Hey charger ✌🏽. You’d hear or see each time these drove bye. It was in the adds here when these were new. If you’re interested ua-cam.com/video/folQZegbaT8/v-deo.html here’s another Aussie classic that was/is truly unique and underrated.
These were a great car, standard triple Weber's about 300hp. They actually shipped one to the Weber factory to tune the carbs to the engine. The only reasons they didn't win races were the drum brakes (notice the air scoops), torsion bar suspension and initially the three speed transmission. The other cars heading out were Car 29 an Orange Mazda RX2 Capella, Car 23 a BMW 1602, Car 34 a HR Holden Special and Car 45 an LJ Torana, the Blue & Silver car was a 1962 Chrysler S Series, then a couple of Lotus Cortinas. The straight 6 has a beautiful sound.
Car number 45 is an early 70's model Torana. The car in front is a Holden Special. That funny looking car you liked near the end of the queue is a Valiant. Sorry, I can't tell you more specific details of them! 🙂
Australia has a history of very powerful straight six engines, the last of the breed the Ford Barra 4.0L turbo (245CI) can be tuned to more than 600 HP with standard turbo, 1000 HP with standard internals, 2000 HP with production head and block castings and way beyond that with NC billeted head and block.
Valiant Chargers everything from VH to CL are absolutely awesome and underrated beasts my favorite Aussie muscle car well equal favorite with the torana SLR5000 thanks for all these Reactions IWrocker.
Technical wise the CM was the absolute best of them all. However unlike the rest of them, they certainly were not the fastest of them all. I had an old 245 many years ago. In the last 30 years of driving all sorts of cars, I still haven't seen any car that can beat them fuel economy wise.
@Rowan Brecknell the 245 went pretty damn hard, however naturally nowhere near as powerful as the 265. You could put the 245 into anything. Made a really nice boat engine too.
remember the campaign "Hey Charger" well as a kid when on the street we used to scream to the proud driver of his new charger "hey Charger" we would be greeted with the victory sign out the window with accompanied smile...we would then complete our little saying " a woolly one up ya " ......always always took the smile off their faces....
The Hemi Six was unique to Australia and at the time Chrysler Australia only had the 318 V8 in it's range, we never had the Big Block V8 engines here and the 340 was still a couple of years away. Mopar wanted to go racing at Bathurst so they decided to hot up the 265 Hemi Six instead of the 318. The first racing Charger was the E38 which made 280BHP and only used a three speed manual gearbox. The E49 was the improved model, it made 302BHP and it had a 4 speed. The E49 pulled a faster 1/4 mile time (14.1) than the legendary Falcon GTHO Phase 3 (14.4) but the Charger only had a top speed of around 132mph compared to 142mph of the HO.
The Chrysler by Chrysler lwb coupe and sedans had 360 V8's. I thought that the E55 was supposed to get the 440 before the medie driven supercar scare killed the Aussie muscle car scene.
The Hemi Six was started in the US to replace the Slant Six, but Chysler US went with the V8 and sent all the R&D of the Hemi Six to Australia. Just going by memory here from some Hemi Six history docs I read. Cheers!
Those days were so good and we here in Oz produced some awesome cars but it was "traditional" to be either a Ford or a Holden team, now I find no logic to, as I was a Ford man myself but secretly admired the L34`s, A9X`s, SLR`s, XU1`s apart from the Ford thoroughbreds such as the legendary HO Ph. 3, GT series, The Mustang Shelby, Cobra etc, today loving all of the cars of that era equally. Then the Chrysler Pacer series with the noisy 3 on the floor box started making some impressive ground, of course followed by the Charger series that put some noses out joint lol that was an entirely different culture of raw horse power in cars that handled like the love boat, but were very innocent in the sense of affordability, DIY, performance parts availability and so on, in comparison of todays "performance " cars with limitless tech and ca$h that has no tradition as we knew it in our day. In saying that, the only thing that doesnt change is, change, is proven to be right again. Cheers from Oz.
"The Hemi Six Pack is an Australian Chrysler engine. Actually one of the fastest production car ever made in Australia was powered by the Hemi Six Pack. It was a straight six engine with 3 two barrel carburettors that displaced 265 cubes."
The blue & silver one is a 1962 SV1, also known as the S Series Valiant. It was literally an American Plymouth Valiant with 225 slant six & 3 speed borg warner converted to right hand drive
My favourite shape of all time. When I saw one as a young school boy I thought it was amazing. Still do. Found out later my dad ( a Kiwi ) raced one in NASCAR in 1963.
@@waynesmith2287 my uncle had one when I was a boy. I told him I would own it one day... When he passed away aunty offered it to me at full price. That was back in the '80's. Now it's all drained and covered in my shed. When my boys are older the heirloom is theirs.
When l was a kid, my dads mate had an R series? ( the model with the spare wheel bump on the boot lid) it was black so they had me convinced that it was a Batmobile!😂
Did my apprenticeship on Chryslers in the 70's. Remember being sent down to Melbourne to do courses on them, and one of the instructors was involved in their Bathurst cars. They had done testing with a 340 Charger, and achieved 172 mph down Conrod. then the supercar scare story hit the papers. Phase 4 Falcons & XU2 Torana got shelved. Chrysler had imported enough bits to make 200 homologated Chargers, but then had to detune them and sold them as 440's. But they used all the go fast bits in the South Australian only police highway patrol cars. Apparently the fastest cop cars in Oz. So wanted an E49 6 pack, and a guy who worked at the local drivein had one. Always asked if he wanted to sell, but always said no. Went to the drive in one night, but no Charger. Said he sold it because petrol prices going through the roof. Cried when he said he let it go for 3k as he didn't think anyone would buy a gas guzzler.
Talking about gas guzzler the same happened to the Capella and the RX 4 , a couple of my mate were into the rotary power , but a little car only getting 13 miles to the gallon when the fuel crisis hit in 76 killed them off
The supercar scare story was written by motoring journalist Evan Green and as you say, it killed the the next generation Falcon that Harry Firth was working on. After that Harry never spoke to Evan Green again except for just giving blank faced yes/no answers if Green was at the race track as a TV coverage reporter doing track side interviews.
Well I'm a mechanic and I've driven a genuine E49 in the mid 1990s. I drove it a bit on test drives trying to solve a particularly dangerous rear wheel brake lock up issue esp when the brakes were cold. You'd just touch the pedal and the rear brakes would lock and the car go sideways. It was very bad. After thousands of $$$$s were spent it ended up with me, and I'm happy to say I solved it quickly and cheaply. It had a crook proportioning valve up under the dash. Truth be told everyone thought I was a legend but all the work had been done for me because almost everything in the braking system had been replaced - all I did was take an educated guess that no one knew of that proportioning valve and I was right. PBR knew they were there though and still had NOS of them at that time. I replaced it. With new proportioning valve all the brakes, and hoses, and calipers and wheel cylinders new or overhauled it made you dizzy it stopped so well. Not too bad for disc/drum brakes at all. Look, they're just a car. You haven't missed much. They go alright but I can tell you they really weren't that special apart from the looks and the mystique. The handling was quite good and it really made me want to throw it around but yeah a car that did put a smile on my face was also a Valiant - it was a VG coupe that someone fitted a bone stock 440 motorhome engine to (complete with puny 383 exhaust manifolds with the left on the right and vice versa), a stock Thermoquad and 7.8:1 (or whatever) compression and stock electronic ignition and factory power steering. It had 3.23 LSD in it and that car was fun to drive. It was FAR FAR faster than the E49, had far better off the line poke, revved about as hard and had about +250ft/lbs more torque everywhere. The secondaries would open on the TQ and that 'disgusting' secondary roar was so loud it was almost louder than the exhaust. The bloody induction roar was so loud it was embarrassing in fact! I estimate the smog 440 in that heavier car would be about one full second quicker over the 1/4 mile and at least that and probably more 0-60MPH. Back then it was cheap[ish] fun. I've also driven a 2bbl 265 4sp Charger and compared to the E49 there wasn't a lot of difference. The E49 was most definitely faster but not by that much and much of that was the rear gear ratio. I remember the Webers had an almost fuel injection like throttle response but I also remember thinking, "I wonder how long it took him to find someone to set up those carbs properly like that?" The two were more similar than different - in fact almost the same esp engine harshness over 4500rpm. Those engines were as harsh as your mutha-in-law LOL. They have fully counterweighted cranks now that have transformed all that harshness but they didn't have them then. If I had a collection of cars and an E49 was in it and I had to sell one car, then the E49 would be the first to go considering the prices they're pulling today. Not a very impressive car mechanically but a good V8 eater on the streets back then and they certainly look the part. They do have a certain WOW in the looks department I suppose. Look I am a Mopar nut but I have to call it as I see it from the POV of a mechanic. I'd like them a lot more if they had a D60, a new process 4sp and a 426 Hemi I can tell you.
Phillip Island Racetrack was rebuilt over 30 years ago after quite a few years of neglect. it was rebuilt as a motorcycle race track to attract the Motorcycle GP's which it did. Which is why the long swoopy corners with two really tight turns. We spent a few years hanging out between the second last and last turns. Mostly on the bed of a large truck with beer, deck chairs, beer and some more beer. And a barbie with seafood, beer and some steak with beer. But it became overregulated and the good times were banned by the beancounters who wanted you to buy everything at the track to make money and banned BYO beer and food etc etc.
I went with my friend and his cousin the the Dealer and he bought a brand new 75 Charger off the floor. He was 18yrs old and his Dad had a bumper crop on his farm. I was riding around in it all summer. As a 12 yr old it was awesome.
Out of the factory the best they got was 302 HP. Still amazing for a 265 cui six naturally aspirated. With the four speed gearbox they could out accelerate the competition over the quarter mile.
As a young bloke back in the day I owned a limited edition VJ sportsman 265 4 speed with dual throat carb, it flew, mates with Holden 243, 327 chev no chance.
Even today that's impressive out of a naturally aspirated six, although to be fair the 265 had a fair bit of displacement behind it. Impressive in anyone's book.
Remember that the nominal power output of the Phase III GTHO was "only" 300 hp too... but if you weren't Joe Average (or should we say Bruce Average) but a known competitive driver, then you might have got one of the better cars with a few more of the "special" homologation parts and a 350 hp output. If you were a star for a race team then the "300 hp" one you got was more like "380 hp", even before your tuners went to work. And yet the Chargers could accelerate quicker, so take that 302 hp figure with a similar grain of salt. Holden did the same with their XU1's and so too did Chrysler. Within the "production car" circles there were cars that had a smattering of the best performance parts, and some that got ALL of them in the one package.
@@shanesalmo1163 I had a VJ Sportsman,same motor but with the T bar auto so not as quick as the 4 speed perhaps but still a bloody quick car for a factory stock vehicle.
The E 49 Charger (Aust) produced 302 HP @ 5600rpm & ran the 1/4 mile in 14 .2/14.3 from factory. 0-60 mph in 6.2 secs. Held 1/4 mile record in Australia for Australian production car for over 20 years or more! Cliff Garavanta, Perth Western Australia
Chargers were unstoppable in the 70s here in new Zealand in the production series ford called the big guns in from Australia but to no avail. Just imagine what could have been if the supercar scare never happened and the charger got the 340 v8
I'd like to know how the rules differed in NZ to here, the Chargers were far more competitive in NZ than here, the rules in Aus meant no mods to the car and the geometry was wrong and the things handled like crap, more coppers died in them and any other car, they were even a chore in a straight line, friend who is a mechanic and a Chrysler fan cut the front cross member of his VH in half and welded in a spacer, even did his own wheel alignments using chalk, that car handled much better after that.
Cheers mate!! I was literally just about to request something new in other comments - 3 day lockdown here in NZ because ONE (1!) person got the sniffles up north. Seems entirely reasonable… Anyway, post more, I’m bored af!
3 day lockdown isn't so bad, good excuse to catch up on some movies. Here's what happens when you don't lock down... US covid cases per day: 50 days ago 11,871 40 days ago 15,068 30 days ago 31,447 20 days ago 61,306 10 days ago 107,143 Today 134,390 US covid deaths per day: 21 days ago: 242 14 days ago: 386 7 days ago: 511 Right now: 706 Compare that to US deaths in Afghanistan - not per day, but per year: 2015: 22 2016: 14 2017: 17 2018: 15 2019: 22 2020: 9
@@IWrocker Bloody legend, cheers mate! One of these days I’ll make you a Virtual Holiday vid. Won’t be for a month or two though sorry. About to switch to a 2 week on / 2 week off job, so I’ll have time to do a quality job.
Australia usually avoided the larger engine options, but when the Valiant was introduced here in 1962 we went 225 only and so avoiding the smaller US 170 models. The Valiants here were the big power cars against the Holdens and Falcons. 145 BHP in the Valiants 75 BHP Holden 80 BHP Falcon when the Valiant was introduced. Valiants were first with a V8 option in 1965. Ford and Holden played catch up until the 1967 Falcon GT.
