TJM celebrates 50th anniversary

Leading off-road brand TJM has taken a trip down memory lane as it celebrates 50 years of manufacturing 4x4 and camping accessories for local and international markets.

The Queensland-based company has compiled a video and online historical timeline to highlight some of the milestones of the business that had humble beginnings back in 1973 producing bullbars from the back shed of one of the founder’s parent’s house, to today boasting more than 80 sites across Australia with distribution hubs in Asia, Europe and North America.

As the story goes, best mates Lloyd Taylor, Cliff Jones and Steve Mollenhauer were enjoying carving up the sand dunes on Moreton Island when, struggling to source suitable bullbars and rollbars for their rugged FJ40 Land Cruiser and Ford F-100 off-roaders, they decided to design and build their own.

The first TJM branded store opened in the Brisbane suburb of Geebung in 1976, followed a year later by the first TJM catalogue. The first exports including alloy bullbars to Japan kicked off in 1981, followed by the first of the signature-look red-and-gold TJM LandCruiser display vehicles in 1984.

After the company won a design award for being the world’s first business to offer airbag sensitive bullbars in the 1990s, the original founders sold out to CMI Limited, with another ownership change to Aeroklas a few years later prompting further growth, including expansion of the TJM range to include side-steps, rear bars, suspension systems, vehicle recovery tools and camping gear, available in 58 retail outlets.

Group General Manager Greg Kelly of TJM parent company Aeroklas Asia Pacific Group said the big-selling 4x4 accessories business will continue to focus on innovation as the off-road vehicle market moves towards electrification.

“The future is bright and offers a myriad of possibilities for TJM,” Kelly said.
“We’ve worked hard to identify a variety of growth markets and diversified trading opportunities that will deliver even more value to our customers and shareholders.”

As well as being one of the biggest 4x4 accessory businesses in Australia, TJM is also one of the oldest with major rival ARB tracing its roots back to 1975.