Aussie Muscle!

[Big Dave]

I thought I'd see if I could find any Pontiac Commodores currently for sale. I could only find one, and the seller thinks it's worth quite a lot.

I wonder how hard it would be to find one of those front fascias now, if you happened to break it.

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[Klasse Act]

I thought I'd see if I could find any Pontiac Commodores currently for sale. I could only find one, and the seller thinks it's worth quite a lot.

I wonder how hard it would be to find one of those front fascias now, if you happened to break it.

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Wait...I didn't know they made a wagon of this, WOW

I see car people out there are like us, wanting it to look like something from the other market. It's very common to see people at C&C's to put their Chevy SS's back to where they started life....as Holdens! Here someone puts a G8 face on, crazy! That stance and rims look awesome right there...plus it's a wagon AND a manual️

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[Big Dave]

Wait...I didn't know they made a wagon of this, WOW

I see car people out there are like us, wanting it to look like something from the other market. It's very common to see people at C&C's to put their Chevy SS's back to where they started life....as Holdens! Here someone puts a G8 face on, crazy! That stance and rims look awesome right there...plus it's a wagon AND a manual️

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Yeah, HSV also did a version called the Clubsport R8 Tourer, I don't know if it could be had with the manual though. This one is the F series, based on the VF Commodore that you had as the Chevy SS.

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[Klasse Act]

Yeah, HSV also did a version called the Clubsport R8 Tourer, I don't know if it could be had with the manual though. This one is the F series, based on the VF Commodore that you had as the Chevy SS.

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[tomsteve]

there were a handful of G8s that were upgraded and labeled "firehawk." supercharger added, intake/exhaust mods,PCM tune, and some suspension upgrades.
boosted HP to 500 and torque to right around 490 ft lbs.
they has FUN written all over them

[Klasse Act]

there were a handful of G8s that were upgraded and labeled "firehawk." supercharger added, intake/exhaust mods,PCM tune, and some suspension upgrades.
boosted HP to 500 and torque to right around 490 ft lbs.
they has FUN written all over them

Forgot ALL about those️

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[DFB]

The UTE!

The story of the “Ute” is one unique to Australia. First, “Ute” is the abbreviation of “Coupe-Utility” and the concept of a coupe-utility is that of a vehicle built on a passenger car platform with a coupe-like, unbroken side panel. A pickup in comparison has a separate cab and rear tub or tray.
The story go’s that a farmers wife wrote to Ford Australia in the early 1930’s, going on to say that they could not afford to buy two vehicles, one for working and one for family duties, and that they wanted a car that could take them to church on Sunday and take the pigs to market on Monday.

Lewis Bandt, a 22 year old engineer with Ford, was asked to design the solution. They modified a 1933 Ford Coupe (passenger car), extending the side panels from the rear of the can to the end of the tray. Additional strengthening of the body and suspension allowed for it to carry heavier loads. The first car rolled out of the Geelong factory in 1934 and was called the Ford Coupe Utility. Henry Ford would go on to call it a “Aussie Kangaroo Chaser”.





Holden would go on to release its version of a Ute in January 1951, called the 50-2106 Coupe Utility.





When the Falcon went on sale in 1960, it too was offered in a Ute. A lot of the car industry today talks about “modular platforms”, well take a look at this design drawing from the period, using common body panels between sedan-wagon-ute-van was arguably one of the first modular platforms.









The Ute would then go on to be a staple of the Holden-Ford-Chrysler line ups. Up until the mid-1970’s, these vehicles were the workhorses of Australia. Holden would also offer a 1 Tonner cab chassis version for heavier duty hauling. That started to change when the whole Sandman panel van culture took off. While most of these Ute based vans were used for `business purposes, they also doubled as pleasure vehicles. I leave that to your imagination as to what two or more people could do in the back of mattress equipped van. “If the van is a rockin, don’t come-a-knocking”.

XY Falcon Ute -



XA Falcon Ute -



HR Holden Ute -



HQ 1 Tonner -



Holden Sandman -





When Holden went near bankrupt in the mid 1980’s, they had no budget to develop a newer Ute based on the Commodore of the day, gifting Ford a free kick when it came to sales. Holden would then go on without a Ute until 1990 with the VG Ute. Ford at the time soldier on with the 1979 XD based XF, XG and XH Falcon Utes and Vans right up until 1999.