A well tuned E49 was THE fastest production car in the world from 0-100mph in the early 70's. Beat the V8's at their own game. Those triple Webber's used to feed it plenty of fuel and air to achieve this, but we're a bit hard to keep tuned not unlike the GTR XU1 Torana. Two Aussie straight sixes that well & truly punched above their weight.
Sorry John, the RT- E49 was the "Quickest" not the "Fastest" inline 6 naturally aspirated production car in the world for many years. And yes, my 74 VJ 265 4sp Charger is sitting cozy in my shed.
Some touted the E-49 as the worlds fastest 6- not sure on the truth to that im sure others were faster but maybe not quicker. Was definitely Australia's fastest accelerating production car for 25 years though.
It's a thrill to see this. When I was much younger, I drove one of these as a daily driver, this exact colour scheme, stripes and all. It wasn't a factory e49 but the engine was built to e49 specs, running triple dual throat Weber carbs with factory linkages. Many "modern" v8 drivers were left crying into their milk after meeting me at the lights. You could drop to 2nd gear at 80kph and floor it and that old girl would light up the tyres. Outstanding vehicles well ahead of their time.
Phillip island is a purpose built circuit in my state. Moto GP race there annually along with the super bikes. I go to the classics there regularly. Great place to watch the racing
The 225 is the baby to the 245 and the beastly 265 Hemi engines that beat the 351 GTHO Falcons in NZ not only around the bends but down the straights also and sent one of the Aussie Falcons home just after a couple of races as they couldn't compete.
Lot of love for the Valiant Chargers here in Australia being the underdog car doing more with less. Some wins here but usually out gunned by Ford Falcon and Holden Torana. In New Zealand they dominated on there tracks and drivers. Won their biggest race for years in a row. Rare to find any hate for them here. A good one gets big money but not as much as the stratospheric amounts the top Falcons and Holden's go for.
I'm a Holden girl through and through but I've also owned a couple Chargers back in the 80's as well. have a huge soft spot for Mopars and would happily have one in my garage now if I could afford it.
Ahh memories.... cool video mate. I had a gun metal E55 charger, same body style except round headlights rocking a 360ci with 727 auto...An absolute tyre destroying head turner. Cheers my Aussie brother 👍
E-55's were a VH, so rectangular lights. To date I've not seen information that the option was available in VJ. As E-55 was the engine option code, a different motor pretty much negates the name- imagine someone tells you they have an E-49 and opens the bonnet to show you a 245 2 barrel!
@@rossbrumby1957 yup. Mick D. May have bought an e55, but I have my doubts he was sold one. Compliance plates never lie. (Unless they're swapped as well)
Hemi six made locally by chrysler in Adelaide, gearbox is a locally made Borg Warner made in Albury NSW. Axles are also locally made there. The hemi six came in 3 sizes, 215, 245 and 265 Ci, good things.
The Charger is a thing of beauty. When I think of muscle cars I always think of the Charger. Crazy how much they're worth too, you can buy an old Ferrari for cheaper than a mint Charger.
@@elroyfudbucker6806 Oh easily, parts alone would run you way over that. Hell, depending on the condition of the shell $80k might get you back to bare metal, patched and straightened, and if you're really lucky some paint.
The 265 was pretty good. My mate used to love lighting his up while stuck in traffic!! Phillip Island is wicked beyond belief... watch Mick Doohan win in '98 on the Honda NSR-500. I was there, and it was wild.
Hi Ian, good to see you found the Aussie Mopar Charger a nice car. I had an E55 which was a 340ci model, triple black car, one of 3 made in that configuration. God I loved that thing! You would've guessed right when you said those 2 cars being Ford Cortinas & that blue & silver car just ahead of them was an S series Valiant 4 door, the equivalent to the Valiant Signet in the US. Good to see you're onto the AFL as well. Cheers & stay safe in your part of the world
I also owned a VH SE E55 charger. It was heavily optioned including aircon, power steer and the rare pop out rear windows. I recently checked the number of production with all options. It turned out to be 1 of 1. It was my first car and I still miss it today. I never owned an E49 but would have loved to. I currently have a Barra assisted Ford ute for work, a jeep, 2006 300c with a moded 6.4 Hemi and a 67 Barracuda sitting in the garage. I would give up all the cars to have my old E55 back. MOPAR all the way. Just a little biased. LOL Love watching American reactions to our Aussie culture. Keep it up
Great upload as always. Glad you covered this, and Glens channel is really informative. You'll definitely learn some cool information about the different muscle cars of the era there.
I owned a basic VH Charger / Hemi 245 in the late '80s. I initially bought it to carry two hang gliders due to it's length and strong bumper bars. The only thing that I would have spent money on but didn't was to get the steering to feel more connected to the road and remove that sponginess in the steering. There was so much room under the bonnet that one morning my brother hid in the engine bay and scared the beer jesus out of me when I went to continue the oil change work.
All Aussie homegrown Mopars were A-bodies. The Charger was very close the Duster but with Classic charger styling but with the rear chopped off. The previous generation (VE VF VG) was based on the Dart and the 1st 2 generations based on the Plymouth Valiant. Oh and most of them came available as utes!! Imagine a Dodge Dart Ute!! FYI the E49 Charger was the quickest in the 1/4 mile of all the Aussie cars of the muscle car era.
Chrysler Charger the 2nd best looking Aussie car (after the Ford coupe) imho. Definitely a looker. Also were available with a 360 V8 which was well regarded. Because Chrysler pulled out of Australia, I don't think we can be bothered as much with the love hate thing. Most people settled on being Ford or Holden, but had warm thoughts for the Charger.
We had 318 and 360 cube V8's but the top motor was the 340 which was a mopar performance motor. Despite the lower capacity it was significantly more powerful than the 360. The E55 Charger had the 340 cube motor.
Mum had a VH Charger. I grew up thinking it would be mine one day. It was white with the black stripes. When I was 13 she sold it for a Chrysler Sigma wagon because Dad got done speeding...again. I'm a grown man now and it still hurts.
Absolutely gorgeous ....Even as a Ford fan I always liked the Charger . Lovely looking and they went stunningly .. A friend of mine had one for a long time .. However if you really want to embrace Aussie inline 6's ...it's the Ford Barra 4.0 .. 3984 cc DOHC full VCT and as bulletproof as you can get . The Barra Turbo is a V8 killer quite literally ...Capable of way over 1000 hp without spending a fortune ..Please check the Barra out Ian ..There are tons of videos about them .
The Barra is the result of Ford owning Jaguar. It's no coincidence the similarities to the AJ6/ AJ16. They were bulletproof motors but implemented when Jaguar werent selling performance, so with the exception of a few supercharged XJR's and aftermarket turbo specials, weren't exploited to their potential. Anything you can do with a Barra, you can do with an AJ6/16.
You were right about the Ford Cortina's, I do believe that Lotus and Cosworth did chassis and engine development for them back then. Some others you missed were the EH Holden and the S Series Valiant. 😎👍
Charger was one of the prettiest looking Aussie built cars ever. I think it was also one of the most loved Aussie built cars probably only behind the HT/HK/HG Monaros.
It's an A-body chassis, the recessed rear window is an aero mess- it creates a vacuum. We're doing a metal kick-up for my Valiant on the roof (integrated, small) to push the air up off the glass. Also have a chin spoiler that is attached at the core support, A-pillar covers, metal spoiler (3" tall) in the trunk lid, and a vent on the hood to let air out. It's all pretty subtle, but works very well. Run a Bergman Auto Craft steering & suspension set-up, 12" rotor swap from an R-body, 11.2" discs from an Explorer on an 8.75" rear.
I think Tilley's slant six would be one of the most developed in the world. Unfortunately regs keep changing. That's the reason Jimmy Richards stopped racing in TCM.
The Aussie hemi sixes were initially an American design, to be used as a replacement for the slant .We got a porotype and we redesigned it a bit for our conditions. They did a 215cu,245 cu and 265 cu versions.
Very proud to say my Father in law worked in the development team building clay plugs for the Australian Charger body design at Chrysler in Adelaide Australia.
Yep, the panelvans will freak him out too. They did have the woodies in the US which fitted with the surf culture, but the Sandman took it to a whole new level.
Bathurst spec Chargers had drum rear brakes, ... & were apparently sent to Lamborghini to have their triple Webers tuned. Phillip island was used for the original Bathurst car race back in the 60's - the Armstrong 500 (miles), then moved to NSW & became the Hardie Ferodo 500 ... then to the Bathurst 1000 (km). Phillip Island is more recently used for MotoGP (bikes) since the late 80's.
@@johnd8892 no charger was ever sent to Italy it was a VG pacer with the six pack motor fitted sent to Weber to fine tune it Chrysler racing and engine development John Ellis went with it
Hey Charger! I was wondering when you'd discover this one; wall of text incoming, but I'm sure you won't mind... The origins of this car really lie with the Hemi 265 engine, which started out as Chrysler's "D" engine in the States. Small-block V8s had eroded the big six's market Stateside, so Chrysler sent it to their Australian division (based at Tonsley Park, Adelaide) to see what they could make of it. At the time, stepping up to a V8 was a bridge too far for many Aussies - it was a big call, and just a bit too "look at me" - so the 4.0-litre straight-six was right at home here. Chrysler put it through a $33 million development programme and finished it off with local parts, meaning - when it launched with the stopgap VG Valiant range in 1970 - Chrysler became the first Aussie manufacturer to hit the 95% local content milestone. Since that triggered tax breaks from the Federal Government in Canberra, that was a very welcome development! They called it the Hemi 245 to piggyback off the Hemi legend in the U.S., but it was a badge only - the valves were inclined at only 7 degrees. "A Hemi truth..." has been the standard joke ever since. Meanwhile, behind the scenes they were putting together the car the engine was really meant for - the VH Valiant, due to arrive in early 1971. And the Australians at Tonsley Park were watching this unfold with mounting horror - it was a trainwreck in slow motion. Australian buyers were in a weird place: we liked American styling cues, but we didn't like them to be as big and brash as the Americans did. Compare an XA Falcon Hardtop with the Torino that came off the drawing board next to it and you'll get the idea. Unfortunately, the Americans designing Chrysler Australia's new car in Highland Park didn't seem to register the "but more toned down" part of the design brief, and whenever there was a disagreement between the Aussies and Americans, the Americans always got their way. Holden went through a similar thing with GM a few years earlier, which ended with them getting their own design office in Melbourne after the American-designed HD got tumbleweeds. But Chrysler didn't have the generous cash reserves of Holden, and the VH Valiant could only dream of getting tumbleweeds; mostly it just heard the people at the back being quietly sick. The VH was the all-time ugliest car Australia ever built, until the AU Falcon came along and relieved it of that title; sales cratered and never recovered. Fortunately, the crew in Adelaide had been working on an after-hours project as well. They saw the VH range as designed had nothing to appeal to youth, and nothing to race at Bathurst - both crucial gaps in the range. A two-door coupé would fill both niches quite nicely, so they designed one, with testing done by shortening a VG ute to give it the same wheelbase, so anyone watching it turning laps at Mallala would think it was just a local hoon having a bit of fun. Only after it had been finished and proven viable was it presented to Head Office in the U.S., and since there was absolutely no spare budget for it, some remarkable things were done to tool up for it, especially given every body panel from the A-pillar back was unique! Chrysler Australia had a remarkable gift for improvising around the lack of money. Amazing to think Australia's ugliest car and its most beautiful were conjoined twins! It deservedly won Wheels magazine's Car of the Year award for 1971. Anyway, the engine ended up being the same 245 Hemi six or the optional 265, with the Bathurst cars (option E38) coming with that beautiful six pack of Weber carbs. A whole car was flown to Italy for the Weber factory to sort it out, and after 4,000 miles of testing around the Italian countryside, when it came back it made 280hp and 320 lb-ft of torque. Yet it would idle smoothly at the traffic lights, and to this day nobody seems to know how they did it - fans trying to build a replica end up tearing their hair out after a decade of trying to get it to idle without stalling! Anyway, if you were going to race it at Bathurst you also needed the A84 Track Pack, which gave you stronger ROH alloy wheels, finned rear drums, better rear leaves, a Sure-Grip LSD... and, oh yeah, completely filled up the boot with a 34-gallon fuel tank, which would allow you to finish Bathurst on just two stops. And all for just $3,750 off the showroom floor ($41,500 today - convert to U.S. dollars from there). Almost a third of all VH sales were Chargers, which says as much about the brilliance of the Charger as it does about how unpopular the base Valiant was! As far as racing went, The weakness of the Charger was its gearbox, which was only a Borg Warner 3-speed - at the time Australia didn't have a locally-made 4-speeder, and Chrysler didn't sell enough cars to get away with importing like Ford and Holden. So in effect, it had no first gear - getting off the line was a matter of choosing whether you preferred bogging down and losing the revs or lighting 'em up and going nowhere for a moment. The E49 was the homologation update for 1972, with a bit more grunt (300hp, more than anyone would see from a six-cylinder until the Porsche 911 Turbo in 1975), and at long last, a Mopar 4-speed gearbox. With that fitted, this thing would cover the quarter-mile faster than anything else out in Austrlaia at the time, even the Phase III Falcon, although that did mean it was a bit short of legs on Conrod. There were rumours at the time that Chrysler were going to give it a 340ci V8, but the Supercar Scare came along and killed Series Production racing before that could happen. V8 Chargers WERE built soon after - my uncle has a VK 360 from 1976, and it's awesome - but the era of the Bathurst Special had ended before Chrysler could claim the trophy. The company circled the drain for the rest of the 1970s and was eventually swallowed up by Mitsubishi in the early 1980s. Australia lost the third of the Big Three and became the land of Ford vs Holden. Fords are still better, though.
