Who knew that the very best work truck on the planet was really a automotive? See, the issues that make vehicles cool are their utility and practicality, and in our trendy automotive panorama filled with large vehicles, coupe-utes are, certainly, extra sensible than most vehicles. Too unhealthy we will’t purchase them within the U.S., until you wish to argue that the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz are coupe-utes indirectly. However these are nonetheless removed from the Holden Ute and Holden One Tonner, sadly.
The Ford Maverick has not less than proven that small vehicles are successful. Effectively, “small” is doing a little bit of heavy lifting given the Maverick’s measurement in comparison with older midsizers and compact vehicles. If a small automotive with a flat mattress is what you’re after, a coupe-ute could possibly be extra interesting. And there are many these nonetheless round in Australia, Mexico and South America, amongst different markets.
These automotive and truck hybrids are available in all sizes and styles, however one of many coolest needs to be the late Holden One Tonner, which was the chassis cab cousin of the legendary Holden Ute.
I don’t know what it’s a couple of chassis cab that’s objectively cool. It could possibly be its unabashed utility, which doesn’t attempt to cover behind a glossy mattress. And a chassis cab ’ute based mostly on the Holden Commodore is satirically among the finest designs ever. Ironic, as a result of the One Tonner makes zero pretense to fashion, save for the first-generation mannequin, which seems to be nice with out even attempting. I’d simply take a One Tonner over its well-known counterparts within the U.S., the Ford Ranchero and Chevy El Camino.
The One Tonner was the Holden Ute’s heartier cousin, which featured beefier development that wasn’t involved with consolation very a lot. It was reportedly extra of a industrial car, and it did nicely in that phase. The One Tonner was profitable early on amongst staff and industrial fleets in Australia.
And naturally, because the hearty utility car that it’s, folks have taken them off-roading in some capability. In the event you’re bored with the safari fad, which has been going robust for some time now and exhibits no signal of dropping steam, then perhaps it’s time we demanded a brand new pattern amongst off-roaders. Chassis cab all of the issues.
Then once more, the One Tonner’s specs might have appealed to patrons who needed a primary, no-frills car that got here with out A/C and had a bench seat, crank home windows and a handbook transmission. That sounds depressing to some, however it’s simply the type of car that may final eternally given its lack of parts to interrupt. It is also optioned with a Chevy small block V8 and a restricted slip differential, in case an austere chassis cab isn’t interesting sufficient. No LS swap essential.
The Holden One Tonner was accessible both with an inline-six or a V8 all through its manufacturing run. Displacement ranged from 2.8 liters on the inline-sixes all the way in which to six.0 liters on the V8s. The One Tonner was round from the early ’70s by early ’80s. Then it got here again for a short manufacturing run within the mid-aughts, at all times based mostly on the Holden Commodore as a platform.
One of many criticisms I usually hear of the Ford Maverick is that it’s a car-based (unibody) car, however so what? Simply because one thing is akin to a automotive, doesn’t imply it could actually’t do an excellent impression of a troublesome truck, just like the One Tonner.