1979 XD Falcon -



1990 VG Commodore, VP Commodore -





1996 XH Longreach -



XH II Falcon XR8 -



In 1999, Ford released the AU Falcon Ute. This is where it gets a touch tricky. To widen the appeal of the Falcon Ute, Ford separated the cabin and tub. The Style-Side-Box version was fitted with a tub while the cab chassis allowed for a wider, flat tray to fitted. The van was discontinued though. Holden on the other hand stayed traditional coupe-utility with their new generation Ute, the VU Commodore. Holden also went with IRS on the Ute while Ford maintained the leaf sprung live axle.

AU Falcon Cab Chassis -



AU Falcon SSB -







VU Holden Ute SS -







At the time, Holden had it all over Ford in terms of sales and brand image. But the Falcon Ute managed to buck that trend, outselling the Holden Ute massively. The versatility and superior towing and load capacity was what buyers wanted. At that stage, Holden doubled down on the performance aspect of their Ute, the GEN-III Chevy V8 was massively popular and with IRS, it could make use of the power on tap.

The BA/BF Falcon Ute evolved the AU Ute into a nicer looking and performing option, while loosing none of it’s work ability. The new engines welcomed with passion, the V8 engines also seemed to be more popular in the Ute too, although the Barra Turbo was also loved by many. Holden would also facelift the Commodore Ute at the same time. In 2003, they added a cab-chassis/ 1 Tonner version with a leaf sprung live axle into the mix but was not as successful as the Falcon. Holden would also produce a dual-cab Commodore Ute, the Crewman, which were very popular. It shared the 1-Tonners live axle and was a sliced together Frankenstein of body parts from within the wider Commodore-Caprice line-up.

BA Falcon Ute -





BF Falcon Ute -





BF Cobra Ute -



Holden Crewman Ute -





VZ Holden Ute -





The next generation FG, FG MK II and FG-X Utes continued the theme of work and play. Holden maintained the sport focus with the new generation VE Commodore, which arrived about a year later in 2007 than the sedan.

FG Falcon Ute -









VE Commodore Ute -





VF Holden Ute -



Ford would make their last V8 powered Falcon Ute in 2014 via the FPV Pursuit Ute, fitted with the supercharged Boss 315 V8. The last Falcon Ute would roll down the line mid 2016.

2014 FG MK II FPV Pursuit -





The last Falcon Ute, mid 2016 -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noy9ubwWV3g











Holden continued through into 2017 with Utes, the last HSV ones were massively powerful being fitted with supercharged 6.2 V8’s.

HSV GTS-R -





Last Holden Ute -





Also worth noting that Falcon Van’s and Utes as well as and later Holden Utes were used by the police as Divisional Vans (Divy Vans.)

Falcon Van -



Commodore Ute -



The “Aussie Ute” ended up dying a slow death as consumers moved onto diesel dual-cab pick-ups. In many ways, these dual-cabs have become the versatile do-it-all family car in the same way that Falcon and Commodore sedans and wagons once were.

Myself, I have never "owned" a traditional Ute, although I have driven many.


As a change, here a few TV commercials from era, most from a time when advertising standards allowed for agressive driving. (The Nanny State rules here these days.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA7QbCDK7p4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG97IFn-sao
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlAEbqIkoUY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqr2-GZwv0o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8ufr_XjKsU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tulXEux6eDk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x02POBVHM7E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng0nt-Q2j3M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHI32PgKP2o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4xRnC41jtE

[Big Dave]

I had a 2003 Holden Crewman Cross 8 many years ago. It was an impulsive purchase, but all I wanted was something with a V8. It had 225kw, about 300hp, and 460Nm, 338 ft-lb, of torque, nothing outrageous, but it sounded great, and was fast off the line in the dry, wet, or dirt. And it was still RWD biased, drive was split was 62% rear, 38% front. The turning circle was massive, but at least the steering was..... well, lumpy, something to do with AWD system I believe. But I enjoyed it while I had it.

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[JDGolden]

I’ll take the red supercharged Holden Ute. Love it!

[DFB]

I’ll take the red supercharged Holden Ute. Love it!

All yours for $400,000............

carsales.com.au

Most sit around $200k.................

carsales.com.au

What annoys me about that sort of pricing, even when they were new and dealers were price gauging, it takes these cars away from their traditional fan base and puts them into them into the hands of high dollar collectors who have them in bubbles and don't appreciate them for what they are. Same story with the milestone Fords as well. A lot of those cars ended being owned by dealership employees, who sat on them for a few months/years and then put them on the market for massive mark ups in an attempt to cash in on people who missed out on allocations.

carsales.com.au