The VH was the 3rd most populous model of Valiant, hardly what you claim as a train wreck situation. At it's peak, the Charger accounted for half of all Valiant sales- not a third. After the success of the VH being the second most prolific Valiant model ever at 67,800 units, the VJ was a hit, selling 90,865. It's clear that Valiant buyers liked what they saw.
@@rossbrumby1957 And yet it never made its budget back. Reminder of the sales figures on that "big hit": VJ Valiant: 90,865 HJ Holden: 176,202 XB Falcon: 211,971 Sorry mate, but when your main rival is out-selling you nearly two-to-one, that's a massacre (especially when they're panicking, because their previous model got close to half a million registrations). Valiant buyers might indeed have liked what they saw (which itself is begging the question. If they didn't, would they be Valiant buyers in the first place?) but there were damn few of them around. I daresay you're right at some point Chargers made up half of Chrysler's sales, but I was only speaking of the VH, of which 18,000 were Chargers. Which works out as closer to a third of that 67,800 than to half. I'm sorry mate, but you're just wrong. Even the title "most popular Valiant" is damning with faint praise.
The owner of the company I worked for as a mechanic (now passed away) had the iconic version of this car (worth $500,000) and we had to move his cars from his car collection in the warehouse to the workshop for us to do a once over before the auction...any ways. He had spent over $30,000 on the engine and on the way back my boss was driving the R/T charged, the supervisor in the Ferrari 355 spider and me in the Holden VF Maloo GTR-S (supercharged 6.2ltr, 6speed manual) and we all lined up at the lights. The Charger absolutely spanked the Ferrari and Maloo. It's power to weight ratio was so good and the massive rear tyres, we had no chance.
In Oz we also had the 225 slant six, or slopey as we colloquially called it, then we had the 215, 245 and 265 hemi ( straight six) , in the small block we had the 273, 318, 340 and 360. The 265 hemi on the street was more than a match for the Holden and ford small blocks. Mopar or No Car. Its us against them
Great cars the VH Chargers, built between 1971-1972 the R/T E38(6pack280hp) and E49(6pack302hp). The E49 claimed the fastest 6cyl record for 30+ years (Fastest 0-100MPH). Unfortunately they came 2 years to late as Ford and Holden already had race development. The 265 cubic 6 cyl was a US truck engine that was imported. All MOPAR fans here in Australia were wanting the race proven US V8. But Chrysler Australia div was run by US executives and all development had to be approved by the US Chrysler and they would not approve the V8 instead they gave Australia the 6 cyl so Aus Chrysler went to work and came up with the Charger. Also they were not allowed to change the Wheel base if you look at the car you will see the overhang at the rear as that was the 4 door Valiant chassis. They did get the 340 V8 but that was only to be used in the Luxury Model Charger and was called the 770 SE E55(Auto only) imagine the race proven 340 racing against the Falcon's and Torana's. A missed opportunity idiots.
I don't know where you got the info on US executive's running Chrysler Aust but the V8 racing Charger program was cancelled because of the super car scare 08/72 frightened off Chrysler Aust from losing government contracts which was likely (FORD and Holden also.
@@JoshPhoenix11 was the outright fastest accelerating aussie production car for 25 years before Holden could lay claim to that title. Forget which model now.
Bathurst 45 Yrs Ago Walking home from the Pool aged 13 .. This hot red and black RT 6 pack Charger pulls up beside me .. it was my brother George get in he says .. then proceeds to lays rubber for two blocks ..I will never forget that day
I've got footage of Rob's car on fire at Sandown on an old UA-cam account... Bloody fast car, glad it's back on track, IIRC after the burn down he blew two motors. His chassis guy knows his stuff too, Burns runs way less camber the other Charger drivers, and corners faster.
You US guys really missed out by giving us your unwanted "truck" engine. 265 hemi 6 was the best 6 by far for a looong time and as demonstrated here ,as good as a lot of v8,s
I feel like after watching this I would agree… the big blocks (V8s) were legendary but I think a lot of people here would do builds with the Hemi six if they could or knew about it… I know I would, assuming it was cheaper say… I mean how can you argue with a lighter setup and a great sounding inline engine that can rev to 7k revs!
The Hemi 265 cu in (4.3 L) was first introduced in 1971 in the VH, it was Australian designed, made and only used here. It had a new cylinder block with a bigger bore diameter of 3.91 in (99 mm)-the same as many of the Chrysler small-block V8s-and a new cylinder head, having hemispherical shaped combustion chambers with larger valves. The old adage, when the green light drops, the bullshit stops, rings true. If you want to see and hear how hard they go, click on the link> ua-cam.com/video/I4bwLwZ6zVQ/v-deo.html
@@IWrocker they where gr8 cars and if u wanted more bang 4 ur buck u always went 4 a valiant. i bought a $300 1968 sedan 225 in the early 80s and left a brand new ford police car so far behind i waited at the stop sign 4 him 2 catch up.
@@AlphaAlex1 they do look mean af and would be awesome if they were 2 foot shorter and around 300kg lighter although they still would have sold okay in aus stock
@@randomdude4669 Yeah Agreed. Practicality is a thing. plus like you said weight. However If I ever got one I wouldn't care, I'd get it to go fast in a straight. When it boogies
Us Aussies have a knack for making or improving the i6. The Barra is the most well known but the Hemi 265 was an absolute weapon for its generation. I have a mate who has a 56 Plymouth and he's chucking a 265 in it, partly because Mopar flathead 6 stuff is impossible to find here
Was hitching a ride in NZ back in those days. This guy stops in an E49,I had never seen one. He imported it from Aus and it cost him a ton of money. Dellorto carbs not webbers,top range engine mods and he had it stroked with special pistons. Had never heard the term before. The power was un believable,he could spin the tires with ease at 50mph. I was totally blown away,this thing had racing harnesses roll cage a beast of g/box with an electric activated over drive. I dont remember what he paid with all the extras but it was more than an average house in NZ at the time. This was no doubt a one of,there should be a record of its sale I would think. He picked it up in Auckland and was driving to wellington,on the ferry and down to Invercargill. I was only going a third of the way to New plymouth and was very tempted to go all the way with him. It was winter and the thought of hitching all the way back did not appeal in that weather.
In Australia , We had in Slant 6 Range was the 215, 225, 245 and the 265. The range was the R series in 1962, The S series in 1963, The AP5 and AP6 in 1964, The VC for 1965 to 1966. The VE in 1967, and finnally the VF for 1968 to 1969. 1970 was the birth of the HEMI in Australia.
Only the 225 was a slant six. All the others were variations of the new for 1970 hemi engine. All these are normal vertical sixes as can be seen when the engine is shown on this one.
@@russellhorsefield9199 I would trust the vast amount of documentation in print and film of the 225 slant six and Chrysler Australia's move to the vertical hemi six for the other sixes than your memory. Unless you can point to something that does not rely on your memory. Do you still claim the other sizes were slants as well?
@@johnd8892 He's got serious memory issues has old Russell. My dad had a VF Pacer, 225 slant 6. No slant six were larger than the 225. He might have had a VF with a transplanted VG motor. Unlike Holden who put a few Red motors in end of production EJ's, Chrysler's Hemi 6 debuted in the VG. Most comments here are factually incorrect. Amazing in 2022 old blokes can comment on UA-cam but not do a quick search to check their facts before commenting and making an arse of themselves.
The 265 HEMI SIX was C1972. Very impressive engine for those days. I was probably the only kid in Australia who got given to school in1970 in a 1969 Dodge Charger 426 HEMI. My dad worked at a place called Bluepoint motors, the biggest Chrysler dealer in Australia at the time and his boss Frank Illich would let my dad drive all of his special cars. The heart says Mopar. But my wallet says Ford. I had 4 XR6 Turbo Utes, and I loved them. They had so much torque for towing my Race Car, a Mazda RX7 with a 6.0l LS V8. I currently own 2x brand-new 2021 Mustangs and they are now Australia’s best bang for th3 buck but only because they’re about $50,000 cheaper than a Dodge challenger in Australia. MOPAR all day if I was rich.
265 hemi - 225kw 351 cleveland -223kw The GT Falcon had an extra 1.5 litres and 2 more cyls, higher compression ratio, and higher rev range. Chrysler really knew how to make a good engine. They also made a 245 and a rarer 215 hemi.
Phillip island track definitely not just amateurs. Holds two world championship rounds for MotoGP and world Superbike. Also V8 Supercar rounds. Large grass run offs are good for motorbikes and cars. Amature type races also run frequently with the run offs helping for safety and car damage sake. Unlike other tracks with lots of concrete barriers lining the track. Cars still get scary fast according to my friends experiences driving on it.
This is the circuit where the original Armstrong 500 race for production saloon cars was run, until the surface degraded too much to use, The race then moved to.......Bathurst!
Hey mate thanks for appreciating Aussie muscle, down under racing and muscle cars have been developed on a string budget, lack of money from the factory brands and technology developed mostly through back yard races, great video look forward to more on Aussie muscle, the RT 265 charger came from the factory with triple Webber’s for racing as show room car.
The little thing before the Charger was a Mazda RX2 with a bridgeport engine i think. The Phillip Island Circuit is where they run the Australian round of MotoGP
The Capella in Aussie parlance was the 1600cc 4 cyl, and the RX2 was it's name if it had the Rotary engine (which was the 12a rotary). I guess Mazda learnt from the Datsun Fairlady naming misadventure. With Datsun struggling to sell a sportscar with a less than masculine name in the early 60's before going to Datsun 1600 and 2000 sports nomenclature.. So we didn't get the "Savannah" nameplate on the rotary, just RX and a series model number (RX2, RX3, etc)
Phillip Island was the original venue for the Armstrong 500 in 1960. By 1962 the circuit was badly damaged and the owners didn't have the money to repair it. So the Armstrong 500 was moved to Mount Panorama for 1963. Sir Jack Brabham had suggested the Longford circuit in northern Tasmania, but the state operated railway refused to shut down the train line, which ran through the track, for the day.
I’m a Ford man to the core, but the 265 was the Barra of the 70s. Absolutely love and I am totally proud of the Aussie products Ford, GM or Chrysler. 🇦🇺👍
A friend of mine had a Torana like the pink one #74 parked next to the charger, the torana was quite a small car with limited space length wise under the bonnet [ or the hood as you Americans call it ], the 6 cyl Aussie motors fitted in that space perfectly. The 265 hemi 6 at first glance looked like a Holden 6, a 2nd glance you would have noticed the length and height difference. So my friend noticing the similarity thought it would be a good idea to pop one of these hemi’s into his torana and after extensive reworking of the engine bay he got it to fit.the engine itself was also extensively modified with the addition of a turbo charger, this car was an absolute brute 500 flywheel HP 450 RWHP, I wish I knew where it ended up, probably at the car crushers. This car was built about 30 years ago but man it was a rocket ship
8:25 Mazda RX2, Charger, Boss 302, notchback, BMW 2002, EH Holden special, GTR XU1 Torana, another notchback, 55', Chrysler Valiant("blue with the silver"), Mk1 lotus cortina's
I had a VG Valiant with a 245 Hemi with 3 on the tree. The thing had so much torque everywhere you were never out of gear. Just turned a corner uphill and still in 3rd? Just give it some juice at 1500rpm and chug up the hill. 2.02 inlet valves and 1.6 exhaust from the factory. Want horsepower? Just add carburation and exhaust. They tested the E49 on the track with a 340 and the 265 was faster. Loved that car. Big ports, big valves and easy to work on. And the stripes that Mopar are the masters of.
