Some 4x4s get restored to sit in a driveway. Retesh's Patrol got restored to go back to work. We took it back to a clean white body, sorted the panels and paint, and built it out as an off-road tourer that spends real time on the trails in Pahang rather than parked in a car park looking the part.
The objective
A Patrol that looks sharp standing still and holds together when it is being used hard. Honest bodywork underneath the paint, and an off-road spec chosen to survive rather than to pose.
Bodywork and paint
The truck was stripped back and the panels sorted before any colour went on. Paint on a working vehicle only means something if the metal under it is right, so the prep took longer than the spraying. It came back a clean, flat white that photographs well and hides nothing.
Built to be used
From there it was set up for the trail: front protection, rock sliders down the sides, driving lights up top and mud terrains under the arches. Nothing on it is there to look busy. It gets used off-road, and it is built to come home the same way it left.
The photos
Where it is now
Finished and in use: a Patrol that cleaned up properly and still goes where it is pointed. The kind of restoration that respects what the truck is for instead of turning it into an ornament.
Built for Retesh by USJ 4x4 Garage, Subang Jaya, Selangor. Documented on our Facebook and Instagram through the build.