You know, we like the Ram SRT-10. We like it a lot in fact. But it's emphatically not of the brethren of grand Camino-hood. We liked that it wiped the smile from snotty Lightning owners' faces (we find F-150 owners to be the most smug of all truck people), but if there was ever a pickup to dethrone the Ram as the fastest production vehicle in the world with a pickup bed, well, it pretty much hadda be a ute. Infected by HSV (Holden Special Vehicles, the most unfortunately-acronymed performance arm of any automaker, unless Subie's tuning unit becomes Subaru Tecnica Detroit), Australia's El Camino put its fist in the gold at Australia's awesomely-named Woomera Prohibited Area, which we swear is right out of The Road Warrior.
The Ute, a Holden Maloo R8 powered by a 'Vette-sourced LS2 small block, knocked out a top speed on a two-way average of 271.44kph (168.66mph), beating out the Ram's 248.78kph (154.59mph) for the new production-pickup record. The car was carefully scrutinized by Guinness-appointed experts to make sure no modifications other than a liberal application of decals were made to the vehicle. Will the Ford people change SVT's name to Henry's Performance Vehicles and attempt to crack the record with whatever lunatruck they come up with next? Stay tuned, and in the meantime, play safe. [Thanks to David for the tip.]
HSV sets new World Land Speed Record [HSV News]
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More El Caminos [Internal]