Freeze This Hilux

As fans of BBC’s Top Gear know, the seemingly indestructible Toyota Hilux sequence leaves one completely gob-smacked. The thing just doesn’t want to give up the ghost.

Later, they’d taken a Hilux to the North Pole.  It worked.  (Clarkson later got chastised for consuming a G&T on route.)

Although it wasn’t Clarkson et al, late last year four Hiluxes converted by Arctic Trucks, an Icelandic Toyota 4x4 conversion specialist, took members of the Indian National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR) on a round trip to the South Pole.

The vehicles, equipped with the Toyota 3.0-liter D-4D diesel engine, ran Jet 1A fuel rather than gas; they needed to carry 1,280 liters of fuel per vehicle. There was only one “gas station” along the route, which was 1,500 km from the starting point. Given that there were no Holiday Inns along the way, the vehicles had to run 24/7 during the adventure that ran from November 10 and December 5. The average temp was -40°C, and it hit -56°C along the way.

Other modifications included lubricants to handle the cold, revised suspension, crawler gears, crevasse protection, extra-large tires, and an extra heating system.

We’re guessing that heating system was the favorite mod of all.