Dreamax the D-MAX wins 2022 Custom 4x4 of the Year award

Dreamax the D-MAX has awoken from its slumber to be awarded the coveted 2022 Custom 4x4 of the Year crown, winning the public vote in a landslide against a selection of the best custom vehicles in Australia.

Aptly labelled as one of the best touring D-MAX utes in Australia, owners and Port Hedland locals, Chris and Bekk Gillis, comprehensively rebuilt this custom 2021 D-MAX X-Terrain in a transformation that made it their ultimate home-away-from-home.

Beneath the hood, the factory intercooler piping was ditched in favour of a Munji hard-pipe kit, while a tune by Reaper Performance netted an increase in engine performance to 181hp and 656Nm. A Harrop eLocker was installed up front, with a Munji diff drop keeping the front CVs content.

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The D-MAX was lifted three inches at the front and two inches at the rear, aided by uprated Dobinson springs, remote-reservoir MMR shocks and a pair of Airbag Man heavy-duty airbags. The GVM was increased to 3600kg.

That tidy canopy is a custom unit from Bull Motor Bodies and features a Dometic slide-out kitchen, a 40-litre Evakool unit and copious storage solutions – among heaps more kit. A Land Raxx Summit Platform sits atop and houses a TJM shovel, a set of MaxTrax, a Hercules off-road jack, and a Stedi light bar. An Enerdrive Wanderer controls and monitors all electrics.

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Dreamax the D-MAX won with a whopping 277 more votes than second placegetter, a 2015 Ford Ranger, with the 75 Series Troop Carrier rounding out the podium.

As a result, the owners of Dreamax have not only claimed the 2022 Custom 4x4 of the Year gong, but they’ll walk away with a Maxxis voucher valued at $3000, a Clearview Accessories voucher valued at $500, and a MaxTrax voucher valued at $500.

Punters who voted in the competition also went in the draw to win a Maxxis voucher valued at $2000, a Clearview Accessories voucher valued at $500, and a MaxTrax voucher valued at $500.

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The lucky winner was Sydney-sider, Ben Gibson, who was ecstatic when notified he’d won. "That's so awesome. It's an awesome giveaway. This news is the best news I've had this week, so much more than you guys could know. Thank you so much," Ben told 4X4 Australia.

Ben plans to upgrade his old original Clearview mirrors to newer Next Gen or Compacts, and he’ll most likely upgrade to a set of Maxxis M/Ts, as he already runs Maxxis A/Ts.