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The Valiant Charger and Other Australian Chryslers
The primary information source was a magazine sent by Robert Pascale: Hey Charger! (edited by John Wright). No direct quotes were used. Information was added later by others.
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The primary information source was a magazine sent by Robert Pascale: Hey Charger! (edited by John Wright). No direct quotes were used. Information was added later by others.
In 1962, Valiant stood for performance. By 1971, it was a conservative, staid family sedan. Just as the American 340 Duster's superb performance failed to impress Americans, the performance of the 265 Pacer failed to impress Australians.
Enter the Charger. Built on a shorter wheelbase, with a clean, sporty look, it was 130 kg lighter than any Valiant sedan, but it still had room for five. A $2800 base model allowed high production runs, lowering the cost of the sportier models. The stock Charger XL came with a 245 six-pack; the base Charger came with a 215. The R/T came with a 265 Hemi. Finally, the Charger 770 added some luxury touches, and had either the stock 265 or a smoother 318 V-8. Torsion bar suspensions improved handling.
The 1971 Charger was based on the Valiant VH, but was a short-wheelbase 2-door version. It could be equipped with a slant six, small V-8, or the "ordinary" 265 Hemi, an engine originally created for trucks, but abandoned in the US and developed to its full potential in Australia. The "ordinary" version had 203 hp and 262 lb-ft of torque at 2,000 rpm, making it competitive with V-8s. The high-performance version was reserved for the Pacer - for now.
Charger 265-Courtesy Greg Rash
The Charger R/T had a 3.23 differential rather than the 2.92 standard in other Chargers; six-inch rims; a front anti-roll bar; a tach; and an oil pressure gauge. Stock, it could run a 15.7 second quarter mile. Optional was the "six-pack" package, using three two-barrel Webers to put the 265 up to 248 hp (30 hp more than the standard R/T 265). The final option was the E38 engine, with a higher compression ratio, different gear ratios, and 280 hp (gross) - about 80 hp more than the standard 265! This brought the quarter mile down to 14.8 seconds, with a single gear change. Zero to sixty (mph; about 100 km/h) was 6.3 seconds. Performance was about that of Ford's 351 V-8 Falcon GTHO. Handling was "exceptional," possibly due to the light engine.
The 1972 E49 Charger was a significant move forward, and not just because it was the first to get a four-speed manual gearbox (from Borg-Warner). The E49 pushed the 265 engine to a full 302 hp, and had the quickest acceleration of any Australian production car - 14.4 seconds, respectable even when compared to American big-blocks.
The 340 V-8 was Chrysler's last high-performance V-8 intended for cars. In the American Dusters, it was a match for many big-blocks, but was often underestimated in the US (and in Australia, where it was the first high-performance V-8 to be offered in a Valiant or Charger). The VH Charger was given the 340 as an option in late 1972; but it was used, like previous V-8s, mainly as a status feature. It was only available in the Charger 770 E55, a full-luxury version of the Charger. With an automatic, its performance was better than the manual XA GT Falcon. Zero to sixty (mph) was 7.2 seconds, and the quarter mile was an impressive 15.5; top speed was over 200 km/h. The camshaft was nonperformance (same as that of the 318) and the exhaust was restrictive, so it was capable of much more.
The VJ and VK Chargers could be bought with the 318 or the 360. The 360 (still in US trucks) is a bored-out version of the 318. The 360 was only a little faster than the 318 (quarter mile in 16.2 rather than 16.7 seconds, 0-100 mph in 25 rather than 26 seconds) but drank more.
The next Valiant series was the CL. which was larger and formed the basis of the Drifter.
When the CL series Charger disappeared in 1978, the last sports model Valiant was the CM series Valiant GLX. The name "GLX" is still used by Mitsubishi Australia, who by 1978 were the owners of the Valiant factory, and Valiant under bonnet compliance plates were starting to have "Mitsubishi" printed on them, and referring to the "Chrysler" name as being used "under license from Chrysler America."
The GLX had substantially upgraded suspension, refered to as Radial Tuned Suspension. Allegedly, a Valiant was shipped to America to have the suspension tuned further, and it was returned with Chrysler stating that the Valiant had better handling than any large car they had produced. The GLX was also fitted with a 4 speed floor shift Borg Warner gearbox, and the Electronic Lean Burn (ELB) 4.3 Litre Hemi 6 cylinder; this combination was in the right hands able to achieve fuel economy of over 30 miles per gallon (Imp.). Nevertheless, customers after sports handling had left the Valiant for the newer generation Australian cars, such as the Holden Commodore and XD Falcon. The GLX can be identified by a black stripe down the side (similar to the "Drifter"-style stripe) that ends at a "GLX" badge on the rear C-pillar.
The Charger died in 1978, and took with it much of the Valiant's sales. Mitsubishi took over Chrysler's Australian operations. For more, click here.
Some have said the E49 Charger's long-standing record as the fastest Australian production car across the 1/4 mile by the Holden Special Vehicles GTS-R (Commodore, 5.7 Litre, stroked version of Holden's Aussie 5.0 litre), which was clocked at 14.3 seconds (the figures for the E49 usually quoted are 14.4 seconds; a dubious-accuracy 14.1 figure can be beaten by the "Blueprint" GTS-R which can do 14 flat).
Gary Bridger set us straight:
The June 1997 issue of Australia's Motor magazine did a comparison between Australia's greatest muscle cars from 1971 on, including the GTS-R and E49. Despite being the only six in the group, the 25 year old Valiant Charger E49 was still the fastest and marginally quicker than the GTS-R to 100 kph and through the quarter. The figures used for the E49 were based on 1972 road tests, 0-100 kph 6.1 seconds and 14.4 seconds for the quarter. The GTS-R was quoted as 0-100 kph 6.2 seconds and 14.45 for the quarter.
To add salt into GM and Ford's wounds, stock standard E49s on modern rubber have quite easily broken the 14 second barrier for the quarter. Jim Little has done a 13.8 quarter in his and another of our club cars won a production prize at a major drag meeting with a 13.9 quarter. A previous owner took my E49 to a sprint meeting and was doing 14.1 quarters on old wide oval tires, limiting the car to 5000 rpm (redline 6500) and in a howling headwind! A Ferrari owner who couldn't match those times was absolutely horrified when he discovered that the Charger had a Valiant 6 under the bonnet! An unmodified standard production Valiant 6 at that.
Valiant Australia came out with the AP6 regal way back. They were the first car company to offer a V8 (273) sedan and disc brakes. The VGs came out with either a 225 slant or a 318 V8. Then came the Hemi series with 245 inline 6 and 265 inline 6. My Charger has a 265 inline six in front of a Borg Warner 35 auto trans. The Aussie Charger variants came with either 215 + 3spd man, 245 + 3spd man/auto, 265 +3 speed man/auto, 340 + 3spd auto. The high performance E38 and E49 spec Chargers had 265 Hemis with triple 45mm Weber carburetors and 3spd manual (E38) or 4spd manual (E49). They also had ventilated disks, finned drums and differing options including: 35 gallon tank, a choice of different differential ratios, heavy duty suspension, bonnet scoops and different decals. I've also realised that the 245 and 265 were Australian sourced, which is why they weren't available in the US.
The Valiant E49 Charger is still the fastest (in a straight line) production car ever made in Australia, with an et of 14.4sec. Don't let any Ford or GM person tell you differently!
I strongly suggest that you visit the U.S. and Australian Valiant pages and the Chargers of New Zealand page to get further insights and information on the Valiant Charger and its admirable racing record.
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