It Had Four Wheels, and I Fell in Love Again

OKA Nation
Jun 17
2 min read

Updated: Jun 23

How one man rebuilt his life and an OKA from the ground up

*Benny Pye and his custom-rigged OKA 39 — one of one, and still turning heads.*

Three years ago, Benny Pye found himself at a crossroads. After the end of a 30-year marriage, and with no immediate plans to return to work, he fell into a rough patch. Surfing stopped. Drinking started. Life ground to a halt.

“One morning I cracked open a beer at 8am,” Benny recalls. “And I thought, this isn’t me. That was the moment. That was the line in the sand.”

From that point, everything began to shift. He started counselling, got sober, and began dreaming again. “I wanted to travel around the world in a truck.” At first, he looked into six-wheel drive Pinzgauers — but parts were impossible to source, especially gearboxes. Then someone mentioned OKA. “I saw one and just fell in love. That was it.”

With a clear head and a renewed sense of purpose, Benny went looking — and found OKA 39 in Tasmania. “Only 70,000 on the clock and owned by a lovely family.”

The purchase kicked off two major rebuilds: one of the truck, and one of Benny’s life. He returned to work on the ships. He started surfing again. And he began a full ground-up restoration of OKA 39. “It was like falling in love again,” he says, “except this time, it had four wheels.”

Over the next nine months, the vehicle was transformed. The front end, engine, gearbox, differentials, driveshafts — all rebuilt. New paint, but the original dash stayed. “I love that dash. That’s the heart of it.” The rear was custom-fitted by Penguin Composites to handle extreme conditions. “I can live comfortably down to minus 15 degrees. A lot of the places I’m going get that cold.”

Everywhere he travels, people stop him to ask about the OKA. “National parks, towns, petrol stations — every single day someone compliments the truck. I always show them around. It’s built tough, and people can tell.”

He’s already been through hell and back, so the road ahead doesn’t scare him. From Australia to the States, through British Columbia and on to Alaska, Benny’s just getting started. “There’s a lot of paperwork involved when you’re moving a truck around the world,” he says. “But I’ve got a secret weapon. I ride my reset button. Once that’s working in your life, you can do anything.”

“It’s not about the distance. It’s not about the setbacks. It’s about the person you become.”

For Benny, this journey isn’t just about travel. It’s something deeper. Driving an authentically Australian cult classic is proof that the toughest things in life are built, not bought. Benny knows that better than most, because he rebuilt himself right alongside OKA 39.