The Desert Demon 4x4 Trophy Truck

In one of the suburbs of Tel Aviv at 4x4 Projects, Itzik & Mosh represent the essence of romantic four-wheeling, mixed with obsession to technical innovation, and the "small citizen" who is willing to sacrifice so much for his passion. The desire to understand everything in mechanics and metallurgy is a result of the above obsession, but also budget limitations. "I don't have money to spend on experiments," says Itzik. "When I build a component, it has to work right the first time. To build this version it took us four years." He dreamt about it for years, learned the secrets of the trade from scratch, and sculptured one of the most wonderful creations made in Israel, Itsik Mini's Trophy Truck. The Desert Demon is not only a model of planning and execution, it's a personal achievement and a source of pride, born into the world by pursuing a dream. Israel is not a natural place to find motor wonders.

Over the last decade, Itsik has been traveling virtually every place in the world. In each of these travels, he has searched for his own Holy Grail. In one of his visits to the United States, he was inspired at the Baja 1000, seeing crazy trucks shaking the desert with 800 hp on terrible roads at speeds almost 200 kph and hovering in the air, only to land catlike on the ground. Four and half years later, he decided to build a truck for the Trophy Truck category. In recent years, he has been attending workshops in the United States and began learning the secrets of the trade, getting all the information he needed to successfully build this machine. It's not that he didn't know how to build an off-road vehicle, but Trophy Trucks are masterpieces, integrated with precious metals along with the toughest and most expensive mechanisms that exist, almost all handmade and by personal order.

The Desert Demon project is another phase in the commemoration of Yoav, the son of Nir Zahavi, who drowned in the Sea of Galilee while celebrating his Army recruitment in August 2000. Nir & Itsik have been friends for years, and Yoav also grew into this off-road world as a jeep enthusiast. For years, 4x4 Projects has raced under the name of Yoav Zahavi. Anyone finding it hard to understand the meaning of the smiling face on the side of the vehicle should look closely and discover it says: Yoav.