By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

It’s no secret that the StreetFire crew is filled with off-road newbies, but ICON’s Jonathan Ward is so confident in their $100K FJ recreations he invited us up to Frazier Park to thrash on them anyway. I didn’t get to go—somebody has to be in the office to take out the trash and answer the phones—but Naderi made it, and he brought back footage. Mike Levin from PickupTrucks.com and Johnny Lieberman from Jalopnik were also on hand, and after they got to drive these insane 4x4s, they shared their thoughts. Next time we get offered a chance like this, I’m going to let the phones go to voice mail and the trash pile up…

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

We definitely had some strong opinions in this week’s eBay Motors Showdown, but the Bronco started strong and finished strong, winning by more than a 2-to-1 margin. Stay tuned for another match-up next week!

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

I’ve been wanting to put an early Bronco up against an old Land Cruiser in an eBay Motors Showdown for a while now, but was having trouble finding auctions that were priced close enough–Land Cruisers just seem to command more money at the end of the day. Well, I think I finally found a decent match. This 1972 Ford Bronco has been nicely redone and this 1973 Toyota Land Cruiser appears to be in very good original condition. So, which would you choose?

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Interesting choice… Shows how much they value their history and heritage.

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

I talked to Jonathan Ward of ICON yesterday at SEMA. It was great to finally meet Jonathan and to see these amazing vehicles in person after following the builds on his ride pages. We’ll have lots more interviews with SEMA builders over the next few days, so stay tuned.

ICON is bringing four vehicles to SEMA—three Land Cruisers and one Lexus LX 570—and they’ve done a great job documenting the builds on CarDomain. Right now they are making the finishing touches, and Jonathan Ward has even been running his kids to school in the FJ43 pictured below. Be sure to check out the ICON garage on CarDomain, and we’ll be sure to track down Jonathan and these awesome rides at SEMA.

As you might imagine, there won’t be much left from this old ’71 Land Cruiser when Jonathan Ward and the rest of the ICON guys are done with it. And you won’t believe the motor this one is getting. Check out the ride page for pics of the build so far.

Yep, you sure heard that right. These two crazies made the trip from England to West Africa in a ragtag collection of junkyard-salvaged diesel trucks—including this Ford Iveco Cargo flatbed that spent a good part of the journey hauling the Land Cruisers—converted to run on "waste chocolate." Their goal was for the trip to be "carbon-negative," which in biodiesel terms means that the plants used to "grow" the fuel took more carbon dioxide out of the air than the vehicle exhaust was able to put in. Once they made it to Timbuktu, one of the trucks was donated to locals to run on used cooking oil. Everyone wins! Read more at Kicking Tires, and check out the official site of the Biotruck Drive to Timbuktu.

Check out this Chevy S-10 with Land Cruiser axles, a 400 hp LT1 and a home built exo cage. And he’s got a Champion 8,000 lb winch to help get unstuck.

Land Cruisers may be tough—but this one is no match for a giant dump truck. I can’t believe how flat it gets!