Valiant Charger...never heard of it.

[fstroupe]

I recently found out about this car, and am still freaked out by it. Any of you aussies, or guys from New Zealand probably know all about it.

I was around when the American muscle cars were being built, and though I have never owned one to my liking, I have always been into them, have driven most of them, and know much about most of them. American muscle cars died totally after 1973...I got my license in 1974.

Anyway, in 1971, Chrysler Australia came out with the Valiant Charger. The VH version had a 265 CI I6 Hemi.

The 1972 version of this engine has some incredible specs...

265CI Hemi, balanced, blueprinted, with shot-peened crank
3 side-draft Weber carbs
4-speed manual
factory tuned headers
baffled oil sump
I can't find specs on the compression, but surely over 10:1
35 gallon baffled gas tank

305 HP. Yes, 305 HP. That may not sound much to most of you, but in those days, factory horsepower was measured at the wheels instead of at the engine, which usually cost around 10%. The typical I6 had less than 150 HP. The typical small block V8 had less than 275 HP. I6s are normally high in torque...I can't imagine the torque from a 300+ HP 6cyl.

1/4 mile...14.4 seconds. The 1966 Hemi Charger, with 426 Hemi did the quarter in 14.8 seconds. Both cars weighed around 3000 lbs.

0-60 in under 6 seconds. This car was the fastest accelerating production car in the world until the Porsche 930 Turbo Carrera came out.

You may find this car ugly. It looks very much like the American Motors 1968 Javelin...which I love.

http://www.aussiecoupes.com/images/71rtchargerrt_10.jpg

A later version of the car with a 340 Mopar. It didn't perform anywhere near as well as the Hemi 6.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Myvhe55-1-.jpg/300px-Myvhe55-1-.jpg

And here is the power plant...

http://www.aussiecoupes.com/images/265_hemi_vh_charger.jpg

[XPTB]

oh my word. I'm with you, I've never heard of that car, let alone that motor. an I6 Hemi? Oh the possibilities.

I bet you pop the hood and folks would laugh at you, running with the other big boy V8s... but once on the track, who would be laughing then? A few mods and that car would straight move.

[fstroupe]

Keith, of everyone, I knew that you would be impressed.

Definitely the sleeper from hell...put that engine in a ragged out Dart Swinger, Duster, or Valiant Scamp, which all weigh several hundred pounds less.

Notice how clean it is under the hood. You can actually see the fender wells and firewall. I nearly forgot what those looked like. :lol:

[XPTB]

Keith, of everyone, I knew that you would be impressed.

Definitely the sleeper from hell...put that engine in a ragged out Dart Swinger, Duster, or Valiant Scamp, which all weigh several hundred pounds less.

Notice how clean it is under the hood. You can actually see the fender wells and firewall. I nearly forgot what those looked like. :lol:

really. Pop my hood now and I can barely find anything.

Imagine a project of dropping that into something modern that uses an I6, like a Supra. Put a single turbo on that Hemi? If you could pull it off, that would be a force to be reckoned with.

[playafly187]

very nice ride indeed; those triple carbs look amazing, havent seen anything like that either... but as you noted, it looks just like any other american muscle car of the era.... (thinks back to keiths poor luck with his charger restoration project)

[fstroupe]

The engine is supposedly based on an American Chrysler-built truck engine. I haven't found anyone that ever heard of it, though they did make several hemi V8s throughout the '50s, from 270 to 392 c.i., in Chryslers, Plymouths, Dodges, and Desotos. They also made a hemi V8 marine engine.

I guess that actually all of these were marine engines...for land yachts.

Though most of these weren't really intended to be high performance engines, most of them had 4bbl carbs, and a couple in the late 50s had 2x4bbl and pushed nearly 400 horses. The baddest thing anyone else had at the time (US made) was Chevy's FI 283 Vette engine...which only had 283 horses.

I thought they made these hemis into the '60s, but I guess I am wrong...1959 was the last year for a hemi until the 426 came out in 1964. When I was a kid, I worked at a gas station/garage...and a couple of our customers had old Dodges with the hemis in them. They weren't totally weird, cause I also had some customers with old Fords with flathead engines that looked very similar to the hemi engines.