As I was typing that title, I accidentally wrote “Landcrusier” which I think sounds French. Could you imagine if the 79 was made in France? It would have 16 ash-trays and be as reliable as a Citroen that had already caught fire…
I finally did “the most overrated mod that every youtuber does to a 79”, or so I thought. Turns out, they were all right. It really is worth it.
I’ve long been ranting about supposed “upgrades” that only offer an aesthetic boost, or additional comfort. The type of upgrades marketed to people from Melbourne… I often claim that this is antithetical to the whole purpose of a 79 series, which is to have capability and reliability, and that comfort is not all that important. I do still believe this, but at the same time I would be quick to acknowledge that I have literally blistered my elbow on long drives in my cruiser. And, that the lack of cup-holders does actually have a practical downside as it makes it hard to keep the cab organised when you have more than one person in the car.
I do multi-week trips in a single-cab.
I’m not a neat-freak by any stretch of the imagination, but for my use-case I really do need to have things organised and have a place for everything to live. There’s so little space in a single-cab, that even something as simple as two extra cup holders, starts to make a difference.
So, I finally decided to do one of the soft options and make the cruiser a bit more comfortable.
I got myself a pair of cup-holder armrests from 70 Series Store.
10 Second Install? Surely Not
They advertise 10 second install because of the magnets.
I’m very sceptical of marketing these days and did not believe this statement for a second (or 10).
I was right – their claim was wrong. It took 3 seconds to install. Literally 3 seconds (and not the way an American says “literally” when they literally mean not-literally…).
3 seconds! I’m still blown away.
I even took them off and filmed myself putting them back on because it is ridiculous.
If you consider that I have a workmate with wind-up windows and had to wind them down, then maybe it adds up to 7 or 8 seconds.
I was then sceptical that anything that installs in 3 seconds, can’t be installed properly.
Turns out that the design which hooks around the window-sill, holds itself firmly in place with the weight of an elbow smacked against it. So, the magnets hold it in the right location, and then the weight of my arm actually holds it further in place. Pretty slick.
Colour Matched. Is it True?
They also advertise that these are colour matched.
It’s true.
They match the colour that my door card originally was.
It’s kinda gross that by contrast, it shows just how dirty my door card is.
So, I’ve either got to clean my door card, or brown up the armrest with some dirty elbow grease. Literal elbow grease, not the figurative hard-work kind.
I think I’ll opt for the latter. After all, the sole purpose of this vehicle is to get me out into the desert and dirt.
What are the Downsides to Cup-holder Armrests in a 79 Series?
The Rough As Guts ethos is to tell it like it is. If I just do a raving review with no criticism, it’ll sound like I’ve been bought (never gonna happen).
But (and it’s still early days), it’s pretty hard to find a negative.
If I were clutching at straws, I would say that they might very occasionally get in the way if you’re 6’7″/2m and driving a single-cab, like me. But how many people is that really going to affect? The upside is that because they are held on with magnets, if I need to move my right knee in a funny way, the armrest will move out of the way before snapping back to exactly where it needs to be.
So far so good.
If it turns out to be a persistent problem, I can either shorten the armrest a little bit, or swap the two around and have them backwards. I checked, it is possible.
But, I really don’t think that’s necessary and that will happen no matter what brand you use.
If you’re 6’8″, buyer beware, but you’re used to things not fitting anyway and probably shouldn’t get a single-cab.