Phillip Island is actually where the original production car endurance race was held, it moved to Bathurst after a couple of years and the rest is history. It's a flowing track with long high speed corners so a smaller good-handling car can match it with the big guns. It's also well known internationally in motorcycle racing. The category in this video is Group N, which is for touring cars made prior to 1973, provided a car of that make and model was raced here. Cars are structurally original with a roll cage, engines can be heavily worked but must use original block and head, brake size and type is as per original (can use racing pads though!), suspension is original design but can change shocks and springs. There's another series called Touring Car Masters that started like Group N but allows more modifications (eg bigger brakes) and newer cars.
As an Aussie chick who has owned several Hemi 6 cylinders, I will attest to what a potent motor they can be..have owned 2 Chargers,one with a 265 Hemi 6 and that thing flew. with the right work done to them they can put many a V8 to shame. my other Charger I owned only had the little 215 Hemi 6 in it, yet that thing was a real screamer as well...would rev like there was no tomorrow.
I never worked on them but I have deep respect for the HEMI six. A bit more than 21 years ago I worked with a bloke who loved Mopar stuff. I remember going round to his house after work one day: we drove about 20 minutes to get there; once we'd arrived, he said "I'll show you around after I put some fuel in the car, wanna come for a drive?". So we drove the 10 minutes to the servo in his beaten-up, absolutely stock, 1970 245 HEMI VG coupe. One corner before we got there, he lit up the rear tyres for a few seconds; there was a bit of smoke but the engine quickly began to lose power. He said, "probably needs some water". We pulled into the servo, he filled up the tank, poured 9-10 litres (2.3-2.6 US Gal.) of water into the radiator, paid, drove out of the servo and into a minute of full-smoke burnout. As we got back to his house (and Valiant parts collection) he said "it's got a bit of a coolant leak, I've got to fill it up every day or two."
another great Aussie mopar is the Centura... smaller in size, around an LX torana sorta size, but still came with a hemi 6, absolute little weapons, i've got one myself, except with a 360ci in it, it's a bit of a handful hahaha
My boss in Sydney had an ex NSW Police Hwy patrol Charger Hemi. These had special increased performance engine, and a 300gm lead plate in the rear for improved highway drivng handling. I had to drive this for 2 weeks while my then Suzuki Jiminy LJ50, with 540cc 3 cyl two stroke (approx 33hp) was in dealer workshop waiting a spare part, they damaged during a service. No need to say the performance difference was like a bicycle to a large motorcycle. Anyway, at end of my borrowed time, picked up my Suzuki, and first drive away thought I had missed the gear, the engine reved and I hardly moved. The issue being the low gearing of this two stroke driven vehicle made need 1st to 2nd gear change at around 3 kph. And there being almost no acceleration felt at that. It was a definite adjustement to be in a vehicle that had almost no performance. By the way it came into its own in 4WD low range, where its capability was almost mountain goat capable, climibing almost anything, unstoppable . Though very narrow wheelbase did leave them prone to tip overs.
"Hey Charger!" One of the best advertising tag lines ever. The car was based on a shortened Valiant chassis and was (I think) the best looking Aussie muscle/sports sedan ever. Wanted one,. Never achieved the touring car race results it deserved.
Chrysler Australia used the 225 slant six, the 243 and 265 hemi six (developed in Australia), the 318, 340 and 360 cui US small blocks. There was also a wheezy 215 Hemi six, but we don't talk about them. They were based around the Chrysler B body chassis as used in the Dart and the Barracuda. Back in the day I owned all of them in 4 door, 2 door hardtop, pacer and Charger body shapes. I did lap dashes around Oran Park in them at times. The car in the front is a Mazda rotary, king of their class in the day. I spent a lot of money but I got from A-B very fast! I wished I still had them all. Edit: I forgot the 289cui V8 used in the AP6 and the VC models. A 289 VC Regal Wagon with factory air would be a sweet ride today, I would cruise around the country and spend the inheritance, haha.
Currently own a 75 charger with 265 nd triple webers etc. But also own a 68 roadrunner with a 440 (565hp), and while the 440 will smash the 265, the charger is such a hoot to drive and surprises many a V8 on the road. Even the ford and holden guys here in Oz like chargers and respect them for what they are.
Hi Ian thank you for showing our Aussie Charger, I am 100 percent Chrysler I love them both all our models and the American models, growing up my dad had a beautiful XL Charger but in the early nineties it was wreaked as we say in Australia it was written off by a distracted driver in a four wheel drive. Here is a bit of history on the Charger, the Chrysler Valiant Charger was a two door hardtop coupe introduced by Chrysler Australia in 1971. It was a short wheelbase version of the Australian Chrysler Valiant sedan. Introduced within the VH Valiant series, it continued as a variant through the subsequent VJ, VK and CL series, until production ceased in 1978. It was marketed and badged as the Valiant Charger in the VH and VJ series and as the Chrysler Charger in the later VK and CL series. The Chrysler Valiant Charger was based on the US Chrysler A-body platform, with virtually identical front suspension, the fenders were widened, and a wider rear axle fitted, so that the track, front and rear, was considerably wider than any US A-body, this also allowed wheels much wider than a US A-body. The Australian Chargers also used a 5-on-4.5" wheel bolt circle (still 7/16" studs), while the US cars did not go to "big bolt pattern" until 1973. The Charger was very popular in Australia during the VH series. The VH Valiant Charger achieved critical acclaim, winning the 1971 Australian Wheels Car of the Year Award. It was also popular in New Zealand where they were assembled from imported kits. During the seven years of production, the Charger carried many variations of essentially two engines, based on the Chrysler Hemi-6 Engine the 245 and the 265 and two versions of the Chrysler V8 engine the 318 and the 340. The Charger R/T option featured a tuned "Six Pack" version of the engine featured triple sidedraught Weber carburettors that formed the basis of Chrysler's touring car racer for 1971. This engine could also be ordered as an option on all models. The Valiant Charger was raced in Australia in an official capacity during 1971 and 1972, with most effort concentrated upon the series and the annual Bathurst 500 mile touring car event. Chrysler Australia employed the services of racing driver Leo Geoghegan to assist in the development of the Charger as a touring car racer. The Charger won the first race in which it was entered, the Toby Lee 100 at Oran Park, driven by Doug Chivas. In the 1972 Hardie-Ferodo 500 at Bathurst, a VH Charger R/T E49 driven by Doug Chivas placed third outright behind a Ford XY Falcon GTHO and a Holden Torana GTR XU-1. They were beaten by the XY Falcon GTHO, lapping some 6 seconds per lap slower due to brake pad issues. A rumour exists, that the order from Sydney for the Chrysler team and others was allegedly misplaced on the Saturday night before Sunday's race. The rumour further claims that Holden and Ford played a hand, or teams of the two major makers in Australia, played a part. This has been substantiated by a Ford team member at the track and Bib Stilwell, told the same story many years later, regardless Chrysler were unable to manage the previous success. In New Zealand, where the touring car rules were less open, the Charger proved to be unbeatable from 1971 through to 1979 at the famous B&H 500 mile (later 1000 km) series held at Pukekohe Park Raceway. The most successful of New Zealand drivers were Leo Leonard and Jim Little. Allan Moffat, driving the Ford XY Falcon GTHO, was comprehensively beaten by a Charger in New Zealand. Allan Moffat proclaimed the winning car as "The Fastest Charger in the World".
In standard trim, 265 CID semi-hemi combustion chambers the E49 option was high comp pistons, big cam, triple webber carbs, 4 speed manual, 302 bhp @ 5500rpm. Faster than a GTHO 351 V8 to 100mph by one second.
I had a VJ Dodge with the 265 Hemi, 2 barrel carb with a set of headers, and twin exhaust. Anyone who hadn't seen the Ute previously, all thought it had a V8. Gee's I tore up some tyres in that thing. Unfortunately it only had the 3 speed , on the tree, but man, that thing effin flew.
The Mazda was a RX2 Rotary, BMW 2002, An EH Holden, followed by a XU1 Torana. An XM Ford Falcon, A FE Holden, An Chrysler S Series Valiant, MK1 Ford Cortina GT
I still remember when I was in the ARES helping the cops in our unit doing their christmas shopping and filling the Highway Patrol car full of booze we joked with them what they would do if they got a call out :) such a big boot on such a great car. :)
My father worked at the Chrysler factory here in Adelaide , he did all the interior frames of the Bench Bucket seats and I grew up on them and love em and also the American Mopar. I've owned a VF 225 Pacer , VG VIP 318 and VG 245 wagon , a few VE 225s and a VJ 770 318 Charger and hope to own another in the future!
MOPAR!!!! YES!!! Love 'em or Hate 'em???? 😎⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇
Hey charger ✌🏽. You’d hear or see each time these drove bye.
It was in the adds here when these were new.
If you’re interested ua-cam.com/video/folQZegbaT8/v-deo.html here’s another
Aussie classic that was/is truly unique and underrated.
These were a great car, standard triple Weber's about 300hp. They actually shipped one to the Weber factory to tune the carbs to the engine.
The only reasons they didn't win races were the drum brakes (notice the air scoops), torsion bar suspension and initially the three speed transmission.
The other cars heading out were Car 29 an Orange Mazda RX2 Capella, Car 23 a BMW 1602, Car 34 a HR Holden Special and Car 45 an LJ Torana, the Blue & Silver car was a 1962 Chrysler S Series, then a couple of Lotus Cortinas.
The straight 6 has a beautiful sound.
Car number 45 is an early 70's model Torana. The car in front is a Holden Special. That funny looking car you liked near the end of the queue is a Valiant. Sorry, I can't tell you more specific details of them! 🙂
why dont you react to the ford xr6 turbo now thats a great vechicle to react 2
I think most car guys in Australia like MOPAR, it's like neutral ground between Team Blue and Team Red.
All good looking cars too.
Australia has a history of very powerful straight six engines, the last of the breed the Ford Barra 4.0L turbo (245CI) can be tuned to more than 600 HP with standard turbo, 1000 HP with standard internals, 2000 HP with production head and block castings and way beyond that with NC billeted head and block.
Neil d, new head, new block, just like grandad’s bloody axe, at what point does it stop being a Barra?
VERY NICE HE NEEDS TO TAKE A PEEK AT BATHURST FROM 68 ONWARDS THAT'LL RATTLE HIM😅
Valiant Chargers everything from VH to CL are absolutely awesome and underrated beasts my favorite Aussie muscle car well equal favorite with the torana SLR5000 thanks for all these Reactions IWrocker.
Technical wise the CM was the absolute best of them all. However unlike the rest of them, they certainly were not the fastest of them all. I had an old 245 many years ago. In the last 30 years of driving all sorts of cars, I still haven't seen any car that can beat them fuel economy wise.
@Rowan Brecknell the 245 went pretty damn hard, however naturally nowhere near as powerful as the 265. You could put the 245 into anything. Made a really nice boat engine too.
Keep the oldies alive. They wont be here for long.......Love MOPARS.
remember the campaign "Hey Charger" well as a kid when on the street we used to scream to the proud driver of his new charger "hey Charger" we would be greeted with the victory sign out the window with accompanied smile...we would then complete our little saying " a woolly one up ya " ......always always took the smile off their faces....
The Hemi Six was unique to Australia and at the time Chrysler Australia only had the 318 V8 in it's range, we never had the Big Block V8 engines here and the 340 was still a couple of years away. Mopar wanted to go racing at Bathurst so they decided to hot up the 265 Hemi Six instead of the 318. The first racing Charger was the E38 which made 280BHP and only used a three speed manual gearbox. The E49 was the improved model, it made 302BHP and it had a 4 speed. The E49 pulled a faster 1/4 mile time (14.1) than the legendary Falcon GTHO Phase 3 (14.4) but the Charger only had a top speed of around 132mph compared to 142mph of the HO.
The Chrysler by Chrysler lwb coupe and sedans had 360 V8's. I thought that the E55 was supposed to get the 440 before the medie driven supercar scare killed the Aussie muscle car scene.
132mph? Must 'ave been rev limited.
The Hemi Six was started in the US to replace the Slant Six, but Chysler US went with the V8 and sent all the R&D of the Hemi Six to Australia. Just going by memory here from some Hemi Six history docs I read.
Cheers!
Those days were so good and we here in Oz produced some awesome cars but it was "traditional" to be either a Ford or a Holden team, now I find no logic to, as I was a Ford man myself but secretly admired the L34`s, A9X`s, SLR`s, XU1`s apart from the Ford thoroughbreds such as the legendary HO Ph. 3, GT series, The Mustang Shelby, Cobra etc, today loving all of the cars of that era equally.
Then the Chrysler Pacer series with the noisy 3 on the floor box started making some impressive ground, of course followed by the Charger series that put some noses out joint lol that was an entirely different culture of raw horse power in cars that handled like the love boat, but were very innocent in the sense of affordability, DIY, performance parts availability and so on, in comparison of todays "performance " cars with limitless tech and ca$h that has no tradition as we knew it in our day.
