LEWIS BANDT

THE FATHER OF THE UTE

THE AUSSIE UTE, originally dubbed a coupé utility, was the brainchild of Lewis Bandt, a young design engineer at Ford’s Geelong factory. Penned in 1933, the same year windscreen wipers became compulsory and the nation’s first traffic lights began operating in Sydney, the utility, like many items of that era, was created out of necessity. Ford received a letter from a Gippsland farmer’s wife which read: “My husband and I can’t afford a car and a truck but we need a car for church on Sunday and a truck to take the pigs to market on Monday. “Can you help?” By 1934 Ford had their new utility on the road. The Bandt utility was sent to the USA for display and when he saw it, Henry Ford nicknamed it the “Kangaroo Chaser”. When WW II broke out Bandt helped design long-range fuel tanks for Spitfires and Thunderbolt fighter planes. The coupé utility or ute as it became in the vernacular, was just one of several memorable Fords to emanate from the creative talent of Lewis Bandt. He also worked on design innovations for the UK-sourced Ford Zephyr, the never-approved which six were built Before his retirement Bandt worked on the iconic XW, XY and XA Falcons. But he will always be remembered as the father of the Australian ute.