met the AMA tow truck driver at the entrance of the yard. I had contacted him earlier to load up the Troopy because it was still a no-start. He drove through the lot and parked as close to the vehicle as he could get. From there, we pushed the Troopy the rest of the way to the awaiting tow truck and loaded it onto his flat deck. We followed closely behind on the drive home and helped unload the vehicle into the back alley behind our house. I had asked my roommate to fill up a jerry can of diesel for me and meet us in the back alley to attempt to start the vehicle when we arrived. Sure enough, after filling the tank, priming the fuel lines, and getting a battery boost from the tow truck driver, the old inline 6, 1HZ diesel engine roared to life almost immediately after having sat for months. I cautiously selected first gear, let out the clutch, and officially drove the vehicle ten feet into my garage where it would then sit until an out-of-province inspection could be completed. Positively epic! After several months of anticipation, there it sat, in the flesh, in my garage. A slightly overwhelming feeling came over me. Similar to how I would picture a new parent looking at their baby would feel, although… Maybe not to that full extent. A feeling of, “well… now what?”

As I’m sure you’ve gathered, shipping a vehicle from one continent to another in a container is not easy on the wallet and is certainly not for the faint of heart. You need to have budgeted accordingly to pay for not only the vehicle itself but also for the amount it will cost for shipping. Let’s talk budgeting for a moment. I’ll be straight-forward with you, you’ll need whatever you’ve budgeted for the cost of the vehicle plus $10,000 for all other associated costs of shipping in order to be safe. There are many hidden costs associated with a project like this, I definitely did not know about when I first set out. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to predict the entire process but, hopefully, after reading this, you’ll have a much better understanding of the amount of time, money, and commitment an undertaking like this is. After you accomplish your mission though, I can tell you now after successfully importing the Land Cruiser, there is no other feeling like having a vehicle unique to your local environment (if you’re a car enthusiast that is). I would be willing to bet that there are less than ten of these vehicles in all of Canada and that makes me happy. You’ll realize that when people ask you about the associated costs and time you put in, and the face they give you when you tell them, they simply don’t understand why someone would put that amount of time and effort into a 25 year old machine. But deep down, you’ll know exactly why.

As I’m sure you’ve gathered, we purposely left out or changed all the names in the story to protect the privacy of those individuals. If you are interested in importing a Troopy or, any other vehicle that can be found in Australia for that matter please, feel free to get in contact with me over email. I will provide you with the contact names and finer details on process. Our email address can be found on the contact page of our website.

Thank you for reading our importation story of how and why we acquired this Troop Carrier, we hope you learned something and enjoyed!