Ute Types

The Town Ute

The ute is such a quintessentially Australian car that when the restorers/street-machiners are looking for something different to build, a ute is often high on the list. The town ute can range from a tidy XF that your P-plater chooses to take him to work/pull chicks, to an XY GT replica, lowered and worked, to an HZ one-ton show car, complete with wild graphics and an enormous supercharged V8. The category also includes the immaculately preserved classic utes, driven once a week down to the pub by some old guy who's owned it since new.

The Work Ute

The work ute's most distinguishing feature is rust, closely followed by tools. The work ute has an immense list of mechanical problems, despite the fact that most of them require twenty bucks and half an hour to fix. The work ute should have no comfort-related options whatsoever - a vinyl bench seat, vinyl floor and a column shift are all that inhabit the cabin (apart from the pie wrappers and cool drink cans). The work ute is what made this country great.

The Country Ute

This is the object that a young rural bloke's life revolves around. It is a chick-magnet, mobile home, conversation point, entertainment machine and means of conveyance to and from the pub/city/B&S rolled into one. The country ute features one or more of the following: country number plates (very important), a four or five post bullbar, spotlights, aerials, V8 engine, B&S stickers, skirts, sunraysias and a swag in the back.

The Feral Ute

These were usually shooting vehicles in a former life, before presumably deteriorating to the point where even that was beyond them. Every panel on a feral ute is dented/rusty/the wrong colour/non-existent, and truck dual wheels and exhaust stacks are always a nice touch. Mufflers are not allowed. Ridiculously large mud flaps are required. Barwork, shooting racks and spotties are common accessories. They are generally unregistered.