Another One That Got Away

Take a close look at this photo–do you notice anything odd? Yep, it’s a four-door ute, but Ford sure didn’t make them like this at the factory. My father built this car himself. It started life as a standard Ford XY station wagon till he decided to convert it to a ute. It was a great car: it had three-speed stick shift with the big six-cylinder motor, though it ran cheaply on LPG (Propane). I always hoped someday to get ahold of it and bring it up to Aussie GT specs, but unfortunately, my dad had to sell it in a hurry so he could buy an ambulance. (Never let it be said that the Honig men don’t have interesting cars in their garages!) While he certainly wasn’t the first person to do this particular conversion, what amazes me is how long it can take the car-makers to cotton onto a good idea. Take the four-door Holden Crewman, the modern rendition of my dad’s home-made ute, which didn’t hit the Australian market until very recently. It kind of makes you wonder, what else are they missing?  Do you have or know of any innovative car ideas that the automakers should pick up on?