We call them bakkies (a diminutive form of bak, or bin, I suppose); they are really, in English, pick-ups (you pick things up and put them in the bin); and the Aussies call them utes (utility vehicles).
So, being bred in Oz, the Chevy Lumina with a bin is a Ute.
While the Chevy Ute SS in standard trim brags none too shabby figures - and is very, very good looking - this Ute has transmogrified into a two-seater that can hold its own with the world's finest.
Prepared by Jason Evans and the team at FTD Performance Solutions, the Ute boasts a 427 cubic inch (seven litres for us metricated woosies) superstroker. That means it started out life as an ordinary LS2 small block Corvette V8. The engine's managed by a standard LS1 unit with extensive mapping and recalibration to make it work with the LS2.
Sourced from a Houston, Texas (where everything's bigger) company called Motor Sport Technologies, the engine produced 446bhp (about 335kW) at five-thou on a local dyno before wheelspin negating any further reading.
Grunt is rated around 900Nm. Yes, you read that correctly. How about this: at idle, the engine is producing more torque than a BMW M3 at full chat.
The Ute belongs to Greg Till, a partner with Bongani Gasela and Vasu Govindsami in a new cargo company called 3G.
No expense has been spared and only the finest components of the highest quality have been used.
A standard Tremec T56 six-speed cog-swopper gets the power down through a spec R clutch. Some fancy gadget fitted reduces the gear lever's throw, so it's a short snatch between ratios. The diff's been shortened from 3.46:1 to 3.91:1.
It stops too: the brakes are 14" discs (356mm, if you must) up front with eight-pot Brembos doing the grabbing. Yokohama Decibels are slung round the 18" alloys - 235/40s up front and 265/35s on the driving wheels (I'm told this is all the rubber that would fit under the fenders).
Keeping the Ute on the ground is a purpose-built Bilstein suspension that allows maximum comfort, handling and tractability.
I had a brief up-down a closed road in the Ute. Fire it up and the hot cam is apparent and the torque twists the bakkie.
Engage first and plant it. Sounds just like a V8, a hot, quick, loud V8, little like it, really. The light rear end breaks out but is hugely controllable (that suspension) and driveable.
The speedo spins up like a rev counter. You hook another cog and then another and in fourth a fast change got the wheels to spin, desperately looking for grip.
The Ute topped 245km/h in 800m. That's pretty big stuff and while it might sound ridiculous, it does all of this with predictable roadholding.
It can also be driven in a most civilised manner, like an everyday runabout, but one with a goose-pimply exhaust note.