In saying that, the only thing that doesnt change is, change, is proven to be right again. Cheers from Oz.
The E49 wasn't the fastest, however, it was the QUICKEST Australian Production Car!
"The Hemi Six Pack is an Australian Chrysler engine. Actually one of the fastest production car ever made in Australia was powered by the Hemi Six Pack. It was a straight six engine with 3 two barrel carburettors that displaced 265 cubes."
The blue & silver one is a 1962 SV1, also known as the S Series Valiant. It was literally an American Plymouth Valiant with 225 slant six & 3 speed borg warner converted to right hand drive
My favourite shape of all time. When I saw one as a young school boy I thought it was amazing. Still do. Found out later my dad ( a Kiwi ) raced one in NASCAR in 1963.
@@waynesmith2287 my uncle had one when I was a boy. I told him I would own it one day... When he passed away aunty offered it to me at full price. That was back in the '80's. Now it's all drained and covered in my shed. When my boys are older the heirloom is theirs.
I prefer the s over the r. Mines manual
When l was a kid, my dads mate had an R series? ( the model with the spare wheel bump on the boot lid) it was black so they had me convinced that it was a Batmobile!😂
When you write it like that I finally know what "AP" stood for.
Thank you. :)
I used to run a really cranky 265 in a Chrysler Centura, not a great car but power to weight ratio was insane. It was very partial to a wheelstand
My mum owned one, its name was rocket!!
Hard part replacing the 245 with the 265 was getting the bonnet closed...
I think Chrysler Australia missed an opportunity with the Centura, they should have made a r/t version with the e49 engine
@@dogtiredd I hope you are joking, they were the same engine, it was the bore that was different
i bought a chrysler centura only a year ago rust free got a rt spec 265 hemi and webbers rated at 300kw to chuck in it and im still on p's
Did my apprenticeship on Chryslers in the 70's. Remember being sent down to Melbourne to do courses on them, and one of the instructors was involved in their Bathurst cars. They had done testing with a 340 Charger, and achieved 172 mph down Conrod. then the supercar scare story hit the papers. Phase 4 Falcons & XU2 Torana got shelved. Chrysler had imported enough bits to make 200 homologated Chargers, but then had to detune them and sold them as 440's. But they used all the go fast bits in the South Australian only police highway patrol cars. Apparently the fastest cop cars in Oz. So wanted an E49 6 pack, and a guy who worked at the local drivein had one. Always asked if he wanted to sell, but always said no. Went to the drive in one night, but no Charger. Said he sold it because petrol prices going through the roof. Cried when he said he let it go for 3k as he didn't think anyone would buy a gas guzzler.
Talking about gas guzzler the same happened to the Capella and the RX 4 , a couple of my mate were into the rotary power , but a little car only getting 13 miles to the gallon when the fuel crisis hit in 76 killed them off
The supercar scare story was written by motoring journalist Evan Green and as you say, it killed the the next generation Falcon that Harry Firth was working on. After that Harry never spoke to Evan Green again except for just giving blank faced yes/no answers if Green was at the race track as a TV coverage reporter doing track side interviews.
You mean the V8 XU-1's. XU-2 was never shelved. They were released in 1974 renamed SLR5000.
Well I'm a mechanic and I've driven a genuine E49 in the mid 1990s. I drove it a bit on test drives trying to solve a particularly dangerous rear wheel brake lock up issue esp when the brakes were cold. You'd just touch the pedal and the rear brakes would lock and the car go sideways. It was very bad.
After thousands of $$$$s were spent it ended up with me, and I'm happy to say I solved it quickly and cheaply. It had a crook proportioning valve up under the dash. Truth be told everyone thought I was a legend but all the work had been done for me because almost everything in the braking system had been replaced - all I did was take an educated guess that no one knew of that proportioning valve and I was right.
PBR knew they were there though and still had NOS of them at that time. I replaced it.
With new proportioning valve all the brakes, and hoses, and calipers and wheel cylinders new or overhauled it made you dizzy it stopped so well. Not too bad for disc/drum brakes at all.
Look, they're just a car. You haven't missed much. They go alright but I can tell you they really weren't that special apart from the looks and the mystique. The handling was quite good and it really made me want to throw it around but yeah a car that did put a smile on my face was also a Valiant - it was a VG coupe that someone fitted a bone stock 440 motorhome engine to (complete with puny 383 exhaust manifolds with the left on the right and vice versa), a stock Thermoquad and 7.8:1 (or whatever) compression and stock electronic ignition and factory power steering. It had 3.23 LSD in it and that car was fun to drive. It was FAR FAR faster than the E49, had far better off the line poke, revved about as hard and had about +250ft/lbs more torque everywhere. The secondaries would open on the TQ and that 'disgusting' secondary roar was so loud it was almost louder than the exhaust. The bloody induction roar was so loud it was embarrassing in fact!
I estimate the smog 440 in that heavier car would be about one full second quicker over the 1/4 mile and at least that and probably more 0-60MPH. Back then it was cheap[ish] fun.
I've also driven a 2bbl 265 4sp Charger and compared to the E49 there wasn't a lot of difference. The E49 was most definitely faster but not by that much and much of that was the rear gear ratio. I remember the Webers had an almost fuel injection like throttle response but I also remember thinking, "I wonder how long it took him to find someone to set up those carbs properly like that?" The two were more similar than different - in fact almost the same esp engine harshness over 4500rpm. Those engines were as harsh as your mutha-in-law LOL. They have fully counterweighted cranks now that have transformed all that harshness but they didn't have them then.
If I had a collection of cars and an E49 was in it and I had to sell one car, then the E49 would be the first to go considering the prices they're pulling today. Not a very impressive car mechanically but a good V8 eater on the streets back then and they certainly look the part. They do have a certain WOW in the looks department I suppose.
Look I am a Mopar nut but I have to call it as I see it from the POV of a mechanic. I'd like them a lot more if they had a D60, a new process 4sp and a 426 Hemi I can tell you.
what a buy that would have been for 3k back in the day, considering what they got for these days. I wish I still had my 265 VJ Charger Sportsman.
The Phillip Island circuit is in Melbourne and the Moto GP race there and I think is one of the best tracks in Aus,👍
Def one of the best....... (or three.........) Bathurst, Phillip Island.... Above the rest.....
Philip Island is not in Melbourne.
@@birdley9577 well near Melbourne then
@@birdley9577 Sorry,I should have said Victoria
@@baird55aus I've had people tell me Frankston isn't Melbourne.
Phillip Island Racetrack was rebuilt over 30 years ago after quite a few years of neglect. it was rebuilt as a motorcycle race track to attract the Motorcycle GP's which it did. Which is why the long swoopy corners with two really tight turns. We spent a few years hanging out between the second last and last turns. Mostly on the bed of a large truck with beer, deck chairs, beer and some more beer. And a barbie with seafood, beer and some steak with beer. But it became overregulated and the good times were banned by the beancounters who wanted you to buy everything at the track to make money and banned BYO beer and food etc etc.
That engine loves the triple webber step up, match made in heaven.
I went with my friend and his cousin the the Dealer and he bought a brand new 75 Charger off the floor. He was 18yrs old and his Dad had a bumper crop on his farm. I was riding around in it all summer. As a 12 yr old it was awesome.
Out of the factory the best they got was 302 HP. Still amazing for a 265 cui six naturally aspirated.
With the four speed gearbox they could out accelerate the competition over the quarter mile.
As a young bloke back in the day I owned a limited edition VJ sportsman 265 4 speed with dual throat carb, it flew, mates with Holden 243, 327 chev no chance.
Even today that's impressive out of a naturally aspirated six, although to be fair the 265 had a fair bit of displacement behind it. Impressive in anyone's book.
Use to rat about the local speed way track in Wollongong in times gone by, a lot of the supa mods had worked 225 slants , true hemi donks.
Remember that the nominal power output of the Phase III GTHO was "only" 300 hp too... but if you weren't Joe Average (or should we say Bruce Average) but a known competitive driver, then you might have got one of the better cars with a few more of the "special" homologation parts and a 350 hp output. If you were a star for a race team then the "300 hp" one you got was more like "380 hp", even before your tuners went to work.
And yet the Chargers could accelerate quicker, so take that 302 hp figure with a similar grain of salt.
Holden did the same with their XU1's and so too did Chrysler. Within the "production car" circles there were cars that had a smattering of the best performance parts, and some that got ALL of them in the one package.
@@shanesalmo1163 I had a VJ Sportsman,same motor but with the T bar auto so not as quick as the 4 speed perhaps but still a bloody quick car for a factory stock vehicle.
The E 49 Charger (Aust) produced 302 HP @ 5600rpm & ran the 1/4 mile in 14 .2/14.3 from factory. 0-60 mph in 6.2 secs.
Held 1/4 mile record in Australia for Australian production car for over 20 years or more!
Cliff Garavanta,
Perth Western Australia
Chargers were unstoppable in the 70s here in new Zealand in the production series ford called the big guns in from Australia but to no avail. Just imagine what could have been if the supercar scare never happened and the charger got the 340 v8
I'd like to know how the rules differed in NZ to here, the Chargers were far more competitive in NZ than here, the rules in Aus meant no mods to the car and the geometry was wrong and the things handled like crap, more coppers died in them and any other car, they were even a chore in a straight line, friend who is a mechanic and a Chrysler fan cut the front cross member of his VH in half and welded in a spacer, even did his own wheel alignments using chalk, that car handled much better after that.
I used to own a VJ 770 Charger. I had to sell it because I needed a reliable car to commute with. Hardest decision I ever made.
Cheers mate!! I was literally just about to request something new in other comments - 3 day lockdown here in NZ because ONE (1!) person got the sniffles up north.
Seems entirely reasonable…
Anyway, post more, I’m bored af!
3 day lockdown isn't so bad, good excuse to catch up on some movies.
Here's what happens when you don't lock down...
US covid cases per day:
50 days ago 11,871
40 days ago 15,068
30 days ago 31,447
20 days ago 61,306
10 days ago 107,143
Today 134,390
US covid deaths per day:
21 days ago: 242
14 days ago: 386
7 days ago: 511
Right now: 706
Compare that to US deaths in Afghanistan - not per day, but per year:
2015: 22
2016: 14
2017: 17
2018: 15
2019: 22
2020: 9
Sorry to hear that but I got you 😉, will be posting a lot again next couple days
@@IWrocker Bloody legend, cheers mate! One of these days I’ll make you a Virtual Holiday vid. Won’t be for a month or two though sorry. About to switch to a 2 week on / 2 week off job, so I’ll have time to do a quality job.
@@DaveWhoa Ha ha your auto correct changed “beer” to “movies” !
@@superyamagucci ahhh crap, it did too
Little RX2s going hard out front.
The E49 Charger was a cool beast in its day.
Australia usually avoided the larger engine options, but when the Valiant was introduced here in 1962 we went 225 only and so avoiding the smaller US 170 models.
The Valiants here were the big power cars against the Holdens and Falcons.
145 BHP in the Valiants
75 BHP Holden
80 BHP Falcon when the Valiant was introduced.
Valiants were first with a V8 option in 1965.
Ford and Holden played catch up until the 1967 Falcon GT.
you are correct the last 2 were Ford Lotus Cortinas, the blue and white car you thought looked cool was a Valiant (Chrysler) SV1
As much as I love the aussie Chargers, my favourite aussie mopar was the VH Pacer. Very rare today.
Had a VH couldn't kill it!
my old man still laments the selling of his Pacer he had a full police spec version apparently and of coarse it was purple haha
A mate of mine from Port Hedland, back in the 80s, had a pacer with the good old slant 6. Damn that thing looked good!
Ahh the old pacer..quick to get around in except corners :-P
@@XxmillerniaxX That's the one... positively flew... until you had to go around a corner.
A well tuned E49 was THE fastest production car in the world from 0-100mph in the early 70's. Beat the V8's at their own game. Those triple Webber's used to feed it plenty of fuel and air to achieve this, but we're a bit hard to keep tuned not unlike the GTR XU1 Torana. Two Aussie straight sixes that well & truly punched above their weight.
They certainly did. the XU-1 Torries and the E38 and E49 Charger's put many V8's to shame. they were just a great combo that worked well together.
Sorry John, the RT- E49 was the "Quickest" not the "Fastest" inline 6 naturally aspirated production car in the world for many years. And yes, my 74 VJ 265 4sp Charger is sitting cozy in my shed.
Some touted the E-49 as the worlds fastest 6- not sure on the truth to that im sure others were faster but maybe not quicker. Was definitely Australia's fastest accelerating production car for 25 years though.
Point taken. Quickest not Fastest.
