'72 Aussie Charger

daward · Post by **daward** » Sat Jun 09, 12 7:08 pm

Following on from the thread in the Aussie section I thought I'd better start recording progress so far on the Valiant Charger resto. Made the most of the fleeting dry period last weekend to get the car into its new secret restoration facility (a.k.a. the turkey shed!). Early thoughts suggest pretty solid but unsurprisingly rusty...

daward · Post by **daward** » Sat Jun 09, 12 7:11 pm

More rusty but solid bits...

Will keep you posted - still much debate about gearbox options, colour etc!

VGVIP · Post by **VGVIP** » Sat Jun 09, 12 7:21 pm

Good one, look forward to reading about your progress.

Dave999 · Post by **Dave999** » Mon Jun 11, 12 3:09 pm

thats a good car

not bad at all

screw the gearbox swap

sling a 318 in it and drive

Dave

Ivor · Post by **Ivor** » Mon Jun 11, 12 3:32 pm

That's looking cool in black, I'd bee tempted to leave it as it is and as Dave says sling the 403 ci stroker in it and have fun...

...what? Did I say something wrong?

V8 Sam · Post by **V8 Sam** » Mon Jun 11, 12 8:58 pm

do love them in black!

how come they changed the shape for the aussie market?

drewcrane · Post by **drewcrane** » Mon Jun 11, 12 9:06 pm

V8 Sam wrote:do love them in black!

how come they changed the shape for the aussie market?

Yea I love the black and it looks like a clean solid car...............

Remember once you go black you will never go back

Post by **MattH** » Mon Jun 11, 12 9:15 pm

That is a really solid looking car with good panel work, nice door gaps and all the rest to go with it too, wheel arch trims and chrome work.
Rust proof, cheap 318 as a runner, MOT and have fun, whilst deciding the best route to take. Even the headlamps don't look so bad in the photos now.
I did see a VW caravelle (late 80s style) with similar lights this week, is that what they are from maybe?

Cannonball · Post by **Cannonball** » Mon Jun 11, 12 9:52 pm

I RECKON THE HEADLAMPS LOOK BETTER THAN BOTH TYPES OF ORIGINALS

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Mon Jun 11, 12 10:30 pm

Great looking car! Will be well worth putting some effort into her. Looks nice and straight/ original..... And reminds me of the Mad Max interceptor

Keep the pics coming

Cheers Steve

autofetish · Post by **autofetish** » Tue Jun 12, 12 7:49 am

Keep the updates coming.

Take loads and i mean loads of pictures.

Dave999 · Post by **Dave999** » Tue Jun 12, 12 10:16 am

V8 Sam wrote:do love them in black!

how come they changed the shape for the aussie market?

they didn't

the aussies wanted a 2 door car for the kids to buy
and to go racing in

so they took the front of the family 4 door

and welded on a rear designed by a mix of aussies and US styling people
on a rogue project that they hid from the main men at Chrylser US until it was done.

the aim was to Kick GM/Holden and Aussie Fords BUTT at the saloon car racing

they then cast about for a name
they'd used pacer on a previous 4 and 2 door dodge dart like car the VF VG valiant

they thought about rebel
but as the US charger was not availble in OZ they thought they'd cash in with the name

they also nicked the hemi name for their 6 cylinder poly semi hemi headed 265

both designed to catch the imgaination of the car/race obsessed young crowd

race on sunday sell on monday

its a true underdog story of a company in financial crisis actually doing something right clawing back market share
nearly winning the big race

then screwing everything up with slow decline and eventual takeover by mitsubishsi

aussie charger is a wide track short wheelbase chrysler which in 6 cylinder form handles very very well indeed
light as a US abody at about 1300KG
shorter than a dart
with an axle and 4 speed manual with less parrasitic losses than any of the Us offerings

the 6 cylinder put out 302 bhp and 298 ftlb of torque making it a better and lighter bet for race track style racing than the 318 V8

200 or so came to the UK as offical imports however all but 3 were the Luxury 770 model with the 318 v8

one was a 340 engined E55 and the other two were R/Ts with 6 cylinder engines

Dave

Post by **MattH** » Tue Jun 12, 12 11:23 am

1968Polara383 wrote:Great looking car! Will be well worth putting some effort into her. Looks nice and straight/ original..... And reminds me of the Mad Max interceptor

Keep the pics coming

Cheers Steve

The Mad Max Interceptor is a Ford Falcon XB Coupe, bigger than a Charger. The MFP (yellow and blue and red) 4 door cars in the first film are XB Falcon sedans.
There are Chargers used in the films, but chopped about with spikes on and that sort of thing.

Have a look here for everything you need to know about Aussie Fords,
http://www.aus-ford-uk.co.uk/html/interceptor.html

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Tue Jun 12, 12 3:58 pm

Very interesting article and some serious work gone into that car! The charger looks even more like Mad Maxs' interceptor now Ive seen the pics! I know, im a heathen!

V8 Sam · Post by **V8 Sam** » Tue Jun 12, 12 5:35 pm

Wow Dave! That was awesome!

And here's me thinking they just changed the charger shape cos the Aussies didn't like it!