I have been thinking about what I could replace my s10 with vs replacing the aging 4.3 & 5 speed. The small truck with a nearly full size bed formula does not seem to work with modern trucks though. I saw one of the smyth Volkswagen utes & was impressed with the quality, online I see they have a charger ute kit with a 6 foot bed. Now I am wondering if a homebuilt ute is the truck I have been searching for.
Has anyone here had any experience with there kits? The Volkswagen I saw looked very nice, but that may have been a lot of extra work to get to that level. Chargers do not have much of a tow rating, can they safely tow above their rating assuming you don't need to pass someone going up hill at 80 mph?
My main truck needs are hauling motorcycles & home depot runs so it looks like with proper bed tie down points & the ability to tow a small trailer I could make this work.
I used to tow my race car packed with spare parts and tools on a dolly with a Magnum R/T, which is like a Charger but even heavier, and it was great, so I don't think you'd have any problems there.
I've been curious about these ute builds for a long time too, but hesitant to pull the trigger because I have zero body work experience. There's a Facebook group for people building these kits, I recommend you check it out. Let me know if you can't find it. I've been lurking there for a few months and have seen some of the tips and tricks from experienced body guys who are building these things right. Also some examples of what not to do. Maybe someday I'll be brave enough to take the plunge.
If you decide to build one, please document it here! I'm sure it would be a hit and you'd get a lot of good support from the guys on the forum.
I almost did this with my Subie RS. I wish I would have. Instead I bought a rally built WRX that is way underutilized.
If I needed a little baby truck, I'd be really interested in the smyth vw beetle kit. However, it looks like some smyth kits change the rear overhang a bit and therefore hitches might be a DIY affair. Hard to say exactly.
The WJ kit is definitely the one that can tow the most, but it's not really a ute like the others.
buzzboy
SuperDork
6/24/23 8:11 a.m.
It would be cool if one could use his kit to seal/finish the rear of the cab and then do a 6' ute bed more like you see in Oz
I bet if you did a google search / alibaba , you could find a Ute bed like that from China pretty cheap ,
just sayin :)
Cool mini trucks. I would want something trending towards a Mule utility all wheel drive thing with a small dump box. Maybe a converted Jeep Grand Cherokee with the rear tailgate attached right behind the rear doors and a 4'x4' powered dump box between the rear quarter panels. 4 doors, high flotation tires, air conditioning...
I'd like to see them do a truck based on the Legacy wagon.
There's a certain amount of poor-mouthing them about quality, but then I used to hear that about FF as well. Some people may have overly high expectations for what is a rather inexpensive package.
obsolete said:
I used to tow my race car packed with spare parts and tools on a dolly with a Magnum R/T, which is like a Charger but even heavier, and it was great, so I don't think you'd have any problems there.
I've been curious about these ute builds for a long time too, but hesitant to pull the trigger because I have zero body work experience. There's a Facebook group for people building these kits, I recommend you check it out. Let me know if you can't find it. I've been lurking there for a few months and have seen some of the tips and tricks from experienced body guys who are building these things right. Also some examples of what not to do. Maybe someday I'll be brave enough to take the plunge.
If you decide to build one, please document it here! I'm sure it would be a hit and you'd get a lot of good support from the guys on the forum.
I'll have to see if I can track down that group. I don't have a Facebook account but some of their stuff will let you browse. The last thing I need is another project & I should probably just put a new engine in the s10 when the time comes. I am having trouble getting the idea of an ex cop car with steelies & a brush guard converted to a ute though.
buzzboy said:
It would be cool if one could use his kit to seal/finish the rear of the cab and then do a 6' ute bed more like you see in Oz
I am sure some here will naysay it, but I wish we had Utes instead of the insane lifted fullsize trucks we got.
mad_machine said:
buzzboy said:
It would be cool if one could use his kit to seal/finish the rear of the cab and then do a 6' ute bed more like you see in Oz
I am sure some here will naysay it, but I wish we had Utes instead of the insane lifted fullsize trucks we got.
A friend just did that with his 1964 Ranchero. So f-cking cool. He built subframe connectors so that the two subframes become one, which is huge if you are going to tear up a unibody. I just hope that his ADD and periodic drug use allow him to finish it.
The Questionable Garage on YouTube built a charger Ute from the Smyth kit - might want to search for their videos on it. Neat, but they put a ton of work into it.
