The Chrysler Valiant Charger could easily be considered the Australian equivalent of the AMC Javelin (sold in Australia and NZ as the Rambler Javelin). Both had a small, albeit irrepressible fan base in their respective markets, and their respective manufacturers were bought out by foreign corporations within 10 years of the last of each vehicle being made.
Image from imdcb.org
Image from flaviendachet.blogspot.com
Both cars were successful in Touring Car Racing. The Charger R/T E38 and E49 were especially high regarded with Leo Leonard behind the wheel. With his Chargers, he beat all comers at the Benson & Hedges 500, regarded by some as NZ’s Bathurst.
The Javelin, like the Charger, was highly regarded in Touring Car Racing, specifically SCCA Trans-Am Racing. With drivers such as the great Mark Donohue and other Penske Racing drivers, the Javelin was undefeatable.
All of this means that the Charger handles well, like the Javelin.
Image from desertclassics.com
A rather obvious similarity between the two is a spartan, minimalist interior design. Both only allow the heater controls to be accessed by the driver. Both came with sports steering wheels and bucket seats as standard.
The two cars also had memorable tv ads, both starting with the word “Hey!” As in “Hey Charger!” and “Hey Javelin!” How about “Hey Copycat!”?
Photo from Wikimedia user Sicnag
Photo by JPCavanaugh
The final similarity is that the two cars are based on mundane platforms usually associated with family cars that came out around the same time. But the big difference is that the VH Series Valiant/Charger (1971) came out three years after the Javelin (1968), so the question of who was copying whom is pretty easy to answer. Or was it sheer coincidence?
Under the hood of this Charger is a 2bbl LA 318 V8 producing 230 HP. This is not the most desirable engine, which was the E49 Hemi Six Pack.
When it comes to Australian cars on CC, only one other Australian car has been featured on CC after being found on American soil, a 1976 Ford Falcon XC Ute.
All in all, both cars were stylish, fast, good-handling muscle cars with a wide variety of engines.
Interesting comparison, Mr. Mann. I do remember some ads for the the first-generation Javelin that used the phrase “Hey Javelin.” A guy driving a Javelin would be at a stoplight, and someone would pull up to him at a stoplight and challenge him to a drag race. He’d say, “Hey Javelin! Got a goldfish bowl on the seat?” Or something like that.
But, as you point out, the ads for the final iteration of the Javelin just didn’t have that memorable quality.
Oh, like this?
Hey, I found the ad I was talking about. As usual, my memory is a bit faulty, but you do hear the phrase, “hey Javelin!”
F*** it! If I could have found this, or at least known about it, I would have linked it ASAP!
I remembered that ad because I am Older Than Dirt. My brother and I would ride around on our banana-seat bikes and quote lines from that ad. We would take turns being the stuffy bald guy in the new Javelin. This was back when I had a bit more free time than I have now.
You want me to add it to your post?
Yes, I would like it right under the “Hey Charger” ads.
P.S. would it be possible to make the ad campaigns a final similarity?
Meaning you want the tv ads together at the very end. Or?
Or…together right under the interior comparison, but above the platform comparison pictures.
P.S. Dismiss the ads as the final similarity request. Keep the platforms as the final similarity between the Javelin and VH Valiant.
Just noticed the changes. Thanks.
Nice car Edward.Only ever seen 3 of them,a blue one with a 318 used to visit my Grandparent’s street,a yellow one at the Mopar Euronats a few years ago and a custom painted blue one in the early 80s.I quite like Australian cars,Dad had a 6 cylinder Aussie Valiant(non hemi upright engine).
I remember reading how the hemi Charger gave the Monaros and Falcons a scare on Aussie race tracks.
Falcon GTHO were the hot ticket in Aussie but when Alan Moffar brought his championship winning Falcon to NZ it couldnt catch a locally tuned Charger on NewZealands fast flowing race tracks the Hemi6 was the desirable engine 265 cube being optimal in E 49 spec, Fastest accelerating 6 cylinder car on the planet until BMW built something quicker many years later.
Holden Toranas were the fast Holden not the bulky Monaro basically a triple side draught Holden 6 in a Vauxhall Viva body
Very nice,would like to see more Aussie cars.
Check the cohort lots of Holdens on there after yesterdays show.
Thanks Bryce.
Chargers were exported to the UK but only V8s the parts supply of Hemi engine spares was the issue so the UK only got cars that could use US spare parts but some Hemis are there theyve been seen by expats.
Wish I could find one! There were a few Valiant sedans and wagons after the demise of the Humber Hawk but they were never a big seller,Dad got one as Mum liked the looks of American cars but didn’t like driving left hookers solo
If one could be located, it’d be great to see a CC on what is probably the other, most well-known Aussie musclecar, the Ford Falcon XB GT, surely most famous for being the basis of the Mad Max Interceptor movie car.
