An Australian automotive enthusiast living in the U.K. found himself in a bit of hot water with French customs when they deemed his 1970 Holden HG ute a smuggling vehicle, threatening to crush it and hand him a fine along with a jail sentence. Thankfully, after a year of explaining the ute is just obscure and not criminal, the owner is getting it back. It began when Travis McKimmie bought the well-maintained HG in the Netherlands and had it put on a truck and shipped to England. Along the way, a French customs patrol dog caught the scent of cannabis and sniffed out a small amount of years-old pot that was tucked in the vehicle’s spare wheel. Oh, mon dieu, un joint! Then, during a more thorough search, officials uncovered what they suspected to be a pair of smugglers’ compartments under a hatch at the rear of the vehicle. That’s when they impounded the vehicle and handed McKimmie a €70 fine for the cannabis.   In actuality, the two 4020 cm hatches were created by the automaker itself. See, the Holden HG was built on a sedan or station wagon floorpan, so when the brand put a steel panel over the footwells to fashion the bed of the ute, it left two hollow compartments below. Some people put nothing in them, some put ice in them, and others, apparently, fill them with drugs. McKimmie was first told the vehicle would be crushed, then informed that instead French customs would use it as an educational tool for spotting smuggling vehicles. But he wasn’t having any of it. He bought the car fair and square and wasn’t about to let a little stale weed stand in the way of the restoration he had planned. So he began an education of his own, sending photos and emails and information to French customs, explaining the history and strange but explainable build of the Holden. At first the customs officials resisted, even threatening McKinnie with a heavier fine and a jail sentence if he challenged their decision. But he didn’t relent. After a year in the impound (for which McKinnie was charged €280) and many emails sent on its behalf, the vehicle is finally on its way to the U.K. “I finally got the end of the story that I wanted,” McKimmie said in a Facebook post in late April. “People in the U.K. don’t get it they just think it’s a old pick up as they call them over here but to me it’s a bit of Aussie
Origin: French authorities return classic ute after realizing it’s not built for smuggling