Hey, Can someone down below advise as to where the UTE fit into the market in OZ & Kiwiville? It would seem that even with wages low by today's standard, that the amount of hand fab work necessary to produce a Ute body, would make them very expensive to produce, and yet a good number were built. Was the price of a standard pick up on a 1/2 ton chassis, in the same price range? Up here in North America, Ute type vehicles were produced from the twenties to 1987-8? with a few niche entries since, all of which were loss leaders cost wise, but none of these were produced in anything like the numbers of 1/2 ton pick ups of the same payload. Thanx, Swankey Devils C.C. " It's time for another Tea Party ! "
utes are cheap, the holden and ford is based on the commodore and falcon sedans but cost nearly $10000 less, the utes are available in high performance models like the sedans too, there is a holden ss and ford xr8, this means if you dont need a back seat and want a performance model you can get it much cheaper as a ute. second hand its a different story, eg a 1991 holden sedan might be worth $900 http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Holden-Commo...3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66:2|65:1|39:1|240:1318 and a 1991 ute might be worth $5000 http://cgi.ebay.com.au/COMMODORE-VG...3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66:2|65:1|39:1|240:1318
Pimpin is talking about 30's models. Sorry, don't have the $ answer though. It must be said that cars of any kind were never cheap in this country. That was in part due to the relatively small size of the market, part government. A LOT of model A phaetons had the back cut off to make pickups.
What are these cars going for nowadays? Say a Ford one I guess your 1958. Not running, not rotted to hell? And then add shipping.. I have lots to trade. This is a nice original..see pic If people were buying stuff here, I'd have the cash. Things are pretty soft right now.
anybody out there got some 1949 chevrolet ute stuff?? sales brochures.. anything for 49 from over there.
The manufacturers found they could produce a ute cheaper because the panels on the back were very basic and the woodwork ( and they WERE full of wood before the whiteants got to them ) could be made quickly. Not so much detail like a sedan or tourer . The really cheap ones were the roadster utes. Not coupe roof to make. One of the oddest utes I have ever seen was a 39 Plymouth Roadster ute. The windsheild posts look like belonged on a 1920's car. talk about cost cuttin!. Then there was the fact they were actually subsidised by the government by way of big tax breaks to primary producers. if you were on the land you got your price reduced because sales tax was minimal to zero. A look at any old newspaper of the 30' and 40's often have adverts for local firms who could make the old family Ford,Essex or whatever ( Uted Rolls Royces were not unknown!) into a ute for around 10 pounds. I guess that may be a grand in todays money.
hy dirtynails i would have thought that they would have been cheaper to build ie no rear doors just two rear flanks i have just spent three weeks doing a pair of 34 coupe doors at 35 an hour thats a lot of loaves of bread kev
I drive a left hand drive here in australia. No probs, you can usually see thru the windows of the car in front if the road is clear to overtake, just don't sit on the arse of a truck and you can usually see around it.
Thats what i was saying,the two sides,a tail gate and a floor with a basic frame to hold it ball together. No rear seat, no top,no doors,no tub section , quite a saving . Holden had big presses so there wasn't that much hand work in the construction of the body work and most were built in the depths of the depression so labour was dirt cheap. .
Pimpin the Australian goverment fostered the local industry with tariffs and local content quotas from very early on. The prewar construction is very simple traditional coachbuilt, look at the crude rears on them all. Until Ford's recent models a ute was defined by an unbroken 1/4 panel with no seperation of the bed like a sweptline but it didn't have to be car based. Eddie Ford's Restored Cars magazine #s 91-96 (now Restored Cars Australia) ran a great series on utes from the 20s on and has always featured some weird and wonderful examples. I wanted one and looked at all sorts of things and had settled on a single spinner and then I saw these pics...
It could be argued that's a roadster pickup, the most unusual I've seen pictured in Restored Cars are a 41 Desoto and a 39 Federal.
nice stance/body work, not keen on that black though. i'm liking these XK XL XM & XP's more and more, just wish i could afford one.
EHdubya ,the Guards vans have always held an appeal especially the frog faced ones. The old wheezy engine note was always worth a laugh. That 39 roadster was different to one I saw which had the full body sides. it wasn't only TJR which built the dodge and Plymouth bodies,there were quite a few small body builders who would equip cars with what ever the customer ordered. It does have the 1920's style windscreen posts though and that phone number is from the 1980's. i take back what i said about the Odditie of the plymouths looks,that mayflower is hillarious!
Dirtynails yeah I know anybody bodied anything there. I don't think that one is Richards as a friend had the remains of one and there was no sign of any Richards badges. It had the stub of the A pillar behind the screen which I don't see on that one.
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