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The SCORE Baja 1000 Limited Edition draws on the Land Cruiser's utilitarian heritage
in a sportier way. Jonathan Ward chose a California blue belly lizard as the ICON insignia, cast in brass on every model. Add on the specially designed Campa trailer, which sleeps four and boasts solar panels to power its own air compressor and
water filtration system. Ward based his original designs on vintage Land Cruisers, retaining the utilitarian ethos but building them in high-quality materials
with luxury finishes. The interior is as spare as the original Land Cruiser but updated for today's customers with Chilewich woven-vinyl upholstery. |
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It all began fourteen years ago, on a fateful South African safari near Kruger National Park. Disgruntled with their jobs in the entertainment industry, Jonathan Ward and his wife, Jamie, were exploring the terrain at the Sabi Sand game reserve in a 1978 FJ45 Land Cruiser when inspiration struck. Admiring the truck's purity of purpose and how well it performed in the bush, "I realized nobody was applying classic-car restoration techniques to this vehicle," recalls Ward, who at the time considered his passion for classic-car restoration a hobby. He was so moved by this epiphany that he opened up his own Land Cruiser shop, TLC, in Van Nuys, California, upon returning to the States. "It's not something we wrote a business plan for or really thought through," he says. "We just went for it."
Lucky thing he did. In 1999, after Ward had spent four years restoring 1960s- and '70s-era Cruisers, his globally renowned handiwork prompted Toyota (which is not affiliated with TLC) to commission the first three design studies for what would become the 2007 FJ Cruiser. But by 2005, it was clear that the Japanese automaker was ultimately going with a more bulbous body style. "The final product was so far from my design," says Ward, "that I really wanted to realize my own vision."
With a notion to mix old-school aesthetics and new-school technology, Ward arrived at his ICON concept by electronically scanning the body of a 1970 FJ40. He then reverse engineered it in a special rustproof aluminum—six times thicker than standard automotive steel—that he sourced from a pontoon-boat manufacturer. With a solid, built-to-last foundation in place, Ward made certain his ICON lived up to its lofty name.
"It's distinct in design," he says. "But everything serves a purpose." Built entirely by hand in Los Angeles by Ward and one technician (with only a few optional parts sourced abroad), each model is informed by everything from classic industrial manufacturing to cutting-edge watch design. "No one needs a watch," says Ward, himself an avid collector. "But the ends that watchmakers go to get insane levels of fit and finish is just inspiring."
So inspiring, in fact, that the interior knobs in the ICON are all handmade from jewelry-grade stainless steel and fashioned after International Watch Company crowns. And the nanoparticle finish on Ward's Ventura V-Matic watch was the inspiration for his decision to powder-coat the body with a superdurable Teflon-polyester hybrid, then undercoat it with a polyurea—both of which are CFC and VOC free—commonly used in industrial architecture projects.
To achieve this level of detail on each of his "industrial tools," as Ward describes his original FJ40 and the new FJ45 pickup and extended cab FJ43—which both took home awards when they were unveiled at the Specialty Equipment Market Association automotive show last fall—TLC puts at least 500 man-hours into every vehicle it makes and up to 1,200 on a truly custom vehicle. "If we have someone who's absolutely attached to the vintage aesthetics of the 1960 FJ, but just can't deal with the difficulties [of the steering, electrical, and exhaust systems], we'll do a one-off with our technical platforms," he says. But even base-level buyers receive a personalized consultation to map out the finishes and features to distinguish their ICON from the admittedly small pack.
While standard features include a coil suspension that affords one foot of travel over rocks (or New York City potholes); an Atlas II transfer case with a crawl ratio of 87:1 (adds control on trails); a fuel-injected, 350-horsepower aluminum V-8 engine; and the brass insignia featuring a California blue belly lizard, Ward says, "where most guys really get in trouble is the options."
"Some customers live on extremely difficult terrain and use their ICON just to explore their property, so they never hit a road," he adds. "Others just cruise it around Miami and never put it in four-wheel drive." The heated Recaro carbon seats, iPod-friendly Alpine stereo with a 600-watt JL Audio amp, and detachable Garmin Zumo 550 navigation system will probably get the latter group as far afield as they need to go. True off-road enthusiasts, however, can really up the expedition ante with a sport suspension package, which features nitrogen-charged canister shocks; a sport brake package, with six front pistons and billet aluminum hats; and an 8,000-pound Warn winch housed in a rhinoceros-tough bumper made by Australian 4x4 outfitter ARB.
Ward has even configured a trail-rated, solar-panel-powered Campa trailer that sleeps four and boasts its own air compressor and water filtration system, ideal for a self-contained Baja or Moab run. "A lot of our customers are self-made men who like to enjoy nature," says the designer, who's already sold ICONs to David Letterman and industrial designer/artist Marc Newson. Model Angie Harmon even bought one. And why wouldn't she? All of the twenty-four ICONs produced each year (there's currently a five-month waiting list) are personally road tested—for 600 miles in Los Angeles and the canyons around the city—by Ward and his two managers.
Still, any would-be weekend warriors should take heart, says former ICON owner Billy Joel. "I sold it because it just wasn't a very practical vehicle to drive in the Hamptons," he told RL. But for true off-roading, they're great, says Dr. Eduardo Alarcon, a CMO at a Florida medical group that runs regular missions to the Dominican Republic, Peru, Guatemala, and India, who owns two. "On numerous occasions we traveled in Land Crusiers, and that was very influential in my choice of the ICON. The steering is great and the stabillity and handling are superb."
Unlike stereotypical luxury SUV makers, being green is paramount at TLC. In fact, Ward says ICON owners are actually more prone to make conservation efforts than are city-bound Prius drivers. "They actually use the land, so they have a relationship to it," he says. "When a guy does a surfing trip or goes camping, it renews that connection to the earth, and he wants to preserve it more." To help out with those efforts, all three ICON models can be fitted with a turbodiesel engine that runs entirely on biofuel yet still produces 278 pounds of torque. Ward hopes to offer a hybrid electric option by 2011. Meanwhile, he is constantly pushing for green alternatives even in the aesthetics: His new billet-backed gauges, inspired by the dial of the Bell & Ross BR 01-92 watch, feature recessed LEDs. "In essence, we're recycling a vehicle, then applying very efficient processes to it," says Ward. "It's really about making a product—with less unnecessary content—that can last for decades."
Michael Slenske is a writer in New York whose work has appeared in Men's Journal, on Men.Style.com, and in The New York Times.
Photography credits:
- Courtesy ICON
- Courtesy ICON
- Courtesy ICON
- Courtesy ICON
- Courtesy ICON
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