 How many of us can say they are that happy with their 4WD, they want to be buried with it? Most of us, we are sure, are always trying to work out what to do next, what can get us further up that track, or how can we make the next trip more comfortable.
Although it might be a little early for 32-year-old Paul Beretta to be making funeral arrangements, he is pretty dead-set (pun intended) on how long he wants to keep his GQ. Saying straight out he wants to be buried with it, we wonder if that means ‘in it’ or ‘next to it’.
You see, while the majority of GQ Patrols getting around are onto at least their second owner, Paul’s GQ has been part of his family since they bought it new as a wagon back in 1989. It was originally purchased to tow their plumbing business’s trailer during the week, and their boat or horse float on the weekends.
Although it had a pretty boring life for the first 15 or so years, you could barely call it easy. The 510,000km on the clock, however, is a testament to regular servicing and the over-engineering that made the TD42 so famous.
Obviously, the LWB two-tone blue and silver GQ wagon has undergone quite a change since its humble beginnings. Considering Paul’s idea of a good track is one too hard for anyone else to get up, it also gets quite a caning whenever he takes it out.
Having had most of the work either custom-built to his specs or he actually got in there and done it himself, he has learned a hell of a lot about what works well on 4WDs. He even developed his own solenoid for his Warn high-mount winch. A few pieces of advice he was willing to share was to do your research and use quality tools. He also reckons that most of your mates would be happy to take to your car with a 9in grinder, so either be very scared or delegate wisely.
So, are you prepared to be buried with your 4WD? Yeah, we didn’t think so. But would you be buried with Paul’s? Yeah, we’d consider it as well.
INSIDE
After cutting the back off the wagon, Paul could hardly leave the interior of the Patrol standard. Instead of the old cloth and foam combination Nissan called seats, a set of Autotecnica racing seats from Repco have been fitted by his mate Kyle. They offer heaps more support than standard, especially on some of the crazy tracks Paul likes.
He fitted a Sony CD player and Pioneer speakers, plus custom-made a dash pod that houses an oil pressure gauge, pyrometer and boost gauge. His Uniden Sundowner UHF has been following him around for 15 years, and it has been in three trucks and most of his cars. There are various switches scattered across the dash for the winch, lights, compressors and lockers.
Paul has competed in a couple of Navruns and uses a laptop running OziExplorer software. He also has a Garmin e-map as backup should the laptop fail.
OUTSIDE
All of the bodywork was done by Paul and his mate Charles. He reckons that the look on Charles’s face while he was cutting the back of his wagon off was a little bit frightening; he apparently liked it a little bit too much.
Weird fetishes aside, he has done a pretty good job. The D-pillar has basically been welded to where the C-pillar was. A frame made of 100x50mm RHS was welded behind the existing panels to work as a frame for the rear. The rear panel was custom shaped, welded to the back and ground down until it was all neat. To get the roof to line up, a whole lot of measuring, welding and grinding were needed. Paul reckons that most people can’t spot the join from the outside.
The GQ’s front bar was made by a good mate also named Paul, who he met through the NSW 4WD competition scene. It is super lightweight and can be picked up and fitted to the vehicle with the winch by just one person. The winch is a Warn 8000lb high-mount modified with a 6hp motor, and modified brake shaft end cap to prevent the circlip blowing off.
Paul also developed a modified solenoid to run on these winches, which he sells to those looking for more performance out of their winch. If you have any questions about them, he will happily reply to emails at pberetta@tpg.com.au.
The rest of the bar work is also custom-made by various friends and acquaintances. Because Paul didn’t want to waste money on off-the-shelf products that didn’t always suit his needs, he spent a lot of time designing the things he wanted and getting them made. Like the tray, which easily clears the 37x13.5x15in Procomp X-Terrains on Walker Evans Racing beadlocked rims and conveniently stores the spare in its own compartment.
» Continue to Page 2
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