COLLECTOR CLASSICS
World’s first ‘ute’ reimagined
Joe Fort knows a thing or two about building custom cars. The retired pulp mill electrical supervisor has been doing it since he was a teenager here in his hometown.
First it was a 1932 Ford twodoor sedan purchased at the age of 13 with his uncle. Then his own 1934 Ford sedan that he turned into a hot rod by lowering the top with a hacksaw. Then he customized a 1947 Mercury sedan that he got caught driving twice by police before he turned 16.
“All the cars had something done to them to make them different, he says.
As an adult, he restored a series of classic Thunderbirds, including a colonial white 1959 convertible that didn’t impress his wife Val when he brought it home unrestored with 65,000 original miles (105,000 kilometres) and gave it to her for their 25th wedding anniversary. His restoration of the rare convertible turned it into a showpiece.
Next was a 1960 Thunderbird equipped with the rare sunroof option. His first “little Bird” restoration was a white 1955 model. Then he built a fully customized “Lilac Lace” 1956 T-Bird using leftover parts from the previous restoration. His last T-Bird restoration was a turquoise 1964 convertible.
Fort then turned his talents to completing the restoration of a two-tone blue 1956 Chevrolet BelAir convertible.
Always looking for something different, he heard about the derailed restoration of an unusual Australian vehicle that is half car and half truck called a Ute. Pursuing the lead, he discovered it to be a 1937 General Motors Holden.
Holden, founded in 1856 as a saddlery, began the production of automobiles in Melbourne, Australia in 1908 as a subsidiary of General Motors. The company continued building, importing and exporting cars until Oct. 20 of this year. One of its most popular export models was the Ute.
The Ute, which is an abbreviation for utility or utility coupe, came about in 1932 in reaction to a letter from the wife of a farmer in Victoria, Australia asking for a vehicle to go to church on Sundays and carry the pigs to market on Monday. Ford released the first coupe with a cargo tray behind in 1934. General Motors Holden was quick to follow and, in 1936-37, produced Utes that looked like a Chevrolet coupe from the front and a pickup truck when viewed from the rear.
Fort’s Ute came to Canada as one of 15 units brought to Kelowna from Australia by an importer for resale. The 1937 Holden was purchased by a man in Parksville who wanted to customize it. Fort had known about the car for 11 years and that the owner had spent $45,000 trying to build it into a street rod. Fort bought the stalled restoration for a bargain price and took over the build.
“It’s the kind of thing I like to do,” he notes, adding, “I like the engineering and modifying.”
With advice and help from fellow Nanaimo Thunderbird enthusiast and custom car builder Al Brett, Fort spent four years taking the car apart and doing all the bodywork himself.
Body modifications include fibreglass running boards and fenders that are two inches wider than the original to accommodate fatter tires.
Body lines were smoothed by removing the rain gutters and door handles. Fort installed hidden door hinges, replaced the door handles with electric door openers, recessed the rear licence plate to provide hidden gas filler access and installed custom mirrors with built-in turn signal indicators.
He also applied the deep black paint himself.
Out back (no pun intended), the pickup box features an electric lift fibreglass tonneau cover requisitioned from a modern Dodge truck and a see-through Lexan floor cover for the pickup box to display the Corvette independent rear suspension.
The re-envisioned Holden Ute features a frame custom built by Lejeune engineering of Victoria. The suspension and running gear complete with the peppy LS1 engine and six-speed manual transmission came from a wrecked 1997 Corvette.
Australian Utes of the ’30s most certainly didn’t have interiors that looked like Fort’s modified example. Clad in sumptuous red leather, the eight-way power seats were donated by a modern Buick and the modified door panels were originally installed in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo. All lights are LED except the custom headlights.
Fort’s build of this seldomseen Australian utility coupe is a show-stopper and multiple award winner.
No doubt it would be a big hit in the small Australian rural town of Deniliquin on the edge of the country’s vast outback where the annual Deni Ute Muster Festival takes place. Each year up to 20,000 Ute lovers gather to celebrate the car-truck that is deemed to be a national treasure in Australia and synonymous with farmers Down Under.