Our Story

It started with one Land Cruiser that went wrong.

USJ 4x4 was not a business plan. It was a build I could not let go of, and a standard I decided to take responsibility for myself.

The V12 Land Cruiser project that started USJ 4x4 Garage

The V12 Cruiser

The project that started it.

I am an engineer by training, with a background in mechanical and mechatronics engineering. Around 2015 I set out to build my own Toyota Land Cruiser 60 Series, a V12 project that was ambitious on purpose.

Like a lot of people, I handed it to someone else to build. It went sideways. The more I looked at the work coming back, the clearer it became that the only way to get the standard I actually wanted was to stop outsourcing it and take responsibility for it myself.

Chassis and driveline work at USJ 4x4 Garage

A rented corner

One corner of a workshop.

So I rented a small corner of a shop and started doing the work myself. Not because it was the plan, but because it was the only way the car was ever going to be right.

I worked on it with Zaw Zaw, who handled the fabrication and welding then and still does today. Between us, we finished the car to the standard it should have had in the first place.

Vishant Selvarajah, founder of USJ 4x4 Garage, in the workshop

Who you are dealing with

A person, not a logo.

Since you would be trusting a person and not a logo, here is who I am. I am Malaysian, half Sri Lankan and half Burmese. Two sides that both take work done by hand seriously and have little patience for anything done halfway. That is more or less where the standard comes from.

USJ 4x4 is still small on purpose. You deal with me directly, and your vehicle gets treated the way I would want mine treated.

The finished V12 Land Cruiser, later featured by Silodrome

From one vehicle to a workshop

The corner became USJ 4x4.

That corner turned into USJ 4x4 Garage. The V12 Cruiser was eventually featured internationally by Silodrome, which was never the point but did confirm something: build one vehicle properly and honestly, and the right people notice.

We grew from solving one badly handled project into taking on selected, genuinely complex restorations and one-off builds for other people who wanted the same thing I did. Not the fastest option. The right one.

Engineering detail: a front disc-brake conversion during a chassis-up Land Cruiser 60 rebuild

How I work

Engineering decisions, not guesswork.

I still personally control the direction of every build here: the diagnosis, the engineering decisions, the specification and the standard it is held to before it leaves. But we say "we" because it genuinely is a team. Zaw Zaw's fabrication is central to it, and there are plenty more hands behind every build, each owning their part of the work, from mechanical and driveline to bodywork, wiring and finishing. Every section passes through people I trust. The direction and the responsibility for getting it right stay mine. The craft is shared.

The philosophy is not perfection for a display stand. It is to build a vehicle properly enough to be driven, used and kept. A restoration that cannot be trusted on a long drive has missed the point.

A 40 Series in build at USJ 4x4 Garage today

Why we stay selective

A few, done properly.

We do not chase volume. We choose builds where the workshop can actually add engineering and creative value, rather than filling the floor with quick jobs that nobody remembers.

Today that means Land Cruisers first, alongside selected 4x4s and the occasional one-off that is too interesting to turn down. Each one gets the same approach the V12 got: diagnosed honestly, planned properly, and built by the people whose names are on the door.

Start a project

Want us to build yours?

Tell us the vehicle, its condition and what you want it to become. We will tell you honestly whether it is a build worth doing.

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