Holden UTE ss

I am trying this agian because nothing showed up on my last post.
I want to know if I can buy a SS UTE and have it shipped to me in the U.S.? I would apreciat any help.

Thanks, Brian

Very easily.
Paying in US $$ woudl make it quite a cheap purchase, and shipping and customs fee would only be about US$1000 I think.
And finding a dealer willing to do it would also be easy, again US $$ talk.


The only problem is would not be possible to make it road legal in US.
I believe your could get a tempory permit of some kind that would allow you to dirve it for 6mnths, but any longer than that would require that it meets all the emissions laws, and more importantly all the crash standards.
This means getting it crash tested. :(

Moppie

What about importing into the US as a partially completed car ie with no engine ie like they do with the kit cars? The LS1 is homologated in the US possibly with a different tune but it still could get through under the kit car rules ?

I think that's how you can get Shelby Cobras, Caterhams and such on the road there.

Then theres the infamous fuel tank :rolleyes:

Thanks for the info guys its a start. what if i bought a used one?
and what infamous fuel tank?

Thanks, Brian

ok well I can forget that!

I have a friend that just brought a car over here. He said it cost him 3000.00 U.S. for shipping and about 1700.00 U.S. in dutys. Plus the car has to be up to our standards. and to be exempt it needs to be 25 years or older.
would cost me about 20,000 U.S. to get it to our standards

that would put the price of the car way up there!

There is one more possibility - GM were looking at bringing in the UTE as an El Camino replacement provided that the Pontiac GTO (aka Holden Monaro) was reasonably successful.

Originally posted by vettewrench
Thanks for the info guys its a start. what if i bought a used one?
and what infamous fuel tank?

Thanks, Brian

VU utes have the fuel tank behind the rear-axle- a big no-no in America :)

Originally posted by replicant_008


I think that's how you can get Shelby Cobras, Caterhams and such on the road there.


I think they are built to meet US regs. And are also built in LHD.
Look at a US spec caterham, the road going version has some ugly bumbers on the frount. (all the ones Iv seen do anyway)

The Holden might get in under kit car regs, the same way the Hot Rods do in the US, but then you have to convince Holden Ausie to pull a partialy completed bodyshell of the production line and post it to you. :D

And I wouldn't stick an LS1 in it. oh, no Quad Cam Toyota V8 all the way!

Well i really dont know what you americans are complaining about, sure you have had a big accients with tanks been placed behind the axle, but from what i know oh we have never had this type of problem. and with all our utes on the roads there never seems to be any problems at all. so quit winging!

Our UTES are awsome!

Our cars are AWSOME!

Wait til you get our new MONARO! well its what a GTO in america, you will be pleasntly supprised!

Originally posted by cruisey
Well i really dont know what you americans are complaining about, sure you have had a big accients with tanks been placed behind the axle, but from what i know oh we have never had this type of problem. and with all our utes on the roads there never seems to be any problems at all. so quit winging!

Our UTES are awsome!

Our cars are AWSOME!

Wait til you get our new MONARO! well its what a GTO in america, you will be pleasntly supprised!

Your cars are reasonable not Awesome :rolleyes:



I think the Falcon, being the better car- should have hit the US first :(

YEs i think Americans may have imbrased the falcon better they seem to like ugly cars.

Thanks Cruisey for stating your opinion.

The issue over fuel tanks in the US is nothing to do with a 'whinge' and more to do with:

- The litigation over personal injury in the US
- The mass of vehicles involved in collisions

The prolferation of heavier mass vehicles in the US particularly large SUVs and pickups mean that collisions are usually more severe in the case of nose to tail shunts.

There are several cases where US manufacturers have been sued in the US over the placement of the fuel tank relative to the rear axle. In the US, it is considered that the placement behind the rear axle is less safe than if it is mounted in front of the rear axle line - unless the manufacturer can prove substantial design reasons and offsetting features (which can be challenged in court as to their adequacy) no-one in the US - even GM would be in the right mind to try to do this.

BTW have you actually driven a Monaro CV8 I mean got in the driver's seat and driven one for a few days - in the city, in the country or considered paying for one out of your wallet ? For the cost of the CV8, there are a lot of choices and for the price of the HSV Coupe GTO there are even more...

Originally posted by Moss1O6GTi


VU utes have the fuel tank behind the rear-axle- a big no-no in America :)

The above post is completely wrong, and I'm amazed just how you managed to come to that conclusion.

Have you ever bothered to look under one to check where the fuel tank actually is before writing such bullshit, or even looked closely enough at the VU ute externally to notice that the fuel filler is positioned well ahead of the rear wheelarch?

Why is the filler located where it is?

Because like 95% of all Australian utes ever made the VU ute fuel tank is in fact placed in the traditional spot behind the cabin between the load floor and floor pan, well ahead of the rear axle, in what must be the safest and least vulnerable place possible

I'm amazed none of you experts picked up on this

No Holden ute (or panel van) ever built has used a rear mounted tank
Holden utes have been made since 1953

No Ford Aus ute (or panel van) ever built has used a rear mounted tank
Ford utes have been made since 1934

Chrysler Valiant utes (Wayfarer) built between 1965 - 1971 also used a mid-mounted tank, as did the locally engineered Toyota Crown and Austin 1800 ute.