For all intents and purposes, to American eyes, it looks like a ’70-’71 Torino hardtop with a Mustang front end:
As I referenced in this post, Paul has found the following generation Aussie Falcon in Ute form, a 1976 Ford Falcon XC Ute.
To me it looks like a Ford Capri on steroids, what a beast !
@Johannes Dutch, you’re kinda right.
Ford S.A. had a V8 Capri on the books Perana I think also a V8 Vauxhall Viva sold as a Chevy
Chevy Can Am,rumoured to be one in the UK with a pair of Perana Granadas,
Saw one competing in the Targa Tasmania retrofitted with a 350 motor, bloody fast. Mind you nobody in Aussie knew it was a Vauxhall originally. They built 100 of them with 305 V8 motors only.
Perana Granadas. Never knew. Love this site.
A Perana Capri from South Africa would be just right for you.302 4 speed in a Capri.
The XB was a lot bigger than a Capri, though: 457mm longer on a 259mm longer wheelbase and 320mm wider. Still not as big as the early-70s Torino it so resembles, but bigger than a Mercedes W123 sedan, if that tells you anything.
It is about the size of a W116.
Not a muscle car at all the XA/XB/XC were only fitted with stock engines Govt regs came into play after a big scare as to what manufacturers were planning to build as Bathurst specials.
Didn’t the supercar scare prevent a 300 HP version of the Hemi 6 from being sold as a homologation special from the factory?
E49/E38 were on the Chrysler options list for any Valiant. Chrysler admit to building at least one ute so specced but it stopped the expected V8 Toranas in the Vauxhall shell and rumored bigblock Falcons
No the E49 was the 302hp 6 cylinder, the ‘banned’ 1972 car was supposed to be a 340 V8. Later released as the R/T E55 hobbled with a 2 barrel carb, auto and drinking straw exhaust.
I thought it was released as the 770 SE.
If not, this car might be an E55.
Sorry you are right, I shouldn’t have guessed on the R/T designation – the fact it was a 770 illustrates the whole “nothing to see here” nature of how they were making some use of the obsolete performance gear (the 340). Ford did similar things with GTHO Phase 4 parts.
In another CC-effect, a tv show last night featured a replica of the aborted Holden Torana GTR “XU2”, a V8 stuffed in the little Vauxhall Viva-based body, which was the third of the supercar scare cars.
I’m away from my references, but I think Chrysler trialled the 340 around a track, and the nose-heaviness contributed to lower track times than the 265.
I don’t think the VH R/T ever came with the V8, but I’m guessing you could get a Pacer with the 340 mill.
D’oh, Pacer! Another link in the AMC conspiracy chain. Completely overshadowed by the Charger, I think this was the stripper GT like the SS was to the GTS Holden
You could still have an XA or XB GT with the 351 Cleveland engine and 300 gross horsepower, which wouldn’t have been in the first rank of American muscle cars, but was nonetheless in the same league as a lot of the late-model contenders; its performance was in roughly the same realm as an SS396 Chevelle.
How Much??
Nice write of one of my favourite cars and your right the 318 was a turd the stock 265 pumped out 215 hp the E38/49 300+ and you really didnt want an automatic they used the biodegradable BW 3 speed, the 3 speed manual or optional 4speed top loader were much more desirable unless you got lucky, i had a 265 Regal 4 door with a tow package it came with 727 Torque flite and limited slip rear end tough as teak powertrain but at the other end of the scale I had a bare bones Charger with 215 single barrel carb 3 speed floor shift a $500 POS full of rust and on its last legs. Valiants were NOT popular as used cars and were called various things like ethnic express, wog wagon, Marrickville Mecedes, Coburg Cadillac which was great you could get good fast reliable cars for next to nothing.
However in NZ Valiants always got respect especially after the Hemi 6 came out they were the only thing that could outpace a Vauhall Victor 3.3 the V8 could do that previously but certainly nothing with a 6 under the hood could come close.
Bryce, I thought the only automatic avaliable was the same 727 Torqueflite that your Valiant Regal sedan has. Learn something new everyday. Doh!
New Topic: If I could order a brand new VH Valiant Charger, It would be a green or orange E49 with the 4-speed toploader and the little known Bathurst Cam, synchronized carbs, and a suspension tuned by Leo Leonard. On top of all that, I would like the wheels in the car featured in my article in unpainted condition.
The Geoghan(spelling?) NZ prepared E49 was the quickest and it still exists in race trim, it failed at Bathurst.
NZ racer Jim Richards was rumored to be preparing a Javelin to run the touring car masters series but I think hes still in a Falcon Sprint.
VH Charger was the E38 with only 3 speed manual trans, E49 is the later model with power brakes as standard, yes you could get a 135mph Charger with unboosted brakes even the 95mph shitbox 215 I had was scary with unboosted brakes.
How scary were the unboosted brakes?
