Classics Nouveaux

Originally Published: August 2010 Words: Olly Sack Pictures: Steve Taylor

Big tyres are always a good way of beefing up a vehicle’s image, and a set of 31-inch Mickey Thompson Baja Claws, plus four inches of body and suspension lift and a 12,000lb winch on a fabricated bumper, give the LJ a chunkier look without turning itself into something it’s not. Neil decided on a powder blue paint finish in homage to a modified example he’d seen in Alternative Car magazine back in 1981; his daughter, hearing him talk about the LJ, decided the name should stand for ‘Lego Jeep,’ and how could something like that not catch on…?

Normally, when people do engine conversions in which an SJ410 unit is involved, it’s getting fetched out to make way for something bigger. Not here, though; the LJ’s original 800cc four-stroke came out to make way for the 1.0-litre unit, which went in as a straight swap. Neil rates the engine upgrade as one of the best mods he’s done to the vehicle – though if he were doing it all again, he says he’d give some thought to using a 1.6-litre Vitara engine instead

As well as the new engine, Neil replaced the original four-speed gearbox with a five-speeder from an SJ. This meant fabricating a new crossmember and drilling a three-inch hole in the bell-housing to clear the steering box, as well as modifying the tranny tunnel as seen here – the stick on the later box is further forward, hence the new plate around the gaiter and the blank just aft of it

Making space for 31-inch tyres on a vehicle this dinky takes some doing, but a combination of body and suspension lifts gets the job done. The latter was achieved using add-a-leaf springs from Llama 4x4, which hike the vehicle’s height by two inches; these work in combination with gas shocks from, of all things, a Mk2 Astra

Doubling up the lift achieved by the Llama springs are simple blocks which hike the body mounts by 40mm. These were fitted without any major dramas, though the steering column needed to be lengthened to suit

Even on a light vehicle like this one, combining a more powerful engine with bigger tyres and more weight over the front axle can only ever mean you need to think about how it’s going to stop. Hence the appearance of disc brakes on the front axle; keeping it as Suzuki as possible, these are from an SJ

The LJ’s chassis was sound when Neil bought it. But its body was anything but, with galloping tin worm around its rear wings and back crossmember. Happily, the guy he got it from was also able to supply a set of replacement panels, without which the job of creating the rust-free Suzuki Neil has today would have been verging on the impossible

Mickey Thompson Baja Claws suit the vehicle down to the ground with their purposeful directional tread. Kept legal by genuine Suzuki wheelarch spats, they ride on 10-inch modular rims

Freewheeling hubs were all the rage back in the days of part-time four-wheel drive. The LJ didn’t originally have them, but while doing the front brakes Neil also added a set scavenged from an SJ

The 12,000lb Winchmax winch, and the fabricated front bumper on which it’s mounted, do absolutely nothing for the LJ’s approach angle. But the alternative would have been to cut into the front panel – no biggie on a Defender, maybe, but surely a crime when what you’re modifying is a rare and classic 4x4

And here’s why that front panel is so special. You just don’t see craftsmanship like this any more –it’s a real work of 1970s’ utilitarian art. Yes, 1970s; although the W-plate on Neil’s LJ marks it out as being from 1980-81, that was at the very end of the vehicle’s production run

As you can see here, the vehicle’s basic van back has been kept intact. The high-back Cobra bucket seats are close enough together to make its overall proportions very obvious, though. Note also the side windows, which were added in to convert the vehicle from a van to a station wagon of sorts; naturally, they’re Suzuki originals

If you thought the jump seats in early Discoverys were a bit on the crude side, check out these little beauties…

A vehicle’s gauges are always among the parts that give it its character. No surprise, then, that Neil’s left very well alone inside the LJ, keeping its dash as close as possible to a light blue version of what left the factory thirty years ago

In the early 1980s, when men were wearing make-up and dressing in trousers made of curtains, the Suzuki LJ80 was just coming to the end of its production run. And while bands like Classix Nouveaux were prancing around on Top of the Pops, Neil Barber was falling quietly in love with what’s now a classic of another kind – and one which he’s now restored into a classic nouveaux all of his own…

Once you’ve got off-roading in your blood, they say, you’ve got it for life. But the same goes for all sorts of motoring addictions: the smell of burning rubber, the sound of a tuned V8 at full chat or the sight of a dozen E-Types coming round the corner in close convoy – all are evocative, wonderful and utterly habit-forming.

