Who knew that the perfect work truck on the planet was truly a automotive? See, the issues that make vans cool are their utility and practicality, and in our fashionable automotive panorama stuffed with large vans, coupe-utes are, certainly, extra sensible than most vans. Too unhealthy we will’t purchase them within the U.S., except 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 measurement in comparison with older midsizers and compact vans. If a small automotive with a flat mattress is what you’re after, a coupe-ute could possibly 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 in 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 could possibly be its unabashed utility, which doesn’t attempt to cover behind a modern mattress. And a chassis cab ’ute based mostly on the Holden Commodore is paradoxically among the best designs ever. Ironic, as a result of the One Tonner makes zero pretense to model, save for the first-generation mannequin, which appears to be like 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 building that wasn’t involved with consolation very a lot. It was reportedly extra of a industrial automobile, and it did effectively in that section. The One Tonner was profitable early on amongst staff and industrial fleets in Australia.

And naturally, because the hearty utility automobile that it’s, individuals have taken them off-roading in some capability. In case you’re uninterested in the safari fad, which has been going sturdy for some time now and exhibits no signal of dropping steam, then possibly it’s time we demanded a brand new pattern amongst off-roaders. Chassis cab all of the issues.

Then once more, the One Tonner’s specs could have appealed to patrons who needed a fundamental, no-frills automobile that got here with out A/C and had a bench seat, crank home windows and a guide transmission. That sounds depressing to some, nevertheless it’s simply the sort of automobile that may final endlessly given its lack of parts to interrupt. It may be 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 essential.

The Holden One Tonner was out there 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 best way 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 quick manufacturing run within the mid-aughts, at all times based mostly 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) automobile, however so what? Simply because one thing is akin to a automotive, doesn’t imply it will possibly’t do a great impression of a tricky truck, just like the One Tonner.