Huge pedal pressure for very little stop. I didnt keep that car very long about 6 weeks from memory but bad brakes wasnt the reason I sold it, I got a good deal on a Holden panelvan so, bye Charger.
Just saw some details from a 1972 Charger E38 test vs a Falcon & Monaro, the Charger had brake pedal pressure 3x the others and they could not get the brakes to lock up with both feet!
Jim Richards ran his Javelin in 2012 (AMX reference!) but it was wrecked at Sandown in the last race of the year. I was there, a Falcon spun at the final corner and was stationary on the track, Jim was behind a few cars and the one in front of him dodged at the last second, he was on a slightly wider line and could not avoid hitting it. He is rebuilding the Javelin with a new shell and it should be back next year.
The wheels on the clone are Ford Globes, Chargers had 7 inch sculpted steel wheels like in the ad my Regal had them on, the wider tyres helped cornering quite a lot though huge negative camber is the secret to making Valiants turn in effectively but for the street thats not viable.
Chrysler cut and shut a ute for a test mule to get the shorter wheel base and fitted the Hemi motor that was in approx 68 so the timeline with the release of the Javelin is right they just waited for the new body/engine package before letting the public have them, exciting times for a car mad teen like me,
The B&H race series was for NZ assembly standard production cars so NO E38/49s just standard Chargers.
Check NZ assembly Todds cheaped out on the auto boxes
I spotted on the GMInsidenews forum, a guy who scanned a vintage article who mentionned a variant of the Aussie Charger called “Savannah 400” coming to South Africa but the project was scrapped at the 11th hour. http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f58/howdy-old-mopar-fan-here-102780/
I uploaded the page of the article in question.
Yeah SouthAfrica already had the Holden Monaro/Chevy SS and the Falcons from OZ the Valiant woulda been a neat fit.
Looks to be a rebadged VJ Valiant Charger.
The car pictured is a VK one model later than VJ.
I so enjoy these Aussie/New Zealand car stories, I just never realized what a parallel universe of an auto experience was going on down under. Right down to the mirror image RHD dashboards, cars so familiar, but so different.
Nice choice, Mr Edward Mann. You are fast earning my fanboi-dom.
The Charger was a very late addition to the range, a SWB variant initiated after full scale mockups of the rest of the range had already been prepared. Possible names included ‘Rebel’ and some of the sketches were indeed similar to AMC, including a very Gremlin-esque truncated hatch version. The final design was by Bob Hubbach and Brian Smyth.
Here’s a CL (1978) I see driving around. The black panel behind the side window makes all the difference for me. Looking forward to more posts.
Have you posted pictures of this to the Cohort yet? I think they would be appreciated there.
Unfortunately, I have been shooting my cars in profile only – sort of a point, line-up-the-B-pillar-crosshairs, shoot and move on type of thing. Since discovering CC, I have been shooting with more coverage, but I haven’t gone near the Cohort yet. Still making my way through the site proper, which has become an epic Odyssey that I don’t want to end. More offbeat cars, please. Cheers
There is a genuine RTE49 6 pack on the cohort Paul wrote it up a couple of years back
Thanks Kiwibryce. It’s now on the list.
I know, I linked it into my post about the most desirable VH Charger.
It’s a Charger Jim but not as we know it.Still nice though
Not surprising there is one of these at least in the US, I wondered why someone had made a fake Victorian registration plate in the first photo. The font is wrong, the letters aren’t stamped and it doesn’t have the triangular logo at top centre.
The car is immaculate though, and looks to be an R/T but can’t tell more than that other than it is not an E49 because they have a ‘4’ in the vertical stripe to signify the new 4 speed gearbox. Previously they only had the 3 speed for local content purposes, and launch performance suffered.
The Charger was developed unofficially by the local designers who were convinced the long wheelbase hardtop would not sell because luxury cars were sedans in Australia almost without exception, say a few imported and hideously expensive Thunderbirds or private imports.
The previous model Valiant also had a hardtop offered using Dodge Dart bodies and local front sheetmetal but they were Not as big as the new car, even so the sedans were raced rather than the hardtops.
I had a VG Hardtop. Better looking car I think. Remember the Mexicana with the long buttresses? Argentina got it too as the Charger. (pic: Valiant.org)
There was a luxury Regal version of the Charger released in NZ but it may have been a NZ only model I never saw one in OZ in that trim.
Charger came in Regal and Regal 770 Trim over here. Still can’t figure out the difference, but I think the blackout panel behind the side window was a 770 trim item in the early days.
The car has an automatic transmission and a 2bbl LA 318 V8. No VH Charger R/T was ever sold with those from the factory. Also, it lacks any badge signifying the Hemi Six and the three 2bbl carbs on the rear fenders.
I must have missed the reference to the 318 – the most likely explanation then is a ‘normal’ Charger with a sticker kit! It makes sense to import a car with an engine you will be able to get parts for, similar to the UK exports once the slant six was replaced.