So, too, is the unique satisfaction that comes from restoring a tatty classic to its former glory. And that’s what got Neil Barber into the world of 4x4s. A service manager for a Peugeot dealer, and therefore someone who can be relied upon to know his spannering, Neil has restored a good many classics over the year. Most have been motorbike-engined Berkeley sports cars from the fifties, but in addition to this Neil has always been interested in 4x4s, too – thanks to the Series I his dad had while he was growing up.

Not that he was ever an exclusive Landy man. Instead, his motoring tastes drew him to anything with the elegance of a simple off-road design – which is why he’s always fancied one day owning a Suzuki LJ. ‘I’ve always loved the LJ80,’ he says. ‘I can remember when they were new, I was about twenty at the time, stopping off at a dealer with my brother to look at one.

‘Also at around that time, in 1981, Alternative Car had an article on a modified LJ80 by Heron. I kept a copy of the magazine, which inspired me to do the rebuild. I even painted it powder blue, the same as the one in the article!’

Now, let’s face it, who among us can say that they don’t share Neil’s love for the LJ? Certainly not those who were bowled over by his newly restored little Suzuki at this year’s British Indoor 4x4 Show, where it took a hugely popular class win in the modified vehicles concours.

But though there’s a place in all our hearts for the LJ, Neil has the almost unique distinction of actually having done something about it. He actually went out and bought one, from a fellow LJ fan called Jason; it had been laid up for four years, but three months later it was to emerge from his workshop fully restored and good as new.

The signs were good when the Suzuki, an LJ80 V commercial model, defied those four years of inactivity to fire up first time. That wasn’t enough to save it from a full strip down and rebuild, however – nor indeed to discourage Neil from treating it to a new engine from an SJ410.

When we talk about a full rebuild, we’re not joking. ‘I started by stripping off all the body parts, down to a bare shell, and boxing them. Then I removed the engine, before removing the body from the chassis. With the body off and the chassis supported, I stripped it of axles and so on, then it was painted along with the running gear.’

It was after this that what could have been a simple restoration project became something far more interesting. Neil’s intention had never been just to take the LJ back to the way it was when it left the factory; inspired, perhaps, by the nicely improved BJ40 Land Cruisers you see in France and America, he added a set of mods which make it something else besides – without stopping it from being itself.

Add-a-leaf suspension from Llama 4x4 was first on the list, and in combination with a set of 40mm body spacers this lifts the vehicle by around four inches – making plenty of space for a set of 31x10.50R15 Mickey Thompson Baja Claws. With the new 1.0-litre engine driving a five-speed box, the LJ does an adequate job of turning the bigger meat, and front discs from the same source mean they won’t keep on turning when they’re not meant to.

We mentioned the body lift just there, but at the start of the job there wasn’t a whole lot of body to lift. As is traditional for old Suzuki 4x4s, the LJ was a study in rust when Neil picked it up, with extensive work needed around the floors and rear wings. That’s exactly what they got, aided by the fact that Jason also sold him a pair of brand new wings plus a rear crossmember, all genuine Suzuki stuff.

With a 12,000lb Winchmax winch at the other end, perched upon a fabricated steel bumper, the LJ was coming back together nicely – and looking like a tidily modified example of the breed, too. Not too much, though – the bumper in question, for example, was specially designed to look as original as possible, and rather than any fancy alloys the big Mickeys are wrapped around a modest set of white steel modulars (with freewheeling hubs adding yet more authenticity at the front). Even the extensions on the wheelarches are Suzuki originals.

This is all as you’d expect, of course, from a man who understands what it is to restore a classic car. While doing something like coiling an LJ might not be quite as sacrilegious as, say, slamming an original Model T or building a pro-street E-Type, going too far in a project like this is no way to treat an old lady.

That’s something Neil clearly does know, and while he’s not tried to roll back the clock on the vehicle, he certainly has modified it with maximum respect. ‘Only a few LJs are left,’ he says. ‘I’m happy to own a rust-free example, and am thankful to Jason from Bristol who sold her to me and helped with the original panels.’

What you’re looking at on these pages is the realisation of a lifelong dream for a man who’s no stranger to bringing cars back from the dead. It might not be the kind of classic that gets rivet counters hot under the collar, or the kind of off-roader that puts the fear of God into challenge competitors, but in its own way it’s more than either of those things. It’s a 4x4 that keeps it really real, a perfect example of how to restore an old truck… and the best LJ we’ve ever seen.

MICKEY THOMPSON BAJA CLAWS, LLAMA 4X4 SPRINGS, WINCHMAX WINCH, LJ