It's a thrill to see this. When I was much younger, I drove one of these as a daily driver, this exact colour scheme, stripes and all. It wasn't a factory e49 but the engine was built to e49 specs, running triple dual throat Weber carbs with factory linkages. Many "modern" v8 drivers were left crying into their milk after meeting me at the lights. You could drop to 2nd gear at 80kph and floor it and that old girl would light up the tyres. Outstanding vehicles well ahead of their time.
That little orange Mazda RX2 with a 12a Rotary has amazing performance.
Phillip island is a purpose built circuit in my state. Moto GP race there annually along with the super bikes. I go to the classics there regularly. Great place to watch the racing
The 225 is the baby to the 245 and the beastly 265 Hemi engines that beat the 351 GTHO Falcons in NZ not only around the bends but down the straights also and sent one of the Aussie Falcons home just after a couple of races as they couldn't compete.
The 225 was the earlier slant six, released in the first Valiant RV1.
Smallest hemi 6 was 215ci
These Chargers are legendary here in Aus, but for me (being a rotary owner) I loved watching that little orange Rotary rx2 chopping the V8's and 6's..
Lot of love for the Valiant Chargers here in Australia being the underdog car doing more with less. Some wins here but usually out gunned by Ford Falcon and Holden Torana.
In New Zealand they dominated on there tracks and drivers. Won their biggest race for years in a row.
Rare to find any hate for them here.
A good one gets big money but not as much as the stratospheric amounts the top Falcons and Holden's go for.
I'm a Holden girl through and through but I've also owned a couple Chargers back in the 80's as well. have a huge soft spot for Mopars and would happily have one in my garage now if I could afford it.
Ahh memories.... cool video mate. I had a gun metal E55 charger, same body style except round headlights rocking a 360ci with 727 auto...An absolute tyre destroying head turner.
Cheers my Aussie brother 👍
If you did it had the wrong engine,e55s had 340s.
@@colinmunro7337 I didn't say it had the factory correct motor... cheers
@@mickd8188 lol. 40mm sway bar?
E-55's were a VH, so rectangular lights. To date I've not seen information that the option was available in VJ. As E-55 was the engine option code, a different motor pretty much negates the name- imagine someone tells you they have an E-49 and opens the bonnet to show you a 245 2 barrel!
@@rossbrumby1957 yup. Mick D. May have bought an e55, but I have my doubts he was sold one. Compliance plates never lie. (Unless they're swapped as well)
Triple Webers were standard straight out of the factory on the E49 Valiant Chrysler, How cool was that!
Hemi six made locally by chrysler in Adelaide, gearbox is a locally made Borg Warner made in Albury NSW. Axles are also locally made there. The hemi six came in 3 sizes, 215, 245 and 265 Ci, good things.
The Charger is a thing of beauty. When I think of muscle cars I always think of the Charger. Crazy how much they're worth too, you can buy an old Ferrari for cheaper than a mint Charger.
I'm regretting selling my XB Coupe 75k for a shell these days.
Yes, & probably pay as much again to get it fixed up, let alone restored.
@@elroyfudbucker6806 Oh easily, parts alone would run you way over that. Hell, depending on the condition of the shell $80k might get you back to bare metal, patched and straightened, and if you're really lucky some paint.
The 265 was pretty good. My mate used to love lighting his up while stuck in traffic!!
Phillip Island is wicked beyond belief... watch Mick Doohan win in '98 on the Honda NSR-500. I was there, and it was wild.
After watching this I realized they have this car on Forza Horizon 4, I bought it and boy is it fun to drive.
Hi Ian, good to see you found the Aussie Mopar Charger a nice car. I had an E55 which was a 340ci model, triple black car, one of 3 made in that configuration. God I loved that thing! You would've guessed right when you said those 2 cars being Ford Cortinas & that blue & silver car just ahead of them was an S series Valiant 4 door, the equivalent to the Valiant Signet in the US. Good to see you're onto the AFL as well.
Cheers & stay safe in your part of the world
I also owned a VH SE E55 charger. It was heavily optioned including aircon, power steer and the rare pop out rear windows. I recently checked the number of production with all options. It turned out to be 1 of 1. It was my first car and I still miss it today. I never owned an E49 but would have loved to.
I currently have a Barra assisted Ford ute for work, a jeep, 2006 300c with a moded 6.4 Hemi and a 67 Barracuda sitting in the garage. I would give up all the cars to have my old E55 back. MOPAR all the way. Just a little biased. LOL
Love watching American reactions to our Aussie culture. Keep it up
Ford Australia made the inline 6 cylinder Barra engine (legendary) that they can get huge amounts of power from.
Yeh, here's mine ua-cam.com/video/kgQEf2sY0Sg/v-deo.html
my wife is still driving one in her 2004 BAXR6 the thing hammers
Great upload as always. Glad you covered this, and Glens channel is really informative. You'll definitely learn some cool information about the different muscle cars of the era there.
I owned a basic VH Charger / Hemi 245 in the late '80s. I initially bought it to carry two hang gliders due to it's length and strong bumper bars. The only thing that I would have spent money on but didn't was to get the steering to feel more connected to the road and remove that sponginess in the steering. There was so much room under the bonnet that one morning my brother hid in the engine bay and scared the beer jesus out of me when I went to continue the oil change work.
All Aussie homegrown Mopars were A-bodies. The Charger was very close the Duster but with Classic charger styling but with the rear chopped off.
The previous generation (VE VF VG) was based on the Dart and the 1st 2 generations based on the Plymouth Valiant. Oh and most of them came available as utes!! Imagine a Dodge Dart Ute!!
FYI the E49 Charger was the quickest in the 1/4 mile of all the Aussie cars of the muscle car era.
Look up Cameron Tilley Valiant Pacer Touring Car Masters, one of the most famous Chryslers in Aussie motorsport.
Or Clem Smith in his Charger.
Chrysler Charger the 2nd best looking Aussie car (after the Ford coupe) imho. Definitely a looker. Also were available with a 360 V8 which was well regarded. Because Chrysler pulled out of Australia, I don't think we can be bothered as much with the love hate thing. Most people settled on being Ford or Holden, but had warm thoughts for the Charger.
The Monaros looked best, followed by Chargers and those fat arsed Fords were about no 39!!!
Falcon GTs have four doors, Monaros have two.
We had 318 and 360 cube V8's but the top motor was the 340 which was a mopar performance motor. Despite the lower capacity it was significantly more powerful than the 360.
The E55 Charger had the 340 cube motor.
@@ldnwholesale8552 Except for the XB GT and HQ, HJ and HX GTS.
@@ldnwholesale8552 Falcon GTs also had 2 doors
XA-XC Falcon coupes and Valiant Chargers are the best looking cars to come out of Australia ever hands down.
Glad you liked it ✊ zthese things gave the V8 a good run, 245 and 265,,, went like a cut snake
Mum had a VH Charger. I grew up thinking it would be mine one day. It was white with the black stripes. When I was 13 she sold it for a Chrysler Sigma wagon because Dad got done speeding...again. I'm a grown man now and it still hurts.
Absolutely gorgeous ....Even as a Ford fan I always liked the Charger . Lovely looking and they went stunningly .. A friend of mine had one for a long time .. However if you really want to embrace Aussie inline 6's ...it's the Ford Barra 4.0 .. 3984 cc DOHC full VCT and as bulletproof as you can get . The Barra Turbo is a V8 killer quite literally ...Capable of way over 1000 hp without spending a fortune ..Please check the Barra out Ian ..There are tons of videos about them .
Barra the world
Search Barra 2200 HP to see the ultimate one so far.
The Barra is the result of Ford owning Jaguar. It's no coincidence the similarities to the AJ6/ AJ16. They were bulletproof motors but implemented when Jaguar werent selling performance, so with the exception of a few supercharged XJR's and aftermarket turbo specials, weren't exploited to their potential. Anything you can do with a Barra, you can do with an AJ6/16.
@@rossbrumby1957 Wrong, but ok. . .
Got both we will see about the barras when there 50yrs old
You were right about the Ford Cortina's, I do believe that Lotus and Cosworth did chassis and engine development for them back then. Some others you missed were the EH Holden and the S Series Valiant. 😎👍
RX3 Mazda (orange bugger), LJ Torana and BMW 2002.
Charger was one of the prettiest looking Aussie built cars ever. I think it was also one of the most loved Aussie built cars probably only behind the HT/HK/HG Monaros.
It's an A-body chassis, the recessed rear window is an aero mess- it creates a vacuum. We're doing a metal kick-up for my Valiant on the roof (integrated, small) to push the air up off the glass. Also have a chin spoiler that is attached at the core support, A-pillar covers, metal spoiler (3" tall) in the trunk lid, and a vent on the hood to let air out. It's all pretty subtle, but works very well. Run a Bergman Auto Craft steering & suspension set-up, 12" rotor swap from an R-body, 11.2" discs from an Explorer on an 8.75" rear.
Have a look at Cameron Tilly’s VF valiant pacer
I think Tilley's slant six would be one of the most developed in the world. Unfortunately regs keep changing. That's the reason Jimmy Richards stopped racing in TCM.
@@carseyeadmire Tilley's Pacer had a Hemi 6 before he turned to the V8 engine.
@@rossbrumby1957 yes sorry you're correct
My favourite Aussie muscle car ever. Would love to have one. Bang on with the cortina call aswell
Agreed. 👍 and wow I’m so glad I got that cortina right 😝
The Aussie hemi sixes were initially an American design, to be used as a replacement for the slant .We got a porotype and we redesigned it a bit for our conditions. They did a 215cu,245 cu and 265 cu versions.
Very proud to say my Father in law worked in the development team building clay plugs for the Australian Charger body design at Chrysler in Adelaide Australia.
Valiant’s is what they were sold as add down under
I don't think the word valiant appeared on the Charger, did it?
@@xpusostomos Chrysler valiant charger
@@xpusostomos VH, VJ, Valiant badge on panel in front of the bonnet, lh side. VK had Chrysler badge there instead.
Dude, you have to check out the SANDMAN , or just panos in general ! 🤙🇦🇺
True, the Panel Van is unique to Australia like the Ute is. If it's rockin' don't bother knockin'
Holden, Ford and valiant all had great “lifestyle” vans well worth having a look at
I second that or third it or whatever:) classic car
shaggin' wagons 😄
Yep, the panelvans will freak him out too. They did have the woodies in the US which fitted with the surf culture, but the Sandman took it to a whole new level.
Bathurst spec Chargers had drum rear brakes, ... & were apparently sent to Lamborghini to have their triple Webers tuned.
Phillip island was used for the original Bathurst car race back in the 60's - the Armstrong 500 (miles), then moved to NSW & became the Hardie Ferodo 500
... then to the Bathurst 1000 (km).
Phillip Island is more recently used for MotoGP (bikes) since the late 80's.
They sent a VG pacer with the six pack motor in it to Weber Italy to fine tune it
Weber in Italy developed the carb setup.
Legend has it the Charger test mule is still there.
@@johnd8892 no charger was ever sent to Italy it was a VG pacer with the six pack motor fitted sent to Weber to fine tune it Chrysler racing and engine development John Ellis went with it
blue with silver stripe was an S series Valiant, and yes the little ones at the end were Mark2 ford Cortina's
Bro now you’re on a rare beast. There’s another you should look at. P76 Leyland. Totally underrated car.
Here’s one found ua-cam.com/video/folQZegbaT8/v-deo.html. A little ugly but that motor made up for that.
P76 Targa Florio with the 4.4L Alloy V8
Doesn't count because never went on sale
@@xpusostomos Ummm I don't know what you're thinking, they sold 18,000 P76's.
It won Car of the Year in 1973 !
yeah sure p76, ok i guess especialy if u were'nt plan'n on have'n sex 4 awhile
Hey Charger! I was wondering when you'd discover this one; wall of text incoming, but I'm sure you won't mind...
The origins of this car really lie with the Hemi 265 engine, which started out as Chrysler's "D" engine in the States. Small-block V8s had eroded the big six's market Stateside, so Chrysler sent it to their Australian division (based at Tonsley Park, Adelaide) to see what they could make of it. At the time, stepping up to a V8 was a bridge too far for many Aussies - it was a big call, and just a bit too "look at me" - so the 4.0-litre straight-six was right at home here. Chrysler put it through a $33 million development programme and finished it off with local parts, meaning - when it launched with the stopgap VG Valiant range in 1970 - Chrysler became the first Aussie manufacturer to hit the 95% local content milestone. Since that triggered tax breaks from the Federal Government in Canberra, that was a very welcome development! They called it the Hemi 245 to piggyback off the Hemi legend in the U.S., but it was a badge only - the valves were inclined at only 7 degrees. "A Hemi truth..." has been the standard joke ever since.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes they were putting together the car the engine was really meant for - the VH Valiant, due to arrive in early 1971. And the Australians at Tonsley Park were watching this unfold with mounting horror - it was a trainwreck in slow motion. Australian buyers were in a weird place: we liked American styling cues, but we didn't like them to be as big and brash as the Americans did. Compare an XA Falcon Hardtop with the Torino that came off the drawing board next to it and you'll get the idea. Unfortunately, the Americans designing Chrysler Australia's new car in Highland Park didn't seem to register the "but more toned down" part of the design brief, and whenever there was a disagreement between the Aussies and Americans, the Americans always got their way. Holden went through a similar thing with GM a few years earlier, which ended with them getting their own design office in Melbourne after the American-designed HD got tumbleweeds.
