HG Ute restoration Project

This is the very car that started it all. Without this Ute there would be no Streetneat.
This HG Ute came into the Clatworthy family on September the 20th 1971. The chicken growers association at the time were negotiating contracts with the chicken processors companies in order to settle on an agreed price for growing chickens. Part of these negotiations were to analise the typical chicken farm and its typical plant and machinery. This list included amongst many other things, a minimum of a Massey Ferguson 35 Tractor or two and a Holden Belmont Ute. So once it was determined what made up a typical chicken farm, many of the farmers - my father included- decided they had better go out and get some of these items if they didn't already have 'em!

A quick trip to Zupps Motors of MT Gravatt saw an order placed for a Belmont Ute. The HQ series was already on sale by this time. As the salesman saw fit the fact that this particular HG Ute had the 202 motor fitted instead of the 186 - that was good enough to call it the next model! Do you reckon they could get away with that today? The Ute was registered and insured as a HQ! (see the original sales document) My father thought for all those years this is what it was - until his young son -(myself) pointed out otherwise. A heater and sunvisor was ordered and a few short weeks later the 1962 Vanguard Ute was traded and the HG Ute came to the farm.
As the Ute was to be my mothers main form of transport mostly it became the car to carry her dogs to dog shows- something I remember being dragged to most weekends... Mum always referred to the Ute as 'the truck'.

The previous Vanguard Ute had seen duty as a Milk truck before the Clatworthys became chicken farmers in 1965. To this end it had been fitted with a milk truck canopy my father had built. The canopy was kept to become part of a dog kennel and it was only natural that this new Ute had its own canopy added. Hamilton Motor Body Works at Bulimba supplied the new custom made canopy as seen in the first photo for $170. The price of the new HG ute with registration was $2557.
Mum kept this Ute for 13 years. I inherited it in 1984 as my first car and it was to become the platform for my car building experiences.
Of course when I recieved this Ute,the first thing to go was the bloody awful canopy!I spent evey dollar I earnt to transform this Ute into something a little bit better.
Over time every aspect of this car received attention and detail. The 202 motor was tricked out to XU1 specs and a four speed was added as were bucket seats and disc brakes.
In 1986 I headed down to Bayside Body works for the car to be painted in Honda Windemere blue metallic acrylic. This was the time that I gained valuable panel beating and painting experience as the guys there were kind enough to allow me to do a lot of the work. I didnt work at that shop officially but was in attendance whenever the doors were open and hung around there full time pretty much for the next two plus years! I learnt my trade in this time while working alongside some seasoned panelbeaters and painters. I never had the opportunity to attend trade school but because I wanted to learn - I reckon I picked up most of the skills and knowledge required to start my own business Streetneat Panels in July of 1992. The guys that taught me at Bayside Bodyworks, came and worked for me on a contract basis when needed - thus expanding my knowledge base a bit more.
The HG Ute kept evolving and soon saw a 350 Chev V8 and TH350 auto fitted in the late 80's. The Ute was always my only transport and I even got married in it in 1992. I met my wife Kim in 1988 and took her out on many dates in this car. Kim even learnt to drive in this car and soon we bought herself a HG sedan to do up as her own.
Come 1992 we started on some other projects, mainly a 1948 ChevPick up hot rod project that was to eventually replace the Ute. The ute was garaged and eventualy soldin 1995 to a girl called Ngaire who promised to look after it. Unfortunatley she didnt have the funds to restore it back to its former glory. Just over 7 long years passed and my constant nagging to let me buy it back finally paid off. I had originally sold it for about $7500 and bought it back in 2002 for $1250. It was tired. The once lovely blue paint and body had seen the results of Ngaire spinning off the road at high speed and wrapping the car in a barbed wire fence. The body survied largely intact but the paint was now shot. Rust had taken its toll on most of the front panels,subframe and floors. The tired 350 and mechanicals were sold off - coincidently for $1250!
The Ute was stripped and sent to the sandblasters - and he kept it there for nearly a year! So some other projects were worked on and the Ute sits patiently with an ever growing supply of NOS parts being collected for its return to showroom condition. Slated time for its rebirth is some time in 2006.
My young son Harold reckos it will be his car one day and it most likely will. But not before I get to relive some good times in it first...

Date: 19/01/04

Owner: streetneat

Size: 223 items

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A poor picture but this is what the ute started life as - when Mum owned it. The canopy is long gone and will not be getting replaced. Mum only used the ute for transporting show dogs - so the tray was in pretty good shape. The milk truck design harks back to the early sixties when Dad was a milkman - so when they bought this Ute new in '71 they thought a milktruck canopy was appropriate - even though they had long since given up the milk run. It was built by Hamilton motor body works at a cost of $170 at the time.

