Congratulations on being selected for Auszookers Zook Owner of the Month!
Thankyou
How does it feel being honoured with the nomination for Z.O.O.M. 2014?
Surprised, but now that I think about it, I might be worthy.
So tell us about yourself. Who are you, What's the meaning to your username, Where do you live, and what do you do for a living?
Greg is my name, just the wrong side of 50, Sheetmetal/ Fabricator by trade and I have lived on the Coffs Coast for most of my life.
Back in the 90's Tommy Dysart starred in some adds for the Yellow Pages looking for parts for his Goggomobil, you may remember it as he had to spell it G. O. G. G. O! Probably I think because not many people knew about the little 2 Stroke car and even less had parts for one. The people who did know of them were most likely familiar with the Goggomobil model called the Dart, so when he finally found someone with parts, he had to explain: No not the Dart! This add appealed to my sense of humour and when I was building a Sierra to compete in for my personal touch I substituted the "G" with a "B" for 2 main reasons:
1. The Hardtop body I was using had belonged to a beach fisherman and was full of Bog!
2. You have probably worked out where it was going to be driven!
& The "E" was added to the end in a hope of remaining MOBILE!
Perhaps someone can help me as I wanted my user name to be B. O. G. G. O. mobile so it read like the add. AZ website would not accept it in my intended format when I joined, but until now I have not mentioned it to anyone other than the automatic sign on!
How did you get started in Suzuki's & how many have you owned?
There are a couple of these:
Back in the 80's, I owned a 2 door Lancer which was sweet to drive, but limited where I could take it, so I bought a wait for it ...............................................................................................................................................................................LJ 50 softtop, Red with white Sunraysers, white rollbar, white bulbar and side rails, there also was a white ring around the sidewalls of the tyres about 20mm wide and flared guards. Just typing this brings back memories as the bloke I bought it off worked for Coca Cola and as a condition of sale the Coke stickers had to be removed, but I can’t remember how it was used in promotions? Now I had a second fun machine for weekends that I could take most places, $900.00 with about 6 months rego. Happy Days!
WHAT A MACHINE!
How long did it take you to build your zook to what it is today?
Now this is not easy for me to answer, you may have noticed I skirted around the (how many) part of the last question so I will try again here. So here we go back to the 80’s again, before AZ came on line obviously, the only way to get parts for a SUZUKI was to buy Genuine because the wreckers (locally at least) were not interested in anything SUZUKI, they told me they were not interested in buying wrecks and told people to take them to the tip as they were disposable Jap Crap! A little offended to say the least, I compared notes with other owners and they pretty much had the same experience! All changed for the better when I was working on site at a farm and under a tree there was a 74 model LJ 50 hardtop and I ended up buying it complete for $100.00! This gave me the parts I needed and word soon got around which meant parts were going in all directions.
The desire to travel bubbled to the surface and the LJ 50 was not a good choice, so I sold it to a mate and bought a LJ 81 aluminium trayback with a 4K Corolla motor and Celica 5 speed that I set about modifying straight away for travelling. 1.0L Sierra disc brakes and freewheeling hubs, Old Man Emu suspension, aluminium bullbar, twin tube roll bar, full length toolbox under the tray and I added 125 mm in the back of the cab so I could fit Recaro seats. There was no real plan except to head north with a mate that wanted to go to Darwin and Beach hopping and driving roads that were closest to the Beach meant it was not a fast trip, sometimes it is about the journey!
Skip forward a couple of years to the early 90’s and I had completed a lap around mainland OZ and after a while, I decided to update to a SIERRA UTE and the LJ 81 was sold to another mate. The Sierra Ute, number 4 could tell a few stories, the Rego has been renewed over 20 times and I drove it yesterday. Not much had changed with regards to Suzuki’s at wreckers so I started buying, fixing and selling SUZUKI 4wd’s as going concerns with and without rego and selling parts, sticking to just One Marque!
There has been a little water under the bridge since then and many have come and gone including Carry vans and utes but mainly the 4wd’s as they are what I have always been passionate about. Here is couple I snapped photos of yesterday:
Any changes in store for your Suzuki?
My long suffering Ute does pretty much everything I ask of it and I have a Vitara Estate that I really enjoy driving, very happy with both of them as they are.
Who knows, things can change? Have always wanted to go back to a Red LJ 50 Softtop probably on Club Rego!
By now, you have probably realised that owning SUZUKI’s can be a way of life. One thing that I have learned after meeting so many owners is they almost never own just one!
What has been your best modification?
Extending the Ute cabs to give more room and fit decent seats.
What has been your worse modification?
Lockright in the rear diff on a aluminium trayback ute.
If you could have anybody else's zook, who's would it be and why?
Now this is the easiest question for me to answer as it is the same as it has always been. Anyone's Zook that the owner has lost interest in, so I can line it or parts of it up with new owners to enjoy.
What has been your best 4wding trip?
Beach hopping around Mainland OZ
If you could go to any place in the world to wheel, where would that be?
Tasmania, because then I can correctly say that I have been around Australia!
Who are you closest to in the auszooker's community?
Here he is looking a little menacing! Jumping in and having a go Is a fine quality, I admire people who lead by example!
Tell us what the wheeling is like in your area?
The Great Dividing Range is at it’s closest to the coast here which means it is quite hilly in places. It also has a huge effect on the weather that generally comes from the ocean and when it hits the landform , it rains! It also means we get a few storms, flooding and adverse weather which can change or block existing tracks, that makes them considerably different when reopened.
What other toys/hobbies do you put a lot of time into?
Mototrials is very enjoyable and rewarding on a multitude of levels, excellent for honing balance, co-ordination, memory, observation and it exercises thought processes. There are a few bikes that get ridden regularly and even a couple of these:
Billy Karts can be really good fun as there is no such thing as two the same, everyone has there own ideas, some try to re-invent the wheel or build a better mousetrap and you get to test them by racing to see what works and sometimes wonder what the Hell was I thinking?
View from the drivers seat.
The pointy end.
The other pointy end.
Being a Fabricator, I have always enjoyed building and re-purposing things or getting uses for things that others might not see, there are some examples in most of these photos if you look closely.
What is it about the auszookers that brings you back for more?
AZ can take a little deciphering at times, however there is a wealth of information on here, with a lot of contributors being brilliant in their area of interest or expertise. Life experiences have taught me that everyone has a right to their own opinion no matter how good or bad it is. Listening to everyone and anyone can be really interesting and informative.
What about the auszookers forum would you like to see changed?
It is what it is, why would I want to change something that is evolving on it’s own?
Now for the million dollar question, who do you select to be the next Z.O.O.M. & why?
Now I see why you have saved this one for last! There certainly is a lot of people that are worthy and I propose to nominate the winner of a quick quiz.
Simple rules because that is how it has to be for me to understand:
There are SUZUKI parts in the photos above that are not being used exactly as they were intended by SUZUKI.
List them on here, I reserve the right to decide the winner who has listed the most parts doing jobs other than intended by SUZUKI and will nominate them._____________________________Easy!
Winner decided Oct 10th!
i like the LJ diff on the seasaw 
