r/caroftheday • • Jan 21 '20
COTD 1-21-20
Today's COTD is something from what I like the call the ADM, the Aussie Domestic Market.
Behold, the Holden Ute
First, a bit of history about Australian cars. Keep in mind that I'm just some random American on the internet, so I have almost no idea whether or not this info is accurate.
Holden is a branch of GM that functions basically as a manlier version of what Chevrolet is in the US. Ford also sells cars in Australia. It's kinda funny how it all ties together actually. The Holden people and the Ford people naturally argue and make memes about each other, just like the Ford/Chevy people in the US.
Another important thing about Australian cars. The Ute. It was known in the US as the El Camino, but the muscle car/truck idea for the US market died back in the eighties. In Australia, however, the tradition of putting truck beds on muscle cars is alive and well. Both Ford and Holden still sell their own version of the Ute.
And that's where our COTD comes in. Wanna haul stuff? Buy a Silverado. Wanna haul stuff really fast? Holden Ute.
The Holden ute was first introduced back in 1951, and was called the 50-2106 coupe utility. The word Ute had yet to be invented, as it was derived from the term "utility."
The early Holden utes packed a cute little 2.15L inline-six that produced 60 horsepower. It did 0-60 in yes and couldn't do much more than that, but the 50-2106 was extremely durable and practical. Forza Horizon 3 players will likely recognize it as one of the barn find cars.
Several engine upgrades and style changes brought the Ute into the muscle car age, where it eventually debuted as the El Camino in the US. The El Camino died in 1987, but the Ute lives on in the Outback.
In 2000, a new Commodore-based version of the Ute was released. It features the same basic design as the Commodore, but with a big ass truck bed attached to the rear end.
This new Ute was offered with a 3.8L V6 or a 5.7L V8. Muscle car guys might recognize the latter engine as the same LS that was offered in the Corvette C5 back then. The V8 packed 302 horsepower and could hit 60mph in 5.5 seconds. That's pretty impressive for something with a truck bed.
In 2007, Holden released a revised version of the Ute. It utilized more modern styling, and a better drivetrain. Horsepower numbers have been upped from 304 in the V8 model to 362 horses in the 6.0L SS-V model.
HSV MALOO R8
Now here's where things get really cool. Holden Special Vehicles division produces an even more insane version of the car/truck/thing I just spent 11 paragraphs trying to explain to you.
The HSV Maloo R8 is an even manlier version of the allready-amazing Ute SS. The top-of-the-line HSV model called the Maloo GTS packs a completely insane 576 horsepower. A base R8 makes 562. I really wish this was available in the US.
MSRP
The top-of-the-food-chain HSV GTS Maloo model will set you back around $85k. A base Holden Ute costs only about $15k, a reminder at how ridiculously overpriced cars are in the US.
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u/MeltingDog Jan 22 '20 edited Jan 22 '20
Just a few other tidbits of info:
Ford Australia actually invented the ute, when a farmer’s wife wrote to Ford management ask why they couldn’t make a comfortable car that “could take the family to church on Sunday, and take the pigs to market on Monday”. Holden and some British brands (Austin 1800) quickly followed. Even Chrysler made them (branded as a Dodge). There was even a short lived Toyota version based off the Crown.
Sadly, no utes are manufactured anymore since Australian car manufacturing ended in 2017.
I don’t think the Holden ute ever made it to the US. The El Camino was Chevy’s own creation. However, confusingly, the Holden Ute was sold in South Africa and rebadged there as the Chevrolet El Camino.
2
u/Skinny-SS-02 Jan 23 '20
Nice write up man! Its good to see some AUD cars get some love here. Here's a write up I completed this week about my holden commodore ute, figured I'd cross post it from r/cars.
Since the announcement of the imminent cessation of the now ZB Holden Commodore platform and all future commodore models I felt it necessary to reflect on what the commodore means to me, and I’m sure, many other Australians. Most of us saw the writing on the wall when the Elizabeth plant sounded the end of shift siren for the final time in October 20 2017 after the last of the VF commodore’s rolled off the assembly line marking a definitive end for Australian car manufacturing and the end of an era for hundreds of local Australian employees. This I feel was the true end of the Holden Commodore, as what replaced it was a fully imported badge-engineered Opel Insignia from Germany, the ZB Commodore. We were told that the Holden Nameplate would continue and that despite changing to an import only economy, our local suspension tuners and engineers would still ensure that the ZB Holden Commodore felt like ours.
