BEAUT UTES
The Mongrel arrives
By The Uteman, Allan Nixon
I've
been asked to 'show and tell' a bit about the Uteman ute. Well, I went to
Ford and said - "I want to build a special ute". I put in a written submission, detailing what I envisaged. I wanted a ute that
from 100 yards away people would look and say "I must have a closer look at that".
I wanted to take a standard everyday production model Ford Falcon AU ll and play with it. It had to look as if it could drive across the Gibson Desert! It had to look like it had a bit of muscle - a MONGREL.
I wanted to make the interior a state-of-the-art "office". I spend most of the year on the road - writing books, articles for OUTBACK, judging ute shows and so on. This ute had to take the place of my home office. Six weeks later we registered the Mongrel. Normally it would take six to eight months to put a project like this together.
I needed to do it in time for last year's Deniliquin Ute Muster, and the inaugural Emerald Ute Muster in central Queensland. This was a team effort!
I had to get stuck into getting sponsor companies excited about the project. Everyone at Ford was already excite and working beyond the call of duty. The Mongrel is based on the highly successful AU ll Falcon ute, which has already established itself as the market leader in sales, and in terms of ride, handling, power, refinement and comfort. This was something I could really get my teeth into.
The MONGREL is a joint promotional vehicle between Ford and The Uteman,
in conjunction with a number of aftermarket suppliers of readily available
components. 
Full story: Issue 15, February/ March 2001
