Mini Muscle
What could be more Australian than the ute? From its humble beginnings as a workhorse for farmers and tradies, to today’s cross between sports and lifestyle cars, the ute is as Aussie as blow ies at a barbecue or dropping your pie at the footy.
Of course, there’s the perception that it was also invented in Australia, a nugget of information we won’t let the rest of the world forget. The story goes that Ford responded to a farmer’s wife’s request for a vehicle that could take her to church on Sunday and their pigs to market on Monday. The Ford Model A Utility coupe was the answer. If you’re into your history, you might like to check out the Classic Carlectables 1:43 model of this car, which was released in 2003.
And as soon as the big players started making lots of cars in Australia, there was a demand for a ute. So there are 48-215 Holden utes and XK Falcon utes. Earlier, there were Chevy utes, Ford Mainline utes and even things like Vanguard utes.
Our old mates at Trax, ever-reliable as they are, have some of the ute model market well and truly covered. A perusal of their current catalogue shows a Mainline, a Valiant and even an Austin 1800 ute (which might be described as a landcrab without a shell). The Austin 1800 ute is surely an answer to an unasked question.
Trax have made quite a number of utes over the years. My own collection yielded a couple of examples; an XW 4WD and an XH (the ute version of the EF).
Classic Carlectables made a few V8 ‘Brutes’ Series ute models back in the day. Three each of Holden and Ford utes as raced in the early 2000s were released in 2003 and 2004. Of the three Fords, two were Warren Luff cars, one each of Gow St Smash Repairs and the (pictured right) Coopers Falcon. The other car was Allan Grice’s. The Holdens were a James Brock, a Kanga Loaders and a Holden Motorsport car.
Classics also made lots of road-going utes, Holdens from the 48-215 up to the VY with plenty in between.
Biante have made utes too. Right now there are a couple of very choice-looking R8 Maloos on their website, available for pre-order.
Let’s not forget some very small models: Matchbox made a Holden Ute way back in 1977 which came in a number of variants, including with a couple of trail bikes in the tray. They followed this up in 2012 with an SSV ute that came in several liveries.
Would this be the ultimate ute? Marcos Ambrose headed to NASCAR-land to try his hand, rst in the Craftsman Truck Series. Strangely, my 1:24 scale model doesn’t have a maker’s name on the oor. I found another one on eBay, also with no maker’s name. Go gure. Also from America-land is this Chevy Silverado, complete with Christmas tree. It’s from Hallmark, the greeting card people. It’s one of their ongoing series of Christmas decoration models and that’s why there’s a hook on the roof. Their 2018 ones will be on sale now in Target shops.
Does anyone remember the series of HSV models that you could only get at Mobil servos
back in the 2000s? I managed to get the full set, plus the display rack for them. They’re pretty crap models, but there are a couple of interesting utes, including the one that Mark Skaife drove to a world record 271km/h at the Woomera rocket range to be fastest ute of them all. These models have plastic bodies and black windows. They look and feel cheap, but I wonder how many sets are out there still.
Of late, those of us who watch racing will have noticed the new SuperUtes category, supporting the Supercars. Organisers are hoping to cash in on the popularity of the new dual-cab utes, typically turbo-diesels. It must be said that there’s a fair bit of variety in the manufacturers involved, the racing has been pretty good, but the utes sound terrible and look slow. Turbo-diesels just sound bad. A at drone that’s not very loud. Car manufacturers increasingly market an ‘enhanced’ exhaust system for some of their cars that make them sound pretty nice. It’s a set of speakers in the mufflers that really do the job! Perhaps SuperUtes will have to resort to something like this. Meanwhile, nobody is admitting to preparing to make models of these vehicles in their race mode. Let’s wait and see.