Going Green

Grant V

Member
Messages
242
The choice of a tow car with character has been a topic of debate with my friends for a few years now. At the beginning of last year I bought what I thought was the ideal car, a CLS 63 AMG Shooting Brake until it became apparent that I couldn't tow with it.
Since then the thinking has gravitated towards a pick-up, once again the prerequisite is that it had to have character, so along came a very original 1973 Ford Ranchero 250. These are actually Australian Utes known as the Falcon Ute in Oz, but Ford South Africa made it part of their range in the late 60s and 70s. Straight six with a 4.1 liter capacity generating unbelievable torque.
What a great car and I have thoroughly enjoyed everything about this pick-up. It has enough character to fill the load bin and it's a lesson in basic motoring that harks back to a different era that I love. It has no seatbelts, a three speed manual column shift and no interior fan and no power steering with 72 turns from lock to lock. And it always ends up being a talking point when I pop down to the shops for something - everyone's uncle or father-in-law or some other family member has had one somewhere along the way. Both men and women stop to chat.

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As much as I love this pick-up, I have to admit it has shortcomings and the thought of schlepping a race car to Cape Town or Midvaal is daunting and probably not practical in today's world. As a pick-up for use around town to take away garden refuse, or to pop down to nursery or even to carry an engine is no problem at all, but a long hauler.....not so good unless you really have time on your hands.

So two weeks ago we decided to go green and bought another pick-up: a 2010 Chevrolet Lumina SS Ute with 75 000km on the clock. This is another Australian pick-up sold in South Africa as a Chevrolet, but known as a Holden in Oz. The Chev is 6.0 liters of thumping pushrod V8 hilarity and is probably the most honest thing to have come out of Australia. (They Aussies interpret the rules of cricket quite broadly...) Apart from the mental performance on tap, I am hugely surprised at the interior space and headroom that this car offers for my 1.96m frame, along with lots of clever storage space behind the seats.

We have now officially brought down the snob value in our area another notch or seven and are definitely not the neighbours anyone wants.

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Nayf

Member
Messages
2,734
Absolutely fantastic. Love Aussie muscle cars, though I have a tendency towards the blue oval. That’s me spending the evening looking at FPV Cobras...
 

midlifecrisis

Member
Messages
16,102
I loved the aussie ute when I spent 8 months there in a poxy Toyota Corona stationwagon. Hence why I got a V8 now...now if Maserati did a pickup...
 

DavidL

Member
Messages
214
Monaro is the name you're after. I think the pickup was called a Maloo. The Porsche specialist Promax also did these under their Monkfish name. Both closed now mind.