People and Their Wheels: Duane Bernard's 1984 Toyota Land Cruiser
Saturday, September 6, 2008 12:12 AM PDT
By Brenda Blevins McCorkle
Printable version
E-mail this articleBackground: Duane Bernard, a lifelong resident of Rainier, is retired from Longview Fibre after 40 years. In his spare time, he volunteers for Safari International, a hunting organization, and spends time driving around in the woods. He and his wife, Joanne, celebrated 50 years of marriage in 2007. They have four children and numerous grandchildren.
His wheels: A 1984 Toyota Land Cruiser that he and his wife found while on vacation in Yukon, Canada.
This vehicle is a diesel, which makes it a rarity, Duane said.
“I understand there are less than 50 of them in the United States,” he said.
The couple saw the vehicle in 2006 and purchased it in 2007. It took a lot of time, Duane said, to get it home to Rainier.
“I found I couldn’t get it back into the United States because of DOT and EPA (rules),” he said.
After jumping through many hoops and filling out lots of paperwork, he was finally able to go up and haul it home.
That’s when the work began.
“It didn’t look like this,” he said, referring to the vehicle’s shiny paint and smooth body.
Mechanically, the Land Cruiser was in good condition, Duane said, but the exterior needed some work.
“The windshield was shot and needed to be replaced. There was no door handle on the other side,” he said.
They installed new shocks and replaced the upholstery, which Duane said looked like a “dog bed.”
“I bought it from an old gold miner up there,” he said. “He used it going back and forth in the brush.”
They also changed and checked all the fluids and everything inside.
“Then this spring, a neighbor and I sandblasted the whole underneath and undercoated it again,” Duane said.
They installed new taillights and put a Toyota power winch on the front.
“My neighbor Frank Curtis painted it, and did a lot of cutting, welding,” Duane said.
The SUV had quite a bit of rust on it, Duane said.
“Because they salt the roads up there so heavy, you know,” he added.
The vehicle is a 24-volt, instead of 12, he said, and has a five-speed transmission. It came with power steering and because it was made to be used and sold in the frigid north, it came with a block heater to start the diesel engine, an oil heater on the pan, and a battery heater, too.
“It was pretty well prepared,” Duane said. “It takes the cold.”
Duane also put in a sound system and a roof rack. He said the Toyota, which has 220,000 miles on it, gets in the mid-20s for mileage.
“They just go and go and go,” he said.
Although Duane said he wishes that Toyota had made the vehicle’s body a little heavier, he said the Land Cruiser is tough nonetheless.
“It already hauled out a bull elk this fall during archery season,” he said.
Next year, he and his wife plan to do some traveling around the back roads and camping with it, Duane said.
He has redone other Land Cruisers, but Duane said this is his last.
“I probably will not restore anymore. I’m going to hang onto this one,” he said. “I’ve restored two of them and sold them, this one I’m going to hang on to.”
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