The winner of the Inaugural Upper Lachlan Shire Absolute Beaut Ute competition is Ellis Dickson and his ninja green Suzuki Might Boy.
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Ellis, who is called Spike by everyone who knows him, was the first entrant in the competition but the last to arrive - by a long shot. He almost didn't make it and had to overcome a number of obstacles just to get to the Ute show.
Firstly, because his car is so low, he had trouble getting it onto a trailer for the drive from Tuggeranong. He rang ahead and said he might be cutting it fine to have it parked and ready by 10am and was encouraged to do his best.
Then, travelling along Sutton Road they met a lengthy queue of cars stuck behind a car accident. He rang organisers again said there was no way he'd make 10 o'clock, was there any point still coming, and was advised the judging starts at 11.30... if he could make it, his ute would be judged.
He doubled back to the Federal Highway, continued on his way, and snuck in ahead of the curfew and was able to be judged.
The judges of course knew none of this and judged the utes on what they saw, and Ellis won on the quality of his entry alone.
What was probably not apparent to the naked eye was that the entire Suzuki Mighty Boy was hand-built by Ellis.
"That car was built entirely from scratch in my garage," Ellis said.
"No hoist, no metal fabrication tools. I understand that some of the owners of the heavily modified utes didn't do the work themselves, so this it's a result of my work and my friends and not just something I bought or paid for."
It began for Ellis and his Dad, Grahame Dickson, about a year ago with the goal of building the ute to get some family and mates together to share in the experience, have a project to talk about and spend some time together.
For Ellis, he wanted the project to mean something.
"Men don't open up very well and this was a way for us to do that a bit better, spend time together and do something together," he said.
"Especially with Dad. But then Dad died."
It's a gut punch in Ellis' story, and one that is still fairly recent and raw. As he tells the story there are tears in his eyes. And not just his.
The project was put on hold indefinitely as Ellis processed his loss. He wondered if there was any point now, with his father gone. However, the more he thought about it, the more it became clear to him that his Dad would want him to finish.
"I eventually understand that he would have wanted it completed, and that I didn't want to let him down," he said.
Ellis got back to the project. His helpers reassembled, and not long after the ute was completed, Ellis spotted an ad for the Absolute Beaut Ute competition on Facebook and quickly registered.
And the rest is history.
As the winner of the Absolute Beaut Ute competition, Ellis won $1000, which doesn't go a long way to offsetting the $17,000 he estimates that he has spent on the ute to date.
"I think I'll take my partner on a holiday," he said.
"She deserves it and much more for putting up with my crap for the last 12 months."
