Ford ute ???

[RICH MUISE]

While bousing the Pate swap meet magazine from 2 weeks ago, this ad for a '58 Ford UTE(not a '57...sorry)  caught my eye, so I pulled it up on their website to see what the heck it was. Advertised as "a rare '58 Ford Ute" highway department utility vehicle, I'm wondering if it actually was a Ford offering, a homebuilt, or an aftermarket conversion done by an outside company. Needless to say, I was disapointed in what I found, but one thing caught my eye in the description...the text that described the car mentioned  "stationary rear windows", with a plywood tool area. That's a rare business coupe and I'm wondering if it has the ultra rare sheetmetal shelf under the plywood. How would that be for a find??? asking price is 3850. The car is in Texas a few hours south of Dallas.
PS...The reason I said I was disapointed in what I had found is that,at least to me, it's ugly and very homebuilt looking. Even if it is a rare ford offering, you would spend the rest of your life explaining to people why you would do such a thing to a classic car!!    Rich  
www.americanhotrodz.com is the website for the car..they have hundreds of project cars for sale (yes, mostly chevs)

[glen b henderson]

Rich, I have seen this vehicle in person and in fact should have bought it instead of the rusted 57 custom that I have. This was a TX State Police vehicle and after the cops finished with it, the Highway dept removed the deck lid and intalled the little pickup bed in the trunk. It looked pretty solid and it appeared that you could just slid the bed out and install a deck lid and have a 58 custom. The engine was missing, but I am sure it came with a 332. It is located just outside FT Hood and has been for sale for several years and the guy has always called it a ute, but in my opinion, it is not.

[JPotter57]

A real Ute has a shortened roof and the quarters would be raised and look more like a bed.  Utes were offered in Australia maybe New Zealand.  Of course with the Ranchero being available in 57, I doubt that there were many real Utes made.  Ute is short for utility by the way.  That would make a nice car, if you like 58s.

[Zapato]

Australia never got the U.S.A. version of the 57 Ford. they got a cobbled up 56 with some extra trim work and some add-on grille pieces which might have been left over Canadian Meteor parts, at least they had that look.Don't remember for sure but Ford of Australia didn't change till 59. So if it had truly been a 57 Ute it would look like the 56 not a 57.

Zap-

[JPotter57]

Yeah, I forgot about that too...was called a Customline.