Who knew that the most effective work truck on this planet was really a automotive? See, the issues that make vans cool are their utility and practicality, and in our trendy automotive panorama filled with big vans, coupe-utes are, certainly, extra sensible than most vans. Too dangerous we will’t purchase them within the U.S., until you need to argue that the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz are coupe-utes in a roundabout way. However these are nonetheless removed from the Holden Ute and Holden One Tonner, sadly.
The Ford Maverick has a minimum of proven that small vans are a success. Properly, “small” is doing a little bit of heavy lifting given the Maverick’s dimension in comparison with older midsizers and compact vans. If a small automotive with a flat mattress is what you’re after, a coupe-ute might 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 all sizes and shapes, however one of many coolest must 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 might be its unabashed utility, which doesn’t attempt to cover behind a smooth mattress. And a chassis cab ’ute primarily based on the Holden Commodore is sarcastically top-of-the-line designs ever. Ironic, as a result of the One Tonner makes zero pretense to fashion, save for the first-generation mannequin, which seems nice with out even making an attempt. 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 properly in that section. 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. Should 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 development amongst off-roaders. Chassis cab all of the issues.
Then once more, the One Tonner’s specs might have appealed to consumers who wished 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 form 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 obligatory.
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, all the time primarily based 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 a superb impression of a tricky truck, just like the One Tonner.
