Pick ups are saving the US auto industry. In Australia we invented the pick up but we called it the ute. We abbreviate everything here. McDonalds is Maccas, Australian is Aussie, Biscuit is Bikkie, Sunglasses are Sunnies and Afternoon is Arvo.
As Wikipedia says Ford was he first company to produce a ute. In 1932 an Aussie farmer’s wife write Ford a letter asking for “a vehicle to go to church in on a Sunday and which can carry our pigs to market on Mondays”. Ford designer Lew Bandt developed the ute and the model (called a “coupe utility” at the time) was released in 1934.
Anyway you can see some of my utes here. The green one was a particular charmer. You had to change gears by opening the bonnet and manually changing , then close the bonnet and drive. This was particularly challenging in reverse. But the car was a big hit at the annual Deni (Deniliquin a country town) ute muster where every year they break the Guinness World Record for the most number of utes and most people in blue singlets. Really it is a contest to break the world record for drinking Bundy (Bundaberg Rum, a Aussie equivalent of bootleg whiskey) and coke.
