Fortunately for us we have been turned on to a whole other mini-truck scene outside our country just in time to see its major growth. We got to check out what Japan has to offer the mini-truck world firsthand, so naturally Australia was next on the list. When it comes to mini-truckin' Down Under it's still very new and fresh and in fact, the first fully 'bagged truck was done just 6 years ago. So imagine our excitement to see trucks body-dropped "to the sill" (to the rocker) at 80 mm (over 3 inches).
What's Big Ern got on a double-cab Mitsu?
One of the coolest things about getting the opportunity to head Down Under to capture the crazy Aussie mini-truckers firsthand was the language. We thought for sure this trip would be way easier and smoother than Japan because there's not much of a language barrier. Well, we thought wrong! All week long we found that the thick accents and strange UK English words weren't going to go away, no matter how slow we talked and tried to explain things to each other. You see, in Australia there are hundreds of words that we came across that we don't use here. Let's give you a few just to expand your worldly vocabulary:
Bonnet = Hood (truck hood)
Tray = Bed (truck bed)
Sills = Rockers
Pews = Seats
Vegemite = Nasty Australian spread for toast
Keen for a root = Don't ever use this one!
Arse = That's an easy one.
But you get the picture. It wasn't as easy to communicate as we had originally thought, but after a couple hundred miles of cruisin', drag sessions, and some drinks we were all pretty much on the same page.