Cost-Cutting Compartment Could Cause Classic Ute's Crushing
A bit of money-saving cheapness from the factory nearly 50 years ago has lead to an Australian man's car being seized by French authorities. And he might not get his dream Ute back.
The international incident started with a barn find in the Netherlands, according to the report from Street Machine Australia. A 1970 Holden Kingswood ute had been sitting in a barn for 12 years until it was found. Australian born, but UK-residing Travis McKimmie made a deal with the friend who found it, along with another Kingswood Ute.
McKimmie would keep one and have it shipped back to England. The friend would keep the other, as long as McKimmie helped find restoration parts for both. So the ute, with an amazingly horrible period correct topper, was loaded on a truck to England via France.
A routine customs inspection in France is where the trouble started. The Holden was seized when customs officers found 20 grams of cannabis in the spare wheel. While not an insignificant amount, it wasn't the problem. There was only a €70 fine. The problem was when officials took a closer look at the vehicle.
When Holden began building early utes, they were built on station wagon chassis. GM did this to save money, rather than build a separate floorpan for every model. This means that there is a gap between the bed floor and the station wagon floorpan. Basically the footwell for the third row of passengers. El Caminos sold in North America have a similar hollow space. It's not accessible unless you're cutting into it to fix the inevitable rust that forms there, but it's still there.
The compartment is an issue for French authorities. That's because it could be used to smuggle contraband. The not-so-secret compartment could mean that the truck will be crushed.
Now McKimmie is trying to bridge international borders and language gaps to convince French officials that his standard vehicle is a classic, not a crime in waiting, and he would like to get it back. Preferably not flattened.
