It’s possible that getting a ute is the best decision I’ve ever made. That may not say much for my other life decisions, but it is what it is. Never had I such freedom of transportation before. Found a cool 1960s table on the side of the road and want to take it home? Easy done. Need to get your ‘doing favours’ credit in balance with a friend who’s moving house? Sorted. Got a sweet camping setup that you desire to lug around on weekends, without having to engage in a game of real-life Tetris every time you pack the car? You’re laughing.
The only problem is, I’m in danger of becoming one of those people who’s obsessed with custom ute add-ons. Once you start looking into under tray tool boxes for utes, it’s surprisingly difficult to stop, and next thing you know you can’t shut up about ingress protection and heavy duty compression locks. I’m pretty sure these things are designed for trade vehicles, actually, but I can think of so many uses for them.
I mean, it’s true that a standard ute tray isn’t the most secure place to stash valuables, and that includes the likes of 1960s tables, your mate’s worldly possessions and your camping gear. Granted, a tool box wouldn’t go too far in securing those sorts of large objects. To do that, you’d really need to be looking into aluminium ute canopies. Melbourne adventurers, where would start with that? Is there somewhere around here that makes custom rigs for recreational use?
See what I mean? I’ve only had the ute for a couple of weeks, and already I’m seriously thinking of giving it some significant upgrades. But then, the endless capacity for modification is part of what makes buying a ute such a good decision. I can make this vehicle be virtually anything I want, from a dream offroad unit to a highly functional mobile workstation. I mean, it probably wouldn’t make such a great family car, given that it only has two seats and one is perpetually full of my personal effects, but still.