Japanese magazine Custom Trucks featured a story about Jas’s ute after meeting her at a custom car show earlier this year.
With parts collected from around the globe, the 24-year-old has lost count of the amount of work she has done to her ’91 Hilux.
Jas’s tinkering hobby morphed into a fully fledged obsession five years ago when she decided to make her daily drive stand out.
She started researching modifications she could do to the ute’s front end and discovered the world of mini trucks.
Mini trucks are generally a stock Toyota, Nissan or Mitsubishi vehicle with cut springs and lowering blocks.
Body modifications include shaving door handles, corner turn signals, gas doors, customised taillights and mirrors or just about anything you could imagine.
They became popular because of their low cost to build due to the lack of store-bought parts involved.
Jas’s first modification was “airbagging” her Hilux — a process of adding vehicle suspension powered by an electric or engine-driven air pump or compressor.
Airbagging provides an adjustable suspension that allows vehicles to sit extremely low, yet be able rise high enough to manoeuvre over obstacles and inconsistencies on the road.
In the process of lowering her ute as far as it could go, Jas caught the custom bug and wanted more.
She travelled to the US and UK to find more parts to continue modifying the front end of her Hilux – bringing a bumper back in a sleeping bag from the States.
Jas has since gone on to rebuild the chassis of the vehicle to make it longer and added a V8 engine.
“I started with motorbikes when I was younger. The engine on my bike blew up and I wanted to know how to fix it,” Jas said.
“I just started working my way up from there and learning as I went.”
The modifications to Jas’s ute have been mostly self-taught with some help along the way from her boilermaker boyfriend, Michael.
“It’s been a trial and error process,” Jas said.
“It gets frustrating because the only way to learn some things is to mess them up a few times.
“Working with sheet metal has been the worst because it is very temperamental.
“But I love doing it so I’ve stuck it out and it’s great to see the finished product sitting in my shed and featured in an international magazine.”
Although it’s just a time-consuming hobby at the moment, Jas has plans to make a career customising cars.
“My boyfriend works for himself and my goal is to learn enough to join him,” Jas said.
“My Hilux isn’t complete yet, I hope to have it done by the end of the year. The only things left to do are ensuring it’s completely street legal and getting it painted.”
As for her next project, Jas has her eyes set on a 1964 Toyota Stout sitting in her paddock.
“I’m going to do similar things that I did to the Hilux,” she said.
“I have more experience now and a bit of an idea what I’m doing so I’m looking forward to how this next one comes out.”
To check out Jas’s work and coverage of mini truck events, head to her Khaos Design Facebook page.