Date: 19/07/04

Owner: streetneat

This is the original sales document from Zupps. Notice they sold it as a HQ! This was because it was fitted with a 202 from the factory - Commercial vehicles were always still produced long after that model was replaced with the new one..so an overlap occurs and some HQ parts ended up in this HG - still a bit dodgy selling it as a HQ though!

Date: 19/07/04

Owner: streetneat

The HG in its former glory - despite popular demand I wont be putting it back on the road like this. Was first equipped with factory 202 which I turned into an XU1 screamer then later upgraded to 350 Chev and T350. Now will be restored to original looking but not with its original appointments entirely. The plans include using a new old stock Belmont interior that has been sourced in Blue and of course the Chev V8 will return. Boring? I dont think so. Understatement is everything.

Date: 19/01/04

Owner: streetneat

Ute as recieved back from the blasters.

Date: 15/01/04

Owner: streetneat

Holey bits - will be replaced front and back with some diligent hammer welding in the form of some new Rare Spares pans.

Date: 15/01/04

Owner: streetneat

Hard to photograph wattyl black etch. Will replace this on the outside surfaces only with PPG DP40 Epoxy Primer. Have to buzz it back to bare steel again first.

Date: 19/01/04

Owner: streetneat

Looks can be decieving - is rustier than it looks.

Date: 19/01/04

Owner: streetneat

The heater will be re-instated as the Ute was previously sporting a smoothed engine bay. I threw out entire front - replacing with a mix of new old stock and mint original components. This is necessary for a concourse resto.

Date: 19/01/04

Owner: streetneat

The guard on the right has been repaired and looked worse than the guard on the left. The repair was file finished and is undetectable - I am offering $100 to those who physically inspect the guard and detect where the join is. The line you may be able to see is the body line pressing. My money is safe.This has been oxy hammerwelded using a Henrob torch then file finished on BOTH sides - even in the areas that you would think impossible to get into with tools- Its the way I repair things - This guard took three ten hour days in total -do the math at $50/hour and you will see why I do very little of this for others.

Date: 11/08/03

Owner: streetneat

The outside of the repairs - The reason these turn out so well is because I use a combination of Rare Spares sections and original sections modified and blended and lots of time and patience. As I really would have preffered NOS (New Old Stock)panels - it was important to make them as close as possible to being new.

Date: 11/08/03

Owner: streetneat

This project has been sort of put back due to the overwhelming amount of other work I have ..However some bits have been getting done. The original steel tyre door had some slight rust and this has been remedied by redoing some old repairs - properly this time.

Date: 17/01/04

Owner: streetneat

Steel is real - and I spent days fixing this door. Its now wearing a coat of epoxy primer in order to seal up the bare metal.

Date: 17/01/04

Owner: streetneat

An original bench seat has been tracked down as has the sunvisor. Not sure about keeping the sunvisor.

Date: 03/04/04

Owner: streetneat

Some original mats have been sourced and these although ripped I have spent some time repairing them. This was one of the near impossible hard to get items. These are advertised by Obsolete Rubber Mats as being available new - so don't keep sending me emails telling me this! They aren't! (Not yet anyhow.) Who knows when they will be...
The mats as made by Holden are not a true rubber- they are a paint-able material. You cannot paint rubber mats so you can have any colour you like- as long as its Black. Belmonts had black mats- Kingswoods had coloured mats- which matches in nicely with the rest of the interior - so I will be Vinyl dye this mat to suit.

Date: 03/04/04

Owner: streetneat

Well its been a while - This Ute was just deteriorating sitting around while I got stuck into some other projects. Namely the EK Van project and Mrs Streetneats FC Sedan. During winter I look for all the jobs I don't want to do in summer- like welding- so I decided it was time to drag the HG Ute out of its hidey hole and get it built! Well at least some major surgery.

Date: 13/05/06

Owner: streetneat

The first thing to do was to be rid of all the Wattyl black etch primer from the outside- the PPG DP40 doesn't take well to it - this gave me a chance to sand back the odd bit of surface rust that was starting under the etch - Chicken farm dust is nasty stuff!

Date: 13/05/06

Owner: streetneat

The rust repairs have already started here- I re did some old repairs that were done over 20 years ago - I cut some sections from one of my wrecks and repaired the cowl area. This theme of redoing the rust repairs will be carried on through out the whole body repair process.

Date: 13/05/06

Owner: streetneat

AHHRG!! The long road to rust rectification begins. Out with the old front floor on the drivers side. I used this opportunity to knock the dents out of the floor brace, which was now accessible through the open floor.

Date: 18/05/06

Owner: streetneat

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HG Ute restoration Project