Game Changer: Australia invents the ute

Australia, located as it is a long way from everywhere, has needed throughout its history to be inventive and self-sufficient. Such need was never more evident than in the early 1930s when the nation was beset by a savage and enduring economic Depression.

The tale, so history has it, concerns a farmer who could only afford one vehicle the needed to cart produce to market during the week and the family to church on Sunday.

In response, Ford Australia devised the Ford Coupe Utility, which was released in February 1934 and later became known as the ‘ute’.

Officially designated the Light Delivery, Ford’s initial design was based on a 1933 Model 40A coupe, with enclosed cabin and conventional bench seat plus an integrated ‘tub’ behind the passenger area.

Inside was sufficient room to seat three adults side-by-side, with the week’s groceries or a couple of smaller children in the space behind the seat.

Ford Australia of course was not the first car-maker to offer a commercial vehicle with separate spaces for people and freight.

During the 1920s, various US manufacturers including Chevrolet and Dodge produced roadster-style vehicles with rear bodywork replaced by ‘flareside’ timber trays.

However, they couldn’t match the integrated design of the vehicle that Ford would claim as the world’s first Coupe Utility.

Once released, the Coupe Ute design could not remain exclusive and every major brand competing for sales in Australia wanted a similar design in its model range. Holden during the 1930s bodied numerous chassis and all but the most prestigious had a utility in the range.

After World War II, American influence dwindled and British makes became dominant in Australia, yet demand for utilities remained unrelenting.

Austin, as the nation’s leading supplier of passenger cars, produced utility versions of its popular A40 and A70 models. Hillman, Standard, Morris and even snobbish Armstrong-Siddeley also converted their sedans into commercial vehicles.

Ford, still not thrilled at having its idea hijacked, offered a range of models beginning with the economical Anglia and culminating with the overhead-valve V8 Mainline that appeared in 1955.

By then of course, Holden had become the nation’s dominant manufacturer and leading supplier of commercial vehicles.

For 1956, the FE Holden brought new and modern styling which, from the cabin back, would be retained even after the FB and EK Holden began taking their styling cues from the USA.

By 1971, rivals including the Ford Falcon and Chrysler Valiant were all producing viable alternatives to Holden’s top-selling ute, so ‘Australia’s Own’ changed the game with its One Tonne cab-chassis.

Universally known as the Tonner, this amazing workhorse could be ordered with six-cylinder or V8 power and a range of bodies. These began with a simple drop-side alloy tray and included a ‘Luton Peak’ pantechnicon body with extended load space above the passenger area.

Moving into the 1990s, classics like Holden’s Ute SS, HSV’s Maloo, Ford’s XR6 and XR8, and the FPV F6 and GS ensured that rivalry between the brands remained intense.

By the time Ford axed its Falcon ute after almost half a million sales between 1961 and 2016, its most powerful V8 ute was delivering 315kW and the six 310kW.

Holden’s numbers were similar until comprehensively trashed by HSV with its limited-production W1 Maloo. With a monstrous 474kW from 6.2 supercharged litres, just four examples of the W1 ute were officially built: one selling in 2021 for over $1 million.

While imported ladder-frame diesel dual-cabs are now the nation’s most popular new vehicle type, Aussie ingenuity continues in the unrivalled, locally-developed and 292kW twin-turbo V6-powered Ford Ranger Raptor.