Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

African Outback and Big Country joined up .. they are in Silverton
Hier is wat ek uit hulle nuusbrief afgetrek het ..


t’s official – we are back in business!!

After a lengthy and fairly stressful 2013, we responded to a publically advertised notice, submitted a bid for all the assets and held thumbs. I was very relieved when our bid was accepted on the 5th of December. It is important to note that the process was completely transparent and that anyone could have made an offer and bought the assets.

Well, anyway, South Africa was about to pack up and go on holiday, but despite that we managed to take stock of what we needed to keep, started moving the machinery into the new premises and generally did a major “spring clean” - we dumped about 14 tons of scrap metal. Simultaneous to that, we embarked on a clearance sale to move as much of the stock as possible. With many items being determined as redundant, the prices were rock bottom and many of you got some fantastic bargains - we would like to thank everyone for their support and words of encouragement.

Then we went off on holiday for some much required R+R…….

Apologies
As you may know, a liquidation scenario comes into effect on the date of application. There was a lot of “work in progress” on the 18th, but with the liquidation comes a complete “lock-down” on all the company assets. So even though your particular canopy or drawer may well have been ready and even though we may have already received your payment, we were not allowed to despatch or trade at all. I can sympathise that this probably resulted in many disappointed and frustrated customers and I am sorry if you happened to be one of them.

So what now?

The bulk of the manufacturing operation has been relocated to Waltloo Pretoria. This will be where all our main core products will be made. The previously massive product range has been rationalised into the following groups.


•Core products. These will include
o Products which are both profitable and popular
o Products developed for popular vehicles.
These products will be manufactured in large quantities with the objective of never running out of stock. Also included here are those “support” products which are required to supplement the core products – you can’t sell roofracks if you don’t have the accessory brackets. This core product group will be centred around Canopies, Drawer Systems and Roofracks.


•Key Customer products. We have a number of key customers who regularly purchase in significant volumes and who require more than just our standard products and we will manufacture to their requirements. These products will be made to order and small production overruns may be contemplated to offer for general sale.

•Non core products – typically those profitable products which are not that popular. These will be made to order on receipt of a deposit.

•Discontinued products. This is quite a large group and will include all those products which were
oNot profitable and / or
oNot technically superior and for which competitive products are available.

Besides being more focussed in our product offering, we have also decided to discontinue the customised products as well as the fitment service. We will still sell our own products directly to the public, but all fitment will be referred to selected and approved fitment centres. Should you own a fitment centre and would like to apply for approval, then please let me know.

We have a fantastic bunch of like minded people on the team. It has been very refreshing to see how similarly our minds all work. We are all of the opinion that "that thing will fly!"

The name, the brand, the logo
A new company is being registered with three equal shareholders. We have applied for a name but will advise as soon as it is done. For now, we are trading under Big Country 4x4 and Outdoor Centre (Pty) Ltd.
Both the African Outback and Big Country brands are well known and recognised around the world. We have decided to continue using these brands together with the registered logo.

How do you buy from us?
•Website: www.bigcountry.co.za
•Tel: 011-392-1777
•Email: admin@bigcountry.co.za


Where can you look at the products?
•Showroom in Pretoria (284 Kuit Street, Waltloo)
•We are working on a distribution depot / showroom in the Johannesburg area
•Selected dealers


Special Thanks

A special word of thanks and appreciation goes to my wife Karen. This has been a tough time and her support and help "at the coal face" has been invaluable - thanks, I really appreciate it!

xxxx

I've gotten hold of a 2nd hand Hannibal rack and it is really a superbly constructed piece of kit. The slats run from front to back which I believe reduces wind noise. The feet are attached to 'rails' which runs the full length of the gutter - as mentioned above this spreads the load better.

You can't go far wrong by buying one of the well-known brands.

I have investigated the option of making a DIY aluminium rack, but the material costs and labour for welding would have cost me the same as an off the shelf product.

Keep your eyes on the classifieds, every now and again a rack pops up.

If you are finding a good "rack" in the classifieds, then you are looking in the wrong section...... maybe you were looking at the Ford "Escort" section......hahahahahahaha

nothing wrong with a good rack ricster

ahhhhhhh yes...... lets keep abreast of the topic shall we.......

I don't know what the African Outback is made from but by gum it's tough. I bought one second hand from a member here and as one of the bolted on cargo rails was slightly bowed, I tried to beat it back into shape with a large deadblow hammer (2lb, IIRC). I beat it as hard as I could but couldn't get it to change shape by even 1mm.

same problem ..... same roofrack..... same size hammer...... same result...... damn that profile aluminium is strong. I even tried with a gwala to bend it slightly back int shape..... not a chance !!! These are seriously strong !!

I have a front runner roofrack. Then I installed their axe bracket. Then I miss judged the extra height in crease and it caught on a carport. It bend the roofrack. And I can confirm. The aluminium is dam tough. I tried pulling it back into place with a come-a-long. I hooked the come-a-long to the patrols recovery point and wedged the rack behind two cemented poles. The patrol was the heaviest and toughest thing around. The Patrol came to the roof rack but the roofrack did not even move a bit.

Is their a repair method or must it be chucked?

On the toppic. Front runner has got nice atachments to their roof racks, including a spare wheel bracket.

I have the 4x4 Megaworld rack with a couple of attachments including the spare wheel bracket.

Went to Forest Hill Mall the other day. Went very slowly under the max height board to check it cleared and no problem. Drove up the ramp and promptly took out the first fire extinguishing system pipe. Turned around and took the one on the way out as well. No rack damage and spare wheel bracket has a slight bend which I had straightened at engineering co.

Sounds like you went to the demolition derby not the mall!