Motor Trend – Justin Reiter and his ICON Equipped Tundra
Celebrity Drive: Justin Reiter, Snowboarder
By K.S. Wang | January 03, 2014
Quick Stats:
- Justin Reiter: Snowboarder, U.S. Snowboard Team
- Daily Driver: 2012 Toyota Tundra (Justin’s rating: 8.5/10)
- Favorite road trip: Stelvio Pass, Italy
- Car he learned to drive in: 1971 VW Beetle
- First car bought: 1982 Subaru Legacy wagon
Justin Reiter, an Olympic snowboard hopeful in the U.S. parallel giant slalom and parallel slalom, loves his 2012 Toyota Tundra so much that he often sleeps in it. “As a professional snowboarder, I travel a lot and I travel with a lot of gear, so having a six-foot bed was mandatory. Over the past five months I’ve lived in the back of it while training in Park City, Utah,” he says. He added a top for extra cargo space without compromising the truck’s look.
The only negative about the truck is filling up the gas tank. “Nobody likes filling up a 20-gallon tank for a truck,” he says. Reiter was drawn to the Tundra’s aesthetics and customized it with upgraded suspension, wheels, and tires. He also sleeps in it during summer trips to places like Zion National Park or Fruita, Colorado.
“This summer I lived in Park City, Utah, where the U.S. ski and snowboard teams train, and I lived out of my truck for five months. I trained about eight hours a day and cross-trained in the afternoons with biking, running, backpacking, and dirt biking.” This Tundra is Reiter’s first new car and pickup truck, which he purchased from Mark Miller Toyota in Salt Lake City. “I love having a truck, being able to put my dirt bike in the back, and my dog can ride back there when I don’t have the topper on it.”
Car he learned to drive in
Reiter grew up in Summit County, Colorado, and learned to drive in his mom’s manual 1971 Volkswagen Beetle, nicknamed Bertha. “I had studded snows on it, so I could pretty much go anywhere. I’d go into empty parking lots and spin around in the snow—it was a blast,” he says. His mom gave him the car when he turned 16, and the odometer had long stopped working by then.
Learning to drive was easy in the sparsely populated area. Reiter got a used 1992 Pontiac Grand Prix as a junior prom gift, but it was totaled in an accident.
First car bought
Reiter purchased a 1982 Subaru Legacy wagon with money from his jobs as a mountain bike mechanic, pizza cook, busboy, and golf pro. After the Pontiac was totaled, he used the insurance money and his Subaru to buy a 1996 Subaru Legacy wagon.
Favorite road trip
As a professional snowboarder, Reiter travels worldwide. “Passo Stelvio in Italy is one of the most magnificent roads I’ve ever driven. It’s part of the Giro d’Italia bike race, and the scenery is stunning with switchbacks up to the Stelvio glacier,” he says. Many teams train there to find early-season snow and ideal weather.
U.S. Snowboarding
Reiter is part of the U.S. snowboarding team and hopes to compete in his first Olympic games at Sochi in parallel giant slalom and parallel slalom. Despite past injuries, he has consistently ranked in the top tiers of his sport. “I’ve been snowboarding since I was 9, and it’s been the driving force behind my life,” he says. He shares updates and photos with fans on Twitter: @Justin_Reiter.
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