The ute is Australia’s idiosyncratic contribution to the automotive world. Combining the comfort and increased sophistication of a coupé with an integrated cargo bed, the ‘coupé utility’ isn’t a pick-up truck.
No, Australia didn’t invent the pick-up; they already existed. The ‘ute’, however, is something slightly different.
The birth of the ute is folklore amongst Australian revheads. It goes that, back in 1932, a Victorian woman sent a letter to Ford Australia suggesting the company build a vehicle stylish enough to take her and her husband to church on Sundays but practical enough for them to carry their pigs to market on Mondays. Ford designer Lewis Bandt developed the response: the 1934 Ford coupé utility. Henry Ford nicknamed it the ‘kangaroo chaser’ when Bandt displayed a pair of examples to Ford in Detroit.
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No, Australia didn’t invent the pick-up; they already existed. The ‘ute’, however, is something slightly different.
The birth of the ute is folklore amongst Australian revheads. It goes that, back in 1932, a Victorian woman sent a letter to Ford Australia suggesting the company build a vehicle stylish enough to take her and her husband to church on Sundays but practical enough for them to carry their pigs to market on Mondays. Ford designer Lewis Bandt developed the response: the 1934 Ford coupé utility. Henry Ford nicknamed it the ‘kangaroo chaser’ when Bandt displayed a pair of examples to Ford in Detroit.
Continue reading…
Continue reading...