Thread: Off-roading Holden Commodore?

When the daughter was a teenager, we used to go for Sunday drives through the Condamine Gorge - in a Hyundai Excel.

MOKE with snow chains will go almost anywhere! Especially with "P" plates on it.

I had such fun in that car.

for decades from 1908 my family did mail, goods, and passenger services from Winton. Initially with a horse drawn wagonette with a sulky hooked on behind to carry feed for the horses during the Federation drought. They went to motor cars in 1918 with two x four cylinder Buicks. The last family member was still doing the occasional mail run in the early 2000's. He was the only one who had a 4wd, a second-hand Nissan. The roads and tracks were appalling. The main road was not even fully sealed until 1988 yet no-one felt the need to buy a Jeep or Land Rover or later, a Toyota. In the early days through the 20's & 30's Buick and Hudson cars were favoured and Dodge and GMC trucks. No mail contractor would have ever considered a British or European vehicle, They simply did not last in the conditions.

Tall skinny tyres with good ground clearance will get you most places.

Originally Posted by loanrangie

Tall skinny tyres with good ground clearance will get you most places.

The early bush motorists declared the Dodge 4 was the best bush car for just those reasons plus the long travel suspension and flexible alloy steel chassis. The tall skinny tyres would cut through the deep mud to the hard pan beneath and the wheels would flex up and down over the ruts and bumps. Good low speed torque and crawler first gear and the old girls would keep trickling along through the black soil mud.

Until the ground gets swampy then its all over. Wide does all terrains.

Plus skinny can cut into rubble leaving you stranded, or sunk in sand, and the higher ground pressure can shear hard slippery clay seeing you slide across the camber of the road.

Hello All,

Before four wheel drives became so popular on the land I remember seeing an advertisement for a Ford style-side ute in a "Farm Pack". It had improved clearance - heavier springs and a limited slip differential. It was still a two-wheel drive unit.

Kind Regards
Lionel