I friend of mine back home [Australia] just sent me some pics of his new ride he picked up yesterday.

BF Ford Falcone XR8 Ute [LINK]

We call em' "utes" back home but you all will call em' "trucks" here. Hell, you huys call everything trucks!

What do you all think? How do think they'd sell here?

Click HERE for a flash-show.

 

Reminds me of those old cars that looked liek pick ups.....i never learned there names but i think they were from the 70's

 

They do look like the Ranchero, but itseems a little odd with the different bed styles.
PS - The Ranchero, if I'm not mistaken started in the 50's.

 

Those things are sweet. We were looking at those when we were in Australia last year. There are several cars I would take in a from Australia

 

Yup those high tech Aussies have invented the Ranchero...

Really El Camino's and Rancheros were great vehicles. The early ones 57-59 were big station wagons pretty much just cut down, the 60-67 Rancheros were Falcon station wagons cut down. Then back up to full size till they were discontinued.

The El Camino was 60-late 70's full sized Chevy wagons, and then 80-through they were compact trucks.
So here in the States there have been about six 'incarnations' of the station wagon converted to a pickup.
That's not counting the Brat and the Mitsubishi clone.

I suspect we will be seeing them again if gas prices stay high.
I've owned several and while they were no truck, they were pretty darn handy.
Chris

 

Darn Aussies get all the good stuff I know it's not a Ford, but I would KILL for one of these............

4.2 Liter Turbo Diesel Toyota Troopy

 

Yea I was taking a wild guess at the decade it started in.

 

It will be interesting to see if "old style" cars like the El Camino and/or Ranchero -- or even traditional station wagons -- will ever make a come-back here in the US.

Station wagons went the way of the buggy whip primarily because of the "family truckster" reputation they had developed with baby boomers as they got older. Probably similar to the reputation that minivans will have with today's kids as they reach driving age.

Whenever I see a true station wagon at a car show or something, I can't help but think about what cool little rides they were, and how I wish there was something similar available on the market today! I would easily purchase a mid-sized wagon over the insipid minivans that are pushed by the car companies in this day and age!

Of course, thanks to busy-body "health-niks" like Ralph Nader, the good old days of the backward-facing, fold-up seats in the rear of the vehicle will probably never make a comeback....

 

Anyone got pics of the "Ranchero" some have mentioned here?

 

Go to ebay and search for "Ranchero" in their automotive section -- you should pull up all kinds of examples of the various incarnations (late-50's to late-70's) of that vehicle. Depending on the year, the vehicle could be very different in appearance, depending on which vehicle it was based off of...