"ULTIMUS" 1959 Chevy El Camino – Custom made concept!

We’re not sure if our “loverino” pals over at Jalopnik have seen this before, but I’d bet an arm and a leg that they'd praise this one-off El-Camino like a "Jalop-God"! Believe it or not, this super-duper EL Camino concept you’re seeing in these pics was created by a passionate guy called Tom HOLDEN somewhere in the early 60’s. From what we gather, Mr.Holden took a stock 1959 Chevrolet El Camino and in 12 months he turned it into a stunning concept that he named “Ultimus”. Now don’t tell me that this magnificent display of what a passionate man can do with a bit of imagination, couldn’t easily put the famous Batmobile to shame…-Continued: Click “Read More…” below to see the rest of the article plus more high-res images


Notice all the space-cool details like the split seat base, the dashboard-mounted TV-Screen and the center armrest that contains a telephone, a tape recorder and a… mini bar-complete with glass, shaker and several brands of liquor! Even more interesting is the fact that the car was actually used by Mr. Holden! We have no idea where the "ULTIMUS" 1959 Chevy El Camino is located toady, but we’d be more than happy to report on it if any of you guys know its whereabouts! Via: Jims59

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BMW M5 Ute – Down Under Chop

We know a lot of you boyz out there will call this chop a blasphemy and you’ll probably be right. Still though, having lived the first years of my life in Australia -and while I might disagree with the choice of a modern classic like the BMW M5 E39, I understand what motivated this bloke from down under.

See, Australians just love big, brassy, V8 muscle cars. While Americans dropped out of the muscle car game in the mid 70’s, Australians kept going on and on, not only with coupes and 4door saloons but also with Utes and Panel Vans. Since the project’s not finished yet, we’ll keep an eye on this one and return with the final pics. Till then check out the photos and read what the owner has to say about it.

BMW M5 UTE OWNER: "I grew up in Australia for my first 20 years of my life and the "ute" had always been an Aussie icon to a boy from the bush, a way of life for many Australians. I've been lucky enough to have owned in the US one of the best sedans the automotive industry has ever produced in the BMW E39 M5.

I wanted to create a special combination of a cross over M5 ute concept not long after I purchased my M5 in Florida in 2000. This ute idea came to me many years ago when I looked at a picture I took of my M5 and thought that it would make a great ute....what was I thinking?

Years pass by, and I decide I needed to follow through with this concept a bit more. Five years pass and I find a very suitable donor car from a friend in Queeensland that probably had the finest 2003 M5 in Australia. He was happy to have his pride and joy "chopped up" for an undertaking of this magnitude. The car had many mods that I was going to put on a lesser car but he had done all the hard yards for me.

Trying to find a shop that had the skills for this sort of work was going to be difficult and time consuming, but in a flash I bumped in to Shane from Southern Rod and Custom in southern New South Wales Australia. His reputation in the hot rod game is held very highly. A quick visit to his work shop that was only one hour from my home as a boy. I could see in the 3 hours I spent with him that he was very capable to create my vision. Ryan from Stylemasters created the sketches you see here, that look great. The time line for a job like this is about 9 - 12 months. I'm looking forward to watching this world first get started and one day a finished product"

Technorati: BMW+M5, E95, Ute, Autos, auto+news, car+news, automobile, cars, automotive, vehicles, Carscoop, blogs, 2007, pictures, images, tuning+news, bodykit, car+accessories, performance

Via: Jalopnik

Smart Fortwo – Proposals for future US versions

I wonder what our fellow “Camino” lovers at Jalopnik think about this one. We for once, like the idea but we really doubt that a Smart Pick-Up would have any success in the American market. But let’s start from the beginning. Automotorundsport had a nice chitty-chat with American designer, Mark Stehrenberger of MSD, a design research and development group based in Santa Barbara, California that specializes in automotive / transportation and product design.

AMS asked MSD’s opinion on how Smart should evolve its car range in the USA. Stehrenberger believes that despite the fact that the new Fortwo is 200 mm longer than its predecessor, it still remains small for your average American consumer, mainly cause people are “bigger” (..??) and there’s more parking space than in Europe.

So what does Stehrenberger propose? Well for starters, the Fortwo should grow in size and reach 3,7 m in length (from 2,7 m). He also believes that Smart should add 4x4 Crossover and Pick-Up versions of the larger Fortwo. Via: Automotorundsport & MSD

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Pic of the Day: Porsche 928 Kitsch Up Truck

During their daily quest for weird pick ups -aka El Caminos, our friends over at Jalopnik discovered this one of a kind -I hope, 928 Pick up that was put up, and eventually sold, on E-Bay. Now tell me why the heck would someone want to destroy a Porsche 928 and more importantly, why would someone want to buy a 928 transformed into a pick up truck?

Speaking of which did you know that the 928 won the 1978 Car of the Year award being the only car of its kind to have accomplished this feat? Via: Jalopnik

Technorati: Porsche+928, Pick-Up, Pic+of+the+Day, autos, auto+news, car+news, automobile, cars, automotive, vehicles, images, pictures, Carscoop,

Pic of the Day : Pick-up my Nissan Almera

A: A young euro-farmer got his dream come true by pimping his dad's Almera 3door hatch on MTV's European edition of "Pimp my Ride"
B: Nissan decided to create a new category called PUV (Pick Up Vehicles) that combines the sportiness of a C-Sgement hatch with the utility of a pick-up
C: Ghosn told Nissan Europe managers to cut down the cost of the Almera. Since it can't get any cheaper they took Ghosn's word's literally Photo via : Maxituning

Technorati: Nissan+Almera, funny, humour, pictures, images, Pic+of+the+Day, tune+tuning, newsautos, auto+news, car+news, automobile, cars, automotive, vehicles

Holden Thunder Ute & Thunder Crewman

Holden Unleashes Thunder Ute and Crewman with 235 & 355 Hp engines

GM’s Australian subsidiary Holden, is keeping the muscle-car flame alive even in its Ute range as the Auzzies unveiled another version of their popular light commercial model, based on the Commodore (which is actually based on the Opel Omega & Cadillac Catera…)

The special edition “Thunder” models for the 2door Ute and 4door Crewman represent up to $3500 (2.480 US $) in extra value and are available on S Ute, SS Ute and SS Crewman. They will be in Holden dealerships by April 2006.

The Thunder SS models are powered by Holden’s new Gen 4 V8 engine which delivers 260kW or 355 Hp of peak power at 5600rpm and 510Nm or 56 kgm of peak torque at 4400rpm. The Thunder S Ute boasts the advanced 172 kW or 235 Hp Alloytec V6 engine made at Holden’s Port Melbourne engine plant.

“Thunder” Ute and Crewman additional feature highlights:

Exterior

Sports Hard Tonneau – S Ute, SS Ute

Hard Tonneau – SS Crewman

17-inch alloy wheels – SS Crewman (alloy spare)

18-inch alloy wheels – S Ute (steel spare), SS Ute (alloy spare)

Special edition 'Thunder' badging

Interior

Colour Coded Leather Seats – SS Ute

Anthracite Leather seats – S Ute, SS Crewman

Recommended Retail Pricing:

Thunder S Ute: Manual $33,990 (24.100 US $) automatic $34,990 (24.800 US $)

Thunder SS Ute: Manual and automatic $42,490 (30.110 US $)

Thunder SS Crewman: Manual and automatic $48,690 (34.500 US $)

Technorati Tags: Holden, Thunder+S+Ute, Thunder+S+Crewman, Thunder+SS+Crewman, Thunder+SS+Ute, autos, auto+news, automotive, press+release, images, pictures