HOLDEN Crewman 2003-2007 Photos, engines & full specs

When engineers go wild, and the management says “no” to high-performance coupes, their answer was “we are building a utility vehicle.” Really?

Holden was away from the GM HQ and managed to go under the radar when it built the Holden Crewman. At a glance, it might be mistaken for a four-door pickup based on a sedan. While the performance pickups were dead in the U.S., the Australians kept loving them and produced them. Under the body was the same platform used for the Holden Monaro, also known as the 2004 Pontiac GTO.

It started with a simple front fascia, similar to the one on the Commodore VZ. Up to the B-pillars, it was identical, but it was a different story in the back. Instead of a sloped rear window and trunk, it featured a bed, good to move (run) with your furniture.

Inside, it featured a pair of bucket seats at the front and a bench in the rear, fit for three adults, but the middle one had to hop on the transmission tunnel, which crossed the car from the gearbox to the rear axle. The four-spoke steering wheel and the dashboard were carried over from the Commodore sedan VZ series.

Under the hood, Holden offered the Crewman with a choice of three engines. It might be the smallest one that tricked the GM management into giving the green light to the vehicle since it was a decent, 3.6-liter V6 unit. But things were way different on the other side of the scale. Holden stuffed a 6.0-liter V8 good for 353 hp that rocketed the car from 0 to 60 mph (0-97 kph) in around 5.5 seconds.