Business in front, party out back.
Who doesn’t love a good ute? You get the size, performance, handling, and comfort of a sport or luxury sedan with the added utility of a pickup truck. The ute might be Australia’s greatest societal contribution, but unfortunately, there hasn’t been one sold in the United States since the El Camino ended production in the late 1980s. However, if you want an all-American luxury performance ute, look no further than this Chrysler 300 pickup conversion kit.
The company responsible is Smyth Kit Cars. It makes ute conversions for several different vehicles, but the Chrysler 300 (and Dodge Charger) is its latest effort. The idea is pretty simple: chop the back end of the Chrysler 300 off from the middle of the rear windows and fit a custom-fabbed pickup bed. This kit is available with all engines, so it doesn’t matter which 300 you already have, they’re all suitable for conversion. Though, a Hemi V8 model would naturally be the most fun.
As for the bed itself, this Charger-based example below packs a six-foot-long cargo area that’s also 48.5-inches wide. The tailgate fully functions and its taillights were sourced from either a Dodge Caravan or Chrysler Town & Country. It also looks pretty good. The Chrysler 300—and its Dodge Charger sibling—have body styles that work with a pickup bed surprisingly well, thanks to their boxy design and simple body lines.
Smyth Kit Cars doesn’t only make ute conversions for the Chrysler 300, though. The company’s range of ute conversion kits is wide and unexpected. In addition to the 300/Charger, it also has kits for the Volkswagen New Beetle, VW Golf/Jetta, Jeep WJ Grand Cherokee, Subaru Impreza, and Audi A4. The Chrysler 300 is supposed to lean toward luxury more than any of the other cars on Smyth’s list, which makes it a unique business-in-front-party-out-back vehicle.
If you want this kit, and to turn your Chrysler 300 into a more utilitarian pickup truck at the expense of backseat passenger space, it will cost you $4,490. Do note that only second-generation 300s from 2011 through 2020 are supported. Considering you can get a decent-condition 300 for not much more than that, this kit has the potential to be a very good deal. And it would also make your 300 the most unique of them all.
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