The Greatest Utes Ever: 70 Years of Wheels

In celebration of Wheels magazine's 70th birthday, we're running through the 70 greatest cars of all time – defined not by sales or talent alone, but simply as our writers past and present see it.

To follow the series, hit our Greatest Cars Ever main story here.

Having looked over the trusty 4x4 segment before, it's time to consider that tradie favourite that has evolved over the decades, the ute.

Toyota Hilux

"The Toyota Hilux is everywhere," said Andrew Exum, a former US Army Ranger and ex-US deputy assistant secretary of defence for Middle East policy.

"It's the vehicular equivalent of the AK-47. It's ubiquitous to insurgent warfare. And actually, recently, also counterinsurgent warfare. It kicks the hell out of the Humvee."

There's always something reassuring about vehicles that are massively over-engineered, so a vehicle capable of this ought to be well up to the task of collecting a couple of sheets of drywall and half a cubic metre of mulch from Bunnings Warehouse.

Like the Land Cruiser, the Hilux got its big break in Australia with Thiess on the Snowy Hydro project and in the intervening 70 years, over 800,000 have been sold here. With every passing generation – and we're now on version 8 - its reputation for indestructibility only became ever more burnished.

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It's been driven to the North and South Poles, it's competed in Dakar, heck, Top Gear demolished a tower block with a Hilux on the roof and sank one in the North Sea without killing it.

Slicker, more civilised rivals have eclipsed the Hilux in terms of sophistication, but a big touch screen and soft-touch interior finishes are probably of less importance than bulletproof reliability when you're halfway along the Canning Stock Route.

It's hard to kill, you can get spares almost anywhere and its excellence has been recognised the world over. There's only one unbreakable legend and that's why it's the undisputed number one here.

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Ford F-Series

Were we talking sheer weight of numbers, the big Ford deserves the number one spot.

The trouble is, it appears to travel about as well as Schapelle Corby, so while the F-Series has done the business in the States for the past 75 years, we're about to get our first taste of the new F-150 here in Australia later this year.

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Holden VFII SS-V Redline

Holden engineer Rob Trubiani's 8m19s lap of the Nürburgring in a VFII SS-V Redline ute set a mark that may never be beaten.

“If we got an 8:30 we would have been absolutely over the moon and yeah the car went 8:19. It was an awesome time,” he said. Commercial vehicles weren't supposed to be this much fun, but Redline utes made early starts for legions of Aussie tradies something to savour.

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Ford Ranger Raptor

Argue all you like as to whether the genius ride quality of the first-gen diesel trumps the firmer and faster follow-up but the fact is, they're both great.

A US-inspired but Australian-designed and Thai-built project, the Ranger Raptor was a showcase for domestic engineering skills. If electric cars were killing the Australian weekend, here was its salvation.

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Subaru Brumby

It sounds like the most mangled of backronyms, but the Brumby's global nameplate, the BRAT, really did stand for Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter.

Small wonder we went with Brumby. It looked like an El Camino put through a hot wash cycle, but the Brumby may be one of the greatest paddock bashers of all time.

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RAM TRX 1500

We've tried to avoid putting too many moderns into this list but the RAM 1500 TRX deserves its place by dint of sheer lunacy.

You probably don't need a 523kW pick-up in your life, but it's hard to argue that life wouldn't be better with one. After sampling it, you're minded of that line from Jurassic Park about a deplorable excess of personality.

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Holden HQ 1-Tonner

The HQ Tonner is a vehicle that has burrowed deep into the Australian psyche.

If you're a Gen-Xer, it's the vehicle your dad drove on the farm, the sound of the 308 firing up as evocative as that of a playing card pegged to the forks of your bike or your Nan sparking up another Winfield.

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Volkswagen Amarok (1st Gen)

Gentrification doesn't just happen to Footscray or Marrickville. It affects vehicle genres too, as evidenced by the Volkswagen Amarok, a ute with a collar with only the faintest tinge of blue.

Owners might call it Touch of Gentian. Created a trickle-down effect into its neighbouring vehicles, civilising dual cabs as a whole. The gutsy V6 also changed the market for the better.

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Lamborghini LM002

Other vehicles measure their carrying capacity in kilos or cubic litres, the Lamborghini LM002 uses Siberian Tigers as its nominated metric.

You'll require a borderline personality disorder to own one, but you're making the world a more colourful place because what's not deranged about a V12 that drinks 47L/100km and powers you to 100 slower than a base Civic?

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Chevrolet El Camino

Spanish for 'The Camino', Chevy's big ute proved that there's no substitute for either cubes or bilingualism.

While purists love the second-gen El Camino, a 1970 third-gen with the 454ci (8.4-litre) LS-6 V8 is a thing of utter magnificence. All the attitude of a Chevelle and it even had a nefarious "smuggler's compartment” in the back of the cabin.

To follow the series, hit our Greatest Cars Ever at the link below.