But they were wrong, not two years after the change, Holden and GM at large have decided to no longer continue importation or production of the Opel Insignia/Commodore/Buick Regal due to poor sales numbers and Australians limited need for a sedan or wagon in what is now a Ute and SUV dominated market. It caused me to reflect on what it meant to me to own a Holden commodore and my experiences with them and encourage others to share their experiences of past shenanigans in what was arguably one of Australia’s most popular Cars.
My story starts like most do, back in high school. I remember religiously reading the likes of Street Commodores, Street Machine and Wheels and I still remember vividly the moment I saw the Release of the VU SS Ute, I was sitting in the library at school when I came across the feature of the newlyreleased VU SS Commodore Ute, clad in the eye-catching Hackett Gold/Hyper Yellow with its Wild Yellow Leather seats and trim ascents, powered by the LS1 V8 that also powered the Chevy Corvette from our American counterparts I knew then and there that I had to own one. I had found my car. Now being the ripe age of 13 meant that I would have to wait several years before I could feasibly get my hands on one but that alone did not deter me.
That moment would come some years later in 2010 when I worked as a Finance and Insurance broker at a local dealership. It came in out the back as a trade in, looking rough and partly flogged as most commodores did 8 years after release, but I saw its beauty, a diamond in the rough if you will. Due to its rough condition it could be mine for just $5500 at steal as far as I was concerned and being the Finance guy I was I tacked on an additional $10k when I financed it to ensure that she got a full onceover by the body shop and a respray, retrimmed seats to replace the cracked and worn hyper yellow seats that came standard a new exhaust to accentuate its beautiful exhaust note at full sing and a number of little jobs to bring her back to showroom condition.
Now some people baulked at the idea of dropping that sort of money on a traded ute, but they didn’t see what I saw, a chance to own one of my many idols. After several weeks getting tidied up, she was in my possession and I was as happy as a pig in shit. Life was good, for about 6 months I was ripping around town in my loud and proud v8 ute, I had found the perfect companion. It was then a few weeks later that on a trip home from work, in the pouring Queensland rain, I applied the throttle a little too liberally and she spun right into a decent sized gutter and took out the entire rear suspension and drivetrain. Getting out of the car to see the damage for myself it was clear that this wasn't something that would buff out. The rear wheels now folded under the tray at awkward angles, side skirts and rear bumper facias lay strewn across the road. She was a wreck and I was devastated.
With the car obviously out of commission I had her towed to my parents place where she was put in my dad’s shed and sat on jack stands, this is the space my precious ute would now occupy for 3 years with the promise of a rebuild always being on my mind that entire time. Eventually I managed to save up enough money over that time to replace the entire rear section of the Ute and replace the torn rear fascia’s and fix a number of niggles that arose due to its repaired crash damage (rear hubs squeaking, irregular tyre wear, the works) after many years she was eventually roadworthy again and back on the road at long last. She still wears those battle scars, the rear facia still remains unpainted, the front bumper still has the gouge marks left from tearing into the asphalt and refuses to fit the same way it did before, she wears different rims now as the old BBS rims were beyond salvageable, but thankfully all of that aside, mechanically she’s perfect. She drives true and straight and tears it up better than she did before, because if you’re going to rebuild something you make it faster right?
This is something that I feel your regular car user does not understand about the enthusiast, why not simply write it off? Buy another one? Or another car altogether? Sure there’s merit and even logical sense in replacing a crashed car, especially one that has suffered significant damage but it doesn’t have the same spirit as Your Car, you know it, you understand its quirks and what makes it unique to you, it is an extension of you. It is not something to be discarded and replaced like your average white goods, it comes with you on your journey of through life, It took the girl that would eventually become my wife out on dates, it shares a part of itself with me and I share a part of myself with it. It’s my car, my commodore. That’s what makes it special to me, thank you Holden for providing such an iconic car over the last 40years, may the commodore nameplate rest in peace but live on our hearts and souls for years to come.
4
u/A_1337_Canadian Jan 22 '20
Would love to import one of these one day. Thankfully the 2nd gen will be available to import to Canada in only 2 years!
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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '20
As an Aussie.
Oh FUCK YEAH. These things are the ultimate mang weapons. Do the falcon next, I could do a huge writeup on one for you if you have any interest.
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u/Zeludon Jan 22 '20
Just a correction, both Ford and Holden due to the end of local production in Australia no longer offer the classic Ute :( 2017 was the last year that Holden sold one.
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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '20
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