Favorite Bizarre International Perverted Mopar

[Kevin68N71]

I just think its obvious that the "South of the border" divisions and Chrysler Australia had alot of talented and creative people on board.  That Dart makeover to a Charger could have been a disaster...but they make it work.  They only had the A body to work with and they made something really cool out of it.

The Polara is a wonderful looking car that is just a pleasant design.  These all are truly fascinating cars.

[69charger2002]

that polara definitely has some styling cues from the 68-70 roadrunner and charger.. it's a sweet car, i'd love to have one too. much better than our dreaded ugly polara's were

[White trash]

I love the Aussie Charger.
Here is Oz Hemi's from Moparts.

I owned an E38 Charger, almost indentical to the one pictured. Mine had a black interior however. Worst car in the world to tune, there's only a handfull of guys who can tune the carbs correctly but best car in the world to drive. Chrysler replaced the E38 with the 4 speed E49 (easily distinguishable with a large "4" in the R/T stripe on the front fender) and untill 2003 was still the fastest accelerating Australian bulit car ever made. 1/4 in 14.1 if memory serves me correct. Not bad for a 265ci that came out of a '50s Dodge truck, in 1971, took thirty years to go quicker. With modern rubber and a low gears in the rear my 3 speed ran a 13.95.

Thes cars are now so hard to get in New Zealand and Australia. They're commanding serious dollars.

[White trash]

I love the Aussie Charger.
Here is Oz Hemi's from Moparts.

I LOVE those cars, I think the musclecar could have lived on through THIS car if Chrysler had imported these things as Chargers or Challengers in the mid 70s! normal stuff in OZ but would have been WAY ahead of its time here. I've seen a  few of these up close, and they are EXTREMELY cool.  Can you imagine that thing with a REALLY nice 340 !!!

Chrysler built it. Google E55 Charger and see what you get. Unfortunately, Australia went through a huge media fed "Supercar" scare in the 70s. The E55 