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A ute found in a paddock and purchased for $1000 was supposed to be a quick flip for Ōrewa couple Georgia Winnie and Harry Browne-Sainty.
Instead, it’s become a social media hit, attracting almost 90,000 Tik Tok followers, and one of the most tooted-at utes in the country.
Most big relationship decisions start with a conversation. Harry skipped that bit.
“He just brought it home one day and told me we were restoring it,” Georgia said.
The 1995 two-wheel drive Hilux was purchased from a friend who had used it as a farm truck. It had spent its retirement in a paddock and looked like it, with part of the tray liner melted and rust creeping through the body. But underneath, with close to 300,000 kilometres on the clock, it was still running its original engine and gearbox, both in mint condition.
Major restoration of the body was required and the couple, who met at an Ōrewa skatepark almost five years ago, started posting about the process a year ago. At the time they had about 3800 Tik Tok followers. Today around 89,000 people are watching what happens next.
There was plenty to watch, from two weeks sanding the frame on the driveway, to close to a year chipping away at the rest. They painted it themselves, on that same driveway.
And the followers were not shy about sharing their knowledge.
“There are so many car enthusiasts and if something’s not quite right, someone will tell you that you should be doing it another way,” Georgia says. “It’s all said with love, and sometimes it’s been a lifesaver.”
When the rusty original seatbelts had to go, help came via a message from Fiji, from someone who had the exact seatbelts needed.
The couple also had help from Sean Lewis, a mechanical engineer and one of the people who first got Harry into cars. Sean talked them through problems and proved to be a wizard with a welder. When they couldn’t find a replacement for the Hilux’s rare tray, they put the truck on a trailer, took it round to Sean’s and sorted it there.
The $1000 ute has now had around $7000 spent on it, but the biggest change wasn’t to the Hilux.
The plan had always been to restore it and sell it but a change in Harry’s employment took the vehicle from restoration project to daily workhorse, with Harry using it for rubbish removals and lawn mowing, filming along the way.
Asked to sum up the truck, he didn’t hesitate: “rough and ready”.
For its first road trip, a few months ago, Georgia and Harry threw a dart at a map of New Zealand and decided they’d drive wherever it landed. It hit Palmerston North and on that trip they realised just how many had been following the restoration, as people tooted and waved as they drove past.
Now the couple is taking the idea further, with a six-month series that will see them throw a dart at a map of New Zealand and drive the Hilux wherever it lands. They’d love one to hit Bluff.
So if you see a 1995 Hilux coming down the road, give it a toot. They’ll probably wave back, Harry will probably be filming, and you might just end up on TikTok.
