Out of a 11,000 square-foot garage in Los Angeles, ICON designer Jonathan Ward and his team completely rebuild classic Toyota Land Cruisers-originally made in the fifties by the Japanese for the U.S. military-into brand-new Icon utility vehicles. Every aspect of the Fj models, from engine size to powder-coated exterior colors-is customizable. Eco-friendly? There's a 28 MPG diesel engine option. Craving more power? Ward will put in a 450 HP V8 engine that's found in Corvettes. "Some people prefer a manual-wind Swiss watch over the accuracy of a cell phone clock", says Ward. "That's our client".

    The company's newest undertaking, the CJ3B, is made using another fifties vehicle: the Willys Overland Jeep. It can be customized to accomidate cleints' hobbies, from fly fishing to off-roading, and is equally comfortable scaling cliffs in the desert as it is serving carpool duty. "We take these somewhat gross-polluters off of the street for an overhaul", says Ward, "and send them back out with modern drive train systems and emissions control devices. We like to think of it as the ultimate conscious automotive project". Each ICON takes six months to construct, and the company limits production to 24 cars each year.