Hauling Class

It might look like a bit of an 80s throwback, but this XK falcon UTE is brand new and done right.

- Boris Viskovic

THERE are three things that John Hutchings loves: Fords, Windsors and tunnel-rams. And he combined them when creating this beautiful and bad-arse XK Falcon ute. 

It’s not the first time John’s built something along these lines. For over 30 years he owned an original XW GT Falcon – you know, back when you could own a GT and modify it and people wouldn’t string you up from the nearest tree. Admittedly it was mostly engine mods, but it ended up being a little bit too angry for the street. 

All you GT lovers out there can put your keyboards down – John ended up doing a full resto on the car, back to original. But then he had a different problem.

“It was immaculate; in fact, it was too nice,” he says, “and I was always worried about damaging it.” 

John took a break from cars for a while, but then the bug started to bite again and he went on the hunt for something neat he could cruise around in. 

“I wanted something I could just jump in and drive, something that was already built,” he says. “I spotted the XK for sale over east and it had a lot going for it: the V8, nine-inch and some nice custom touches.” It was a pretty good buy, but John reckons it was a bit of a slug.