The only exception is 1971- 1978 Valiant ute (and later panel van) which did indeed use a rear mount
(There are no current plans to export 1971 - 1978 Valiant utes) :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Thunda Downunda


The above post is completely wrong, and I'm amazed just how you managed to come to that conclusion.

Have you ever bothered to look under one to check where the fuel tank actually is before writing such bullshit, or even looked closely enough at the VU ute externally to notice that the fuel filler is positioned well ahead of the rear wheelarch?

Why is the filler located where it is?

Because like 95% of all Australian utes ever made the VU ute fuel tank is in fact placed in the traditional spot behind the cabin between the load floor and floor pan, well ahead of the rear axle, in what must be the safest and least vulnerable place possible

I'm amazed none of you experts picked up on this

No Holden ute (or panel van) ever built has used a rear mounted tank
Holden utes have been made since 1953

No Ford Aus ute (or panel van) ever built has used a rear mounted tank
Ford utes have been made since 1934

Chrysler Valiant utes (Wayfarer) built between 1965 - 1971 also used a mid-mounted tank, as did the locally engineered Toyota Crown and Austin 1800 ute.

The only exception is 1971- 1978 Valiant ute (and later panel van) which did indeed use a rear mount
(There are no current plans to export 1971 - 1978 Valiant utes) :rolleyes:


Well- I saw it on the Sedan- and thought the same would apply for the ute- musta been wrong- My mate has a VU 'S' ute- so I guess I'll have a look:rolleyes:

Originally posted by Moss1O6GTi

Well- I saw it on the Sedan- and thought the same would apply for the ute- musta been wrong- My mate has a VU 'S' ute- so I guess I'll have a look:rolleyes:

Orrite mate

Yours was an honest mistake. And apologies for the 'bullshit' remark - that was uncalled for :right:

Originally posted by Thunda Downunda


Orrite mate

Yours was an honest mistake. And apologies for the 'bullshit' remark - that was uncalled for :right:

No worries- as you pointed ot it was a fair- if wrong conclusion to draw..........


So yeah.......No worries :D

Well Bugger me! i was wrong!

did i say that i was an expert somewhere! like i sure dont remember telling anyone that i was.

ok i dont care where the fuel filler is or where the tank may be placed, i dont care the yanks think we make crap cars. but i bet there arse our cars are much better than theirs in quality and all! even our trusty commodore and falcons!

Just a thought...

When cars are designed the engineers/designers/stylists tend to have their home market requirements in mind (even if they do build a world car ie for all markets) - this is natural because that's the conditions they drive.

For instance, in the US you tend to get larger, FWD cars with what we would consider floaty rides and mushy handling. If you've driven the interstate between LA and Las Vegas you'll soon understand why - the freeway is paved as large slabs of concrete and is straight as a die for the greater part of the journey. The speed limit of 55mph (at least it was when I drove it) is heavily policed so ride comfort esp over the constant joins in the large slabs is more important that handling and gasoline is cheap as chips so why worry about mpg?

Go to France and drive around Paris, down the autoroutes and the rural link roads and you can understand why they prefer small, well-handling cars with great brakes and razor sharp turn in. And when gasoline is about twice to three times what it is in Australia you can understand why they go for turbo-diesels or very efficient little fours.

Then you cross the border into Allemagne (Germany) and crush distance on the Autobahns - the cars here are designed to drive all day @ speeds where your peripheral vision is blurred with the speed on smooth bitumen. That's why your average Merc is a solid in the body as a rock and why it's handling is precise (and also why it's a wee bit vague just on centre with the steering than what you and I are used to for high speed stability)...

Which bring us to Australian cars which are strong, roomy but lean a little more towards handling these days that they did in the past... but tend to be developed on a relative shoestring but are value for money because of it...

Originally posted by replicant_008
Just a thought...

When cars are designed the engineers/designers/stylists tend to have their home market requirements in mind (even if they do build a world car ie for all markets) - this is natural because that's the conditions they drive.

For instance, in the US you tend to get larger, FWD cars with what we would consider floaty rides and mushy handling. If you've driven the interstate between LA and Las Vegas you'll soon understand why - the freeway is paved as large slabs of concrete and is straight as a die for the greater part of the journey. The speed limit of 55mph (at least it was when I drove it) is heavily policed so ride comfort esp over the constant joins in the large slabs is more important that handling and gasoline is cheap as chips so why worry about mpg?




Well true for the interstate I guess- but my experience on the LA freeway in September was that that it is possibly one of the world worst roads- it is rough as guts and constantly gridlocked

That's my point Moss - Can you imagine driving around in a tightly suspended Pug 206 for 3 hours each way to work - it would drive you nuts... not to mention worried by the size of the average pickup truck in LA!

On the other hand a softly sprung cadillac with FWD, auto and air would be fantastic for their conditions. And that's why the end up with cars like that.

I used to drive lots of twisty roads @ night through the backblocks of the Waikato to go skiing usually with only one companion. As a result I've had small 2 door, well-handling cars, with directional tyres, with relatively large but efficient engines and big brakes. And now I have to lug around my parents who can no longer drive I went for a roomy, four door four seater in my Mondy...

Brian,


I hope you do not rip anybody off like you did at your failed Corvette shop in the Chicago suburbs.

You are definetly a class A crook.

Well Bugger me! i was wrong!



Chuck a yewie mate back to the fridge and cracker open a nice coldie.

Fair Dinkum, we aussies are never wrong!