A friend of mine dragged this back to Michigan from Australia. I'm told its a very rare piece. It seems Ford send a couple 36s over to Australia for the Ford guys to copy. Both had English gages but all of the ones built over there had metric gages. This one has English gages so it could very well be #2 as Ford has #1. Its pretty cool
The coupe-ute was introd by Ford-Australia in '34, don't know about this open design. Aussie cars had English instruments untill the mid 70s. metric after that. I've been told under the right cir***stances you can get a car to LA for 3K.
I ran into a '48 Chev Ute last year. The owner was telling me that the cars were shipped to Australia from Canada and were basicly built as runners with all components firewall forward ( including hoods,grill running gear). His has a stock 48 Chevrolet front end. They were infact built by the Chev plant and registered in Canada prior to shipping. The cabs are 2 seaters but behind the bench is a cool storage space that is accessed inside and is under the box of the truck. Just the right size for a couple cases of beer. I think Holden made the Ford versions. heres a link to a billeted ( yak) version: http://www.customcl***ictrucks.com/featuredvehicles/0507cct_1935_ford_ute_truck/
Holden started out as a horse drawn vehicle builder in Australia and was eventually accquired by GM. In the pre WW 2 era most of the front end sheetmetal for the Holden built vehicles (Chev, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, La Salle and Cadillac) was sourced from either the US or Canada. The rest of the body components were built locally. For that reason there are some different looking GM vehicles down under including the "sloper" coupes. Holden also built Vauxhalls (English GM) and was a source of Willys bodies as well. In fact the Vauxhall and the Holden bodied Willys use a lot of common components from the firewall back. The ute concept was unique to Australia and designed and built there starting with Ford's first unit in 1934. Post WW 2 Holden introduced a totally Australian built car but still ***embled overseas sourced vehicles as well. I am not sure about the 50's era but in the 60's the Chevy Bel Airs and Pontiac Laurentians were definitely sourced from Canada. This was probably partially due to favorable tariff rates between old stalwarts of the British empire. Those vehicles came in in CKD (completely knocked down) form and were ***embled in Oz. Ford did the same with the Customline/Fairlane/Galaxie range while Chrysler followed suit with Dodge/ Plymouth/DeSoto etc. In the 50's when the volume was higher some of the body components were locally sourced by all of the Aussie Big 3 but after the Holden/Falcon/Valiant ranges took over as the big sellers the full size cars were simply outsourced from the US and eventually faded away in the late 60's/early 70's. Because of the smaller volume of the Aussie market there are some unique model variations there as models were carried over to amortize tooling and quite often US model years got skipped. Even with the higher volume stuff like the Falcon (as the so-called compacts took over) some Aussie units used Mercury Comet fenders in an effort to produce a different looking product for the local market. For that reason there are some weird models running around in Australia. The full size Pontiacs of the 60's are totally Chevrolet apart from the body--no wide track down under and the last of the full size Dodges were actually Fury 11's with Dodge badging. Australia also had Willys 5 window coupes in the late 30's as some Willys bodies were built by TJ Richards (another former coachbuilder that eventually was absorbed by Chrysler). Those bodies used the sedan front doors and were completely different to the Holden built bodies from the firewall back. In the early 30's we also had Willys sport coupes and roadsters as well as the Aussie staple the "touring car" or phaeton. Roo
Looks like a 36 roadster ute to me. I have a really rough 35 roadster ute that I would like to put back together one day, and there is another here in the town I live in that is in a lot better condition than mine. There is a picture in an early issue of Street Rodder of his. I'll see if I can find the issue at home at let you guys know which one it is. I can't remember what the gauges are like in mine. Michael
Excellent info, thanks. And Vauxhalls were sold in America by Pontiac dealers. I'd love to have a PA Cresta.
A mate of mine has a restoed 36 roadster ute. I can drag out a pic if you like. Should also say that the Fords were all built here, not knockdown. Also beware, a lot of phaetons were turned into utes or pickups over the years too.
50's fords had the bodies locally built, but the panels were imported... that's why they never quite fit properly..
that is all very cool. the "utes" and the different versions of Austrailian cars is always interesting. especially the sloper cars... 39 ford.. didn't they make an odd chevy too? of course my personal favorite is the 49 chevy ute. I also came across an Australian 49 "wrong hand drive" chevy 4 door a while back on Australian ebay. how cool would that be? rooman... thanks for the info.
Prior to Holden, they were "Fisher" and were coachbuilders. They produced chevs here in Australia, all of these were Fisher Bodied. In 1948 Holden brought out the first Australian Production Car, called the 48-215 or it's common name the FX Holden. Over the early years, they produced several cars all styled on the Chev counterpart. The FC was styled on the 55 chev and the FB was like a small 57 Chev complete with fins...... Holden's main car these days is the Commodore. A 2 door coupe version known as the Monaro here for the last 3o plus years has been beefed up and is now exported and sold in the states as the Pontiac GTO.
The 34 Coupe-ute is based on the aussie bodied 33-34 body style which are slightly different to their american counterparts. This is reflected in all bodystyles, coupes, sedans, roadsters etc. I don't know about who built them or why they are different, but I do know the 32's were the same with the exception of which side we drive on and that we only had sport coupes not 3 or 5 window. After 34 I think the bodys were the same except for slopers and the bodystyles available.
****...who told you that??? Holden were Just one of dozens of body builders here , because OZ had a law in place which taxed all imported car bodies to protect the local coach building trade.A law dating from about 1870..Everyone else will tell you who Fisher still is. The holden Family still live in Victoria but haven't had any dealings themselves with GM since Larry Hartnett bought them out around 1927. Harnett was also responsible for the Bedford brand ,and the buy up of Vauxhall in the early '20's .If you want to read the truth about holden And GM in Australia ,read Harnetts book, "Big Wheels.." cryst! it's no wonder "little Johnny" thinks history has taken a back seat in OZ schools..
Muzz 34 OZ bodies are pretty ugly compared with US ones with the strange window lines,and the OZ 37'-40' coupes all had the same back end ,which to a kiwi looked ****in weird.Especially the converts. WW2 caused a different bunch of bodies like 40' roadster utes .the idea was to stack them on ships and low line to the body enabled two cars to stacked on a deck of cargo ship bound for a war zone in the pacific ,thus saving space.it's also a lot better to drive a convert in preaircon OZ summer heat too..
Lakepipes, as noted by Mercmad, the only Fisher bodies Chevys in Oz were those that came in CKD and were ***embled there. In the 30's everything from the firewall back was produced in Oz and in fact Holdens were the first to do a steel roof without an insert. My dad worked at GM-Holden's plant in Adelaide prior to WW 11, first on the production line and then in the pattern shop. He was there until he went into the RAAF later in the war after building aircraft at GM. His brother retired as the head interior stylist at GM many years later so I know of what I speak. I worked at Chrysler from the mid 60's until early 1972 so I know what when on there as well, seeing as I worked in engineering and product planning during that time. Roo
On the subject of unique GM bodies in Australia here is a shot of a Chevy sloper. It belongs to my sister's former neighbour in the Sydney suburb of Loftus. We went on a Sundy cruise with it when I was back in Oz a couple of years ago. Apart from the frenched tail lights and licence plate the body is as built by GM. He also has a 34 Chevy roadster and a 57 hardtop but this was his initial project. The other car in the photos is a 37/40 Ford. It seems that the original body had been cut in half with an axe and the car was put together with a 40 front end and the original back half. Roo
There were a lot of UTEs built by many manufacturers in car and truck platforms! Here is an original literature piece for the 36 Ford shown here and others that were offered. My cars are 1956 Plymouth and Desoto UTEs I imported about 3 years ago. The Plymouth is for sale but the Desoto will not be sold.
Here are a couple more Fords for you guys 1934 Ford 1938 Ford 1949 Ford (I also have the 50 and 51 pieces in my collection) 1958 Ford mainline
How about some MoPars other than my two 56s 1940 Plymouth 1936 Dodge 1940 Dodge Truck based 1954 fargo 1957-58 Chrysler AP-1
And some brand X 1937 Hudson 1936 Graham 1937 Stewart 193? Federal Of course they made many more Desoto, GMC, Pontiac, International, Willys, Mercury etc, etc, etc And for those that asked not only is transport very expensive so are Duties. Customs in an effort to make sure them damn furin markets don't flood the US with cheap trucks has a 25% import duty on trucks instead of 2.5% of p***enger cars. Then generating a ***le for them is another pain in the ****! But if you want something a little different your gonna have to pay for it!
Skirv I was given one those anglia utes when I was still a teenager. I did a days work for a guy, and when he asked me how much he owed me I said I'd take the Anglia if my mother would let me (she wouldn't). He also a 56 mainline ute he used around his farm, and there were 2 Prefect utes of about the same era as the Anglia. I also have the remains of a very rough '37 Ford coupe ute stored away, and have a lead on a '38 Ford standard coupe ute that a customer has out behind his shed, and recently found the remains of a '36 Ford coupe ute. Michael
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