My 15 Minutes of Pure, V8-Powered Bliss

[Bailey Guns]

Makes me want to pull my 2005 Pontiac GTO out of the Garage and take it for a spin. It makes 675HP/TQ at the rear wheels which is highly entertaining........ Too many toys, so little time......

I can't even imagine that kind of power. My last performance car (and that's a stretch) was an 02 Camaro SS with some factory performance package in it. Don't recall what it was called and I don't remember the numbers. It was plenty fast enough for me.

[Bailey Guns]

I like me a good "sleeper" car, and that one is no exception!

That's kind of the appeal to me, too. You can have a "practical" car and one that's fun to wind up on occasion, too.

[BPTactical]

Meh, this is more my style

[Zundfolge]

Meh, this is more my style

The Chevelle is nifty but what happens if you ever want to turn?

The wife blew the head gasket in her '90 Nissan 240sx ... wish I could convince her to do an LS swap now

[Irving]

The Chevelle is nifty but what happens if you ever want to turn?

Generally the tow vehicle handles all the steering.

[ben4372]

This thread has so much in it to comment on. First the Government Motors thing, just to be a smart ass. Then my dismay that they didn't sell 10 times as many as they did. These cars were an unbelievable bargain. And I'm 90 % sure you could order them with a manual. Sweet.

I think the reason 2017 was the last year is because they closed down the factory. Pretty sure Ford left too. Australia had some weird manufacturing rules. They used to make some unique cars down under.

Finally if you want to be cool the company that converts the utes to US spec is for the cool kids is in our back yard. I saw one in Wheatridge. http://www.lefthandutes.com/

[Gman]

Would love to have seen left-hand drive Holden Utes here in the states, like the Maloo. I think they could have been a hit. With today's computer design and tooling, it must be easier to build left-hand vs. right-hand drive.

[Irving]

What's the point of a Ute? Besides being all emo and unique?

[OtterbatHellcat]

Glad you had some fun with it, Bailey. I've rented a few challengers that really had some balls under the hood and handling that could take it. Fun stuff.

[Bailey Guns]

This thread has so much in it to comment on. First the Government Motors thing, just to be a smart ass. Then my dismay that they didn't sell 10 times as many as they did. These cars were an unbelievable bargain. And I'm 90 % sure you could order them with a manual. Sweet.

I think the reason 2017 was the last year is because they closed down the factory. Pretty sure Ford left too. Australia had some weird manufacturing rules. They used to make some unique cars down under.

Finally if you want to be cool the company that converts the utes to US spec is for the cool kids is in our back yard. I saw one in Wheatridge. http://www.lefthandutes.com/

They really never did catch on here. And everywhere you read about them, car guys just rave about the performance...especially with the manual, which is what they all want. The one I drove is an auto but you can do the sport-shift thing if you want. The suspension is just amazing. And, yeah, they closed the factory downunder. Ford and Toyota are bailing from building cars down there, too.

In 2017 a new SS stickered for just under $50k. The only option that actually raised the price was a sunroof. There was no extra charge for the manual transmission option. Chevy was running an incentive program to clear them out for 20% off MSRP after they discontinued them...that put them at just under $40k.

And not to take away from the Chevelles and such like in the above picture...but that's not what this car was about. This was a daily driver that could haul the family and the groceries and compete - performance and feature wise - with some pretty serious Euro competition.

A 4 door, rear drive sedan that does 0-60 in about 4.5 secs, stops from 60 in 100' and holds .95g on the skid pad for under $40k new. What's not to like about that?