But Chrysler didn't have the generous cash reserves of Holden, and the VH Valiant could only dream of getting tumbleweeds; mostly it just heard the people at the back being quietly sick. The VH was the all-time ugliest car Australia ever built, until the AU Falcon came along and relieved it of that title; sales cratered and never recovered.
Fortunately, the crew in Adelaide had been working on an after-hours project as well. They saw the VH range as designed had nothing to appeal to youth, and nothing to race at Bathurst - both crucial gaps in the range. A two-door coupé would fill both niches quite nicely, so they designed one, with testing done by shortening a VG ute to give it the same wheelbase, so anyone watching it turning laps at Mallala would think it was just a local hoon having a bit of fun. Only after it had been finished and proven viable was it presented to Head Office in the U.S., and since there was absolutely no spare budget for it, some remarkable things were done to tool up for it, especially given every body panel from the A-pillar back was unique! Chrysler Australia had a remarkable gift for improvising around the lack of money. Amazing to think Australia's ugliest car and its most beautiful were conjoined twins! It deservedly won Wheels magazine's Car of the Year award for 1971.
Anyway, the engine ended up being the same 245 Hemi six or the optional 265, with the Bathurst cars (option E38) coming with that beautiful six pack of Weber carbs. A whole car was flown to Italy for the Weber factory to sort it out, and after 4,000 miles of testing around the Italian countryside, when it came back it made 280hp and 320 lb-ft of torque. Yet it would idle smoothly at the traffic lights, and to this day nobody seems to know how they did it - fans trying to build a replica end up tearing their hair out after a decade of trying to get it to idle without stalling!
Anyway, if you were going to race it at Bathurst you also needed the A84 Track Pack, which gave you stronger ROH alloy wheels, finned rear drums, better rear leaves, a Sure-Grip LSD... and, oh yeah, completely filled up the boot with a 34-gallon fuel tank, which would allow you to finish Bathurst on just two stops. And all for just $3,750 off the showroom floor ($41,500 today - convert to U.S. dollars from there). Almost a third of all VH sales were Chargers, which says as much about the brilliance of the Charger as it does about how unpopular the base Valiant was!
As far as racing went, The weakness of the Charger was its gearbox, which was only a Borg Warner 3-speed - at the time Australia didn't have a locally-made 4-speeder, and Chrysler didn't sell enough cars to get away with importing like Ford and Holden. So in effect, it had no first gear - getting off the line was a matter of choosing whether you preferred bogging down and losing the revs or lighting 'em up and going nowhere for a moment.
The E49 was the homologation update for 1972, with a bit more grunt (300hp, more than anyone would see from a six-cylinder until the Porsche 911 Turbo in 1975), and at long last, a Mopar 4-speed gearbox. With that fitted, this thing would cover the quarter-mile faster than anything else out in Austrlaia at the time, even the Phase III Falcon, although that did mean it was a bit short of legs on Conrod. There were rumours at the time that Chrysler were going to give it a 340ci V8, but the Supercar Scare came along and killed Series Production racing before that could happen. V8 Chargers WERE built soon after - my uncle has a VK 360 from 1976, and it's awesome - but the era of the Bathurst Special had ended before Chrysler could claim the trophy. The company circled the drain for the rest of the 1970s and was eventually swallowed up by Mitsubishi in the early 1980s. Australia lost the third of the Big Three and became the land of Ford vs Holden.
Fords are still better, though.
The VH was the 3rd most populous model of Valiant, hardly what you claim as a train wreck situation. At it's peak, the Charger accounted for half of all Valiant sales- not a third. After the success of the VH being the second most prolific Valiant model ever at 67,800 units, the VJ was a hit, selling 90,865. It's clear that Valiant buyers liked what they saw.
@@rossbrumby1957 And yet it never made its budget back. Reminder of the sales figures on that "big hit":
VJ Valiant: 90,865
HJ Holden: 176,202
XB Falcon: 211,971
Sorry mate, but when your main rival is out-selling you nearly two-to-one, that's a massacre (especially when they're panicking, because their previous model got close to half a million registrations). Valiant buyers might indeed have liked what they saw (which itself is begging the question. If they didn't, would they be Valiant buyers in the first place?) but there were damn few of them around.
I daresay you're right at some point Chargers made up half of Chrysler's sales, but I was only speaking of the VH, of which 18,000 were Chargers. Which works out as closer to a third of that 67,800 than to half. I'm sorry mate, but you're just wrong. Even the title "most popular Valiant" is damning with faint praise.
The owner of the company I worked for as a mechanic (now passed away) had the iconic version of this car (worth $500,000) and we had to move his cars from his car collection in the warehouse to the workshop for us to do a once over before the auction...any ways. He had spent over $30,000 on the engine and on the way back my boss was driving the R/T charged, the supervisor in the Ferrari 355 spider and me in the Holden VF Maloo GTR-S (supercharged 6.2ltr, 6speed manual) and we all lined up at the lights. The Charger absolutely spanked the Ferrari and Maloo. It's power to weight ratio was so good and the massive rear tyres, we had no chance.
In Oz we also had the 225 slant six, or slopey as we colloquially called it, then we had the 215, 245 and 265 hemi ( straight six) , in the small block we had the 273, 318, 340 and 360. The 265 hemi on the street was more than a match for the Holden and ford small blocks. Mopar or No Car. Its us against them
Great cars the VH Chargers, built between 1971-1972 the R/T E38(6pack280hp) and E49(6pack302hp). The E49 claimed the fastest 6cyl record for 30+ years (Fastest 0-100MPH). Unfortunately they came 2 years to late as Ford and Holden already had race development. The 265 cubic 6 cyl was a US truck engine that was imported. All MOPAR fans here in Australia were wanting the race proven US V8. But Chrysler Australia div was run by US executives and all development had to be approved by the US Chrysler and they would not approve the V8 instead they gave Australia the 6 cyl so Aus Chrysler went to work and came up with the Charger. Also they were not allowed to change the Wheel base if you look at the car you will see the overhang at the rear as that was the 4 door Valiant chassis. They did get the 340 V8 but that was only to be used in the Luxury Model Charger and was called the 770 SE E55(Auto only) imagine the race proven 340 racing against the Falcon's and Torana's. A missed opportunity idiots.
The sedan was 111 inch wheelbase, the Charger was 105. They also shortened the overhang at the rear to make it handle and look better.
I don't know where you got the info on US executive's running Chrysler Aust but the V8 racing Charger program was cancelled because of the super car scare 08/72 frightened off Chrysler Aust from losing government contracts which was likely
(FORD and Holden also.
The Valiant E49 Charger was the fastest 1/4 mile car at factory spec (sub12s)
Maybe if you threw one off a cliff. 14.1 sec was the factory 1/4 mile time, and that was epic for the day.
Was the fastest accelerating production 6cy car right up until the Ford XR6 Turbo.
@@JoshPhoenix11 was the outright fastest accelerating aussie production car for 25 years before Holden could lay claim to that title. Forget which model now.
Bathurst 45 Yrs Ago Walking home from the Pool aged 13 .. This hot red and black RT 6 pack Charger pulls up beside me .. it was my brother George get in he says .. then proceeds to lays rubber for two blocks ..I will never forget that day
I've got footage of Rob's car on fire at Sandown on an old UA-cam account... Bloody fast car, glad it's back on track, IIRC after the burn down he blew two motors. His chassis guy knows his stuff too, Burns runs way less camber the other Charger drivers, and corners faster.
You US guys really missed out by giving us your unwanted "truck" engine. 265 hemi 6 was the best 6 by far for a looong time and as demonstrated here ,as good as a lot of v8,s
I feel like after watching this I would agree… the big blocks (V8s) were legendary but I think a lot of people here would do builds with the Hemi six if they could or knew about it… I know I would, assuming it was cheaper say… I mean how can you argue with a lighter setup and a great sounding inline engine that can rev to 7k revs!
The Hemi 265 cu in (4.3 L) was first introduced in 1971 in the VH, it was Australian designed, made and only used here.
It had a new cylinder block with a bigger bore diameter of 3.91 in (99 mm)-the same as many of the Chrysler small-block V8s-and a new cylinder head, having hemispherical shaped combustion chambers with larger valves. The old adage, when the green light drops, the bullshit stops, rings true. If you want to see and hear how hard they go, click on the link> ua-cam.com/video/I4bwLwZ6zVQ/v-deo.html
Better - Doug Chivas killed them ll in this car.
@@IWrocker they where gr8 cars and if u wanted more bang 4 ur buck u always went 4 a valiant. i bought a $300 1968 sedan 225 in the early 80s and left a brand new ford police car so far behind i waited at the stop sign 4 him 2 catch up.
I agree when you say the merican chargers looked better, however id happy take an aussie one.
American chargers are way too long and heavy tho
@@randomdude4669 yeah there is that. But they do look sweet.
@@AlphaAlex1 they do look mean af and would be awesome if they were 2 foot shorter and around 300kg lighter although they still would have sold okay in aus stock
@@randomdude4669 Yeah Agreed. Practicality is a thing. plus like you said weight. However If I ever got one I wouldn't care, I'd get it to go fast in a straight. When it boogies
Us Aussies have a knack for making or improving the i6. The Barra is the most well known but the Hemi 265 was an absolute weapon for its generation. I have a mate who has a 56 Plymouth and he's chucking a 265 in it, partly because Mopar flathead 6 stuff is impossible to find here
Was hitching a ride in NZ back in those days.
This guy stops in an E49,I had never seen one.
He imported it from Aus and it cost him a ton of money.
Dellorto carbs not webbers,top range engine mods and he had it stroked
with special pistons.
Had never heard the term before.
The power was un believable,he could spin the tires with ease
at 50mph.
I was totally blown away,this thing had racing harnesses
roll cage a beast of g/box with an electric activated over drive.
I dont remember what he paid with all the extras but it was more
than an average house in NZ at the time.
This was no doubt a one of,there should be a record of its sale
I would think.
He picked it up in Auckland and was driving to wellington,on the ferry and
down to Invercargill.
I was only going a third of the way to New plymouth and was very tempted to go
all the way with him.
It was winter and the thought of hitching all the way back did not appeal in
that weather.
In Australia , We had in Slant 6 Range was the 215, 225, 245 and the 265. The range was the R series in 1962, The S series in 1963, The AP5 and AP6 in 1964, The VC for 1965 to 1966. The VE in 1967, and finnally the VF for 1968 to 1969. 1970 was the birth of the HEMI in Australia.
Only the 225 was a slant six.
All the others were variations of the new for 1970 hemi engine.
All these are normal vertical sixes as can be seen when the engine is shown on this one.
@@johnd8892 I had owned a VF Valiant Regal and it had a 245 Slant 6 in it.
@@russellhorsefield9199 I would trust the vast amount of documentation in print and film of the 225 slant six and Chrysler Australia's move to the vertical hemi six for the other sixes than your memory. Unless you can point to something that does not rely on your memory. Do you still claim the other sizes were slants as well?
@@johnd8892 He's got serious memory issues has old Russell. My dad had a VF Pacer, 225 slant 6. No slant six were larger than the 225. He might have had a VF with a transplanted VG motor. Unlike Holden who put a few Red motors in end of production EJ's, Chrysler's Hemi 6 debuted in the VG. Most comments here are factually incorrect. Amazing in 2022 old blokes can comment on UA-cam but not do a quick search to check their facts before commenting and making an arse of themselves.
The 265 HEMI SIX was C1972. Very impressive engine for those days. I was probably the only kid in Australia who got given to school in1970 in a 1969 Dodge Charger 426 HEMI. My dad worked at a place called Bluepoint motors, the biggest Chrysler dealer in Australia at the time and his boss Frank Illich would let my dad drive all of his special cars. The heart says Mopar. But my wallet says Ford. I had 4 XR6 Turbo Utes, and I loved them. They had so much torque for towing my Race Car, a Mazda RX7 with a 6.0l LS V8. I currently own 2x brand-new 2021 Mustangs and they are now Australia’s best bang for th3 buck but only because they’re about $50,000 cheaper than a Dodge challenger in Australia. MOPAR all day if I was rich.
265 hemi - 225kw
351 cleveland -223kw
The GT Falcon had an extra 1.5 litres and 2 more cyls, higher compression ratio, and higher rev range.
Chrysler really knew how to make a good engine.
They also made a 245 and a rarer 215 hemi.
Phillip island track definitely not just amateurs. Holds two world championship rounds for MotoGP and world Superbike. Also V8 Supercar rounds.
Large grass run offs are good for motorbikes and cars.
Amature type races also run frequently with the run offs helping for safety and car damage sake. Unlike other tracks with lots of concrete barriers lining the track.
Cars still get scary fast according to my friends experiences driving on it.
one of the best looking cars ever made
This is the circuit where the original Armstrong 500 race for production saloon cars was run, until the surface degraded too much to use, The race then moved to.......Bathurst!
I had a 1969 Valiant Pacer with the 225 slant 6 and yep great car, great engine. Used to race my mate who had the Monaro, 253 V8, and used to beat him
Hey mate thanks for appreciating Aussie muscle, down under racing and muscle cars have been developed on a string budget, lack of money from the factory brands and technology developed mostly through back yard races, great video look forward to more on Aussie muscle, the RT 265 charger came from the factory with triple Webber’s for racing as show room car.
The little thing before the Charger was a Mazda RX2 with a bridgeport engine i think. The Phillip Island Circuit is where they run the Australian round of MotoGP
The Capella in Aussie parlance was the 1600cc 4 cyl, and the RX2 was it's name if it had the Rotary engine (which was the 12a rotary).
I guess Mazda learnt from the Datsun Fairlady naming misadventure.
With Datsun struggling to sell a sportscar with a less than masculine name in the early 60's before going to Datsun 1600 and 2000 sports nomenclature..
So we didn't get the "Savannah" nameplate on the rotary, just RX and a series model number (RX2, RX3, etc)
Phillip Island was the original venue for the Armstrong 500 in 1960. By 1962 the circuit was badly damaged and the owners didn't have the money to repair it. So the Armstrong 500 was moved to Mount Panorama for 1963. Sir Jack Brabham had suggested the Longford circuit in northern Tasmania, but the state operated railway refused to shut down the train line, which ran through the track, for the day.
The blue with the silver is an earlier model valiant made here in Australia.
I’m a Ford man to the core, but the 265 was the Barra of the 70s. Absolutely love and I am totally proud of the Aussie products Ford, GM or Chrysler. 🇦🇺👍
Haha! Thanks for the surprise collaboration, positive review, and your kind words regarding my channel. 👍
A friend of mine had a Torana like the pink one #74 parked next to the charger, the torana was quite a small car with limited space length wise under the bonnet [ or the hood as you Americans call it ], the 6 cyl Aussie motors fitted in that space perfectly. The 265 hemi 6 at first glance looked like a Holden 6, a 2nd glance you would have noticed the length and height difference. So my friend noticing the similarity thought it would be a good idea to pop one of these hemi’s into his torana and after extensive reworking of the engine bay he got it to fit.the engine itself was also extensively modified with the addition of a turbo charger, this car was an absolute brute 500 flywheel HP 450 RWHP, I wish I knew where it ended up, probably at the car crushers. This car was built about 30 years ago but man it was a rocket ship
8:25 Mazda RX2, Charger, Boss 302, notchback, BMW 2002, EH Holden special, GTR XU1 Torana, another notchback, 55', Chrysler Valiant("blue with the silver"), Mk1 lotus cortina's
I had a VG Valiant with a 245 Hemi with 3 on the tree. The thing had so much torque everywhere you were never out of gear. Just turned a corner uphill and still in 3rd? Just give it some juice at 1500rpm and chug up the hill. 2.02 inlet valves and 1.6 exhaust from the factory. Want horsepower? Just add carburation and exhaust. They tested the E49 on the track with a 340 and the 265 was faster. Loved that car. Big ports, big valves and easy to work on. And the stripes that Mopar are the masters of.
Phillip Island is actually where the original production car endurance race was held, it moved to Bathurst after a couple of years and the rest is history. It's a flowing track with long high speed corners so a smaller good-handling car can match it with the big guns. It's also well known internationally in motorcycle racing.
The category in this video is Group N, which is for touring cars made prior to 1973, provided a car of that make and model was raced here. Cars are structurally original with a roll cage, engines can be heavily worked but must use original block and head, brake size and type is as per original (can use racing pads though!), suspension is original design but can change shocks and springs.
There's another series called Touring Car Masters that started like Group N but allows more modifications (eg bigger brakes) and newer cars.
As an Aussie chick who has owned several Hemi 6 cylinders, I will attest to what a potent motor they can be..have owned 2 Chargers,one with a 265 Hemi 6 and that thing flew. with the right work done to them they can put many a V8 to shame. my other Charger I owned only had the little 215 Hemi 6 in it, yet that thing was a real screamer as well...would rev like there was no tomorrow.
As an Aussie I've always loved the Aussie charger
Blue and silver car at the start of intro was a 62ish ( Mopar) Valiant ( Aussie before chrysler)
S series car
I never worked on them but I have deep respect for the HEMI six.
A bit more than 21 years ago I worked with a bloke who loved Mopar stuff. I remember going round to his house after work one day: we drove about 20 minutes to get there; once we'd arrived, he said "I'll show you around after I put some fuel in the car, wanna come for a drive?". So we drove the 10 minutes to the servo in his beaten-up, absolutely stock, 1970 245 HEMI VG coupe. One corner before we got there, he lit up the rear tyres for a few seconds; there was a bit of smoke but the engine quickly began to lose power. He said, "probably needs some water". We pulled into the servo, he filled up the tank, poured 9-10 litres (2.3-2.6 US Gal.) of water into the radiator, paid, drove out of the servo and into a minute of full-smoke burnout. As we got back to his house (and Valiant parts collection) he said "it's got a bit of a coolant leak, I've got to fill it up every day or two."
🤣🤣😅
another great Aussie mopar is the Centura... smaller in size, around an LX torana sorta size, but still came with a hemi 6, absolute little weapons, i've got one myself, except with a 360ci in it, it's a bit of a handful hahaha
How does it compare driving with the weight of a V8 compared to a 265?
My boss in Sydney had an ex NSW Police Hwy patrol Charger Hemi. These had special increased performance engine, and a 300gm lead plate in the rear for improved highway drivng handling.
I had to drive this for 2 weeks while my then Suzuki Jiminy LJ50, with 540cc 3 cyl two stroke (approx 33hp) was in dealer workshop waiting a spare part, they damaged during a service.
No need to say the performance difference was like a bicycle to a large motorcycle.
Anyway, at end of my borrowed time, picked up my Suzuki, and first drive away thought I had missed the gear, the engine reved and I hardly moved. The issue being the low gearing of this two stroke driven vehicle made need 1st to 2nd gear change at around 3 kph. And there being almost no acceleration felt at that. It was a definite adjustement to be in a vehicle that had almost no performance. By the way it came into its own in 4WD low range, where its capability was almost mountain goat capable, climibing almost anything, unstoppable . Though very narrow wheelbase did leave them prone to tip overs.
"Hey Charger!"
One of the best advertising tag lines ever. The car was based on a shortened Valiant chassis and was (I think) the best looking Aussie muscle/sports sedan ever. Wanted one,. Never achieved the touring car race results it deserved.
✌🏽
Oh yeah - Ian, those last two WERE Cortinas. Well done.
It did in New Zealand.
Chrysler Australia used the 225 slant six, the 243 and 265 hemi six (developed in Australia), the 318, 340 and 360 cui US small blocks. There was also a wheezy 215 Hemi six, but we don't talk about them. They were based around the Chrysler B body chassis as used in the Dart and the Barracuda. Back in the day I owned all of them in 4 door, 2 door hardtop, pacer and Charger body shapes. I did lap dashes around Oran Park in them at times. The car in the front is a Mazda rotary, king of their class in the day. I spent a lot of money but I got from A-B very fast! I wished I still had them all.
Edit: I forgot the 289cui V8 used in the AP6 and the VC models. A 289 VC Regal Wagon with factory air would be a sweet ride today, I would cruise around the country and spend the inheritance, haha.
Currently own a 75 charger with 265 nd triple webers etc. But also own a 68 roadrunner with a 440 (565hp), and while the 440 will smash the 265, the charger is such a hoot to drive and surprises many a V8 on the road. Even the ford and holden guys here in Oz like chargers and respect them for what they are.
Hi Ian thank you for showing our Aussie Charger, I am 100 percent Chrysler I love them both all our models and the American models, growing up my dad had a beautiful XL Charger but in the early nineties it was wreaked as we say in Australia it was written off by a distracted driver in a four wheel drive. Here is a bit of history on the Charger, the Chrysler Valiant Charger was a two door hardtop coupe introduced by Chrysler Australia in 1971. It was a short wheelbase version of the Australian Chrysler Valiant sedan. Introduced within the VH Valiant series, it continued as a variant through the subsequent VJ, VK and CL series, until production ceased in 1978. It was marketed and badged as the Valiant Charger in the VH and VJ series and as the Chrysler Charger in the later VK and CL series. The Chrysler Valiant Charger was based on the US Chrysler A-body platform, with virtually identical front suspension, the fenders were widened, and a wider rear axle fitted, so that the track, front and rear, was considerably wider than any US A-body, this also allowed wheels much wider than a US A-body. The Australian Chargers also used a 5-on-4.5" wheel bolt circle (still 7/16" studs), while the US cars did not go to "big bolt pattern" until 1973.
The Charger was very popular in Australia during the VH series. The VH Valiant Charger achieved critical acclaim, winning the 1971 Australian Wheels Car of the Year Award. It was also popular in New Zealand where they were assembled from imported kits. During the seven years of production, the Charger carried many variations of essentially two engines, based on the Chrysler Hemi-6 Engine the 245 and the 265 and two versions of the Chrysler V8 engine the 318 and the 340. The Charger R/T option featured a tuned "Six Pack" version of the engine featured triple sidedraught Weber carburettors that formed the basis of Chrysler's touring car racer for 1971. This engine could also be ordered as an option on all models. The Valiant Charger was raced in Australia in an official capacity during 1971 and 1972, with most effort concentrated upon the series and the annual Bathurst 500 mile touring car event. Chrysler Australia employed the services of racing driver Leo Geoghegan to assist in the development of the Charger as a touring car racer. The Charger won the first race in which it was entered, the Toby Lee 100 at Oran Park, driven by Doug Chivas. In the 1972 Hardie-Ferodo 500 at Bathurst, a VH Charger R/T E49 driven by Doug Chivas placed third outright behind a Ford XY Falcon GTHO and a Holden Torana GTR XU-1. They were beaten by the XY Falcon GTHO, lapping some 6 seconds per lap slower due to brake pad issues. A rumour exists, that the order from Sydney for the Chrysler team and others was allegedly misplaced on the Saturday night before Sunday's race. The rumour further claims that Holden and Ford played a hand, or teams of the two major makers in Australia, played a part. This has been substantiated by a Ford team member at the track and Bib Stilwell, told the same story many years later, regardless Chrysler were unable to manage the previous success. In New Zealand, where the touring car rules were less open, the Charger proved to be unbeatable from 1971 through to 1979 at the famous B&H 500 mile (later 1000 km) series held at Pukekohe Park Raceway. The most successful of New Zealand drivers were Leo Leonard and Jim Little. Allan Moffat, driving the Ford XY Falcon GTHO, was comprehensively beaten by a Charger in New Zealand. Allan Moffat proclaimed the winning car as "The Fastest Charger in the World".
If you got attracted to the $2795 cheap advertised price of the Charger you got a 215 small version of the motor.
Once in the dealer the upsell began.
In standard trim, 265 CID semi-hemi combustion chambers the E49 option was high comp pistons, big cam, triple webber carbs, 4 speed manual, 302 bhp @ 5500rpm. Faster than a GTHO 351 V8 to 100mph by one second.
I had a VJ Dodge with the 265 Hemi, 2 barrel carb with a set of headers, and twin exhaust. Anyone who hadn't seen the Ute previously, all thought it had a V8. Gee's I tore up some tyres in that thing. Unfortunately it only had the 3 speed , on the tree, but man, that thing effin flew.
The Mazda was a RX2 Rotary, BMW 2002, An EH Holden, followed by a XU1 Torana. An XM Ford Falcon, A FE Holden, An Chrysler S Series Valiant, MK1 Ford Cortina GT
I still remember when I was in the ARES helping the cops in our unit doing their christmas shopping and filling the Highway Patrol car full of booze we joked with them what they would do if they got a call out :) such a big boot on such a great car. :)
Yes Cortina's and blue and silver was an S series Valiant the little brown one at the start is a Mazda rotary
My father worked at the Chrysler factory here in Adelaide , he did all the interior frames of the Bench Bucket seats and I grew up on them and love em and also the American Mopar. I've owned a VF 225 Pacer , VG VIP 318 and VG 245 wagon , a few VE 225s and a VJ 770 318 Charger and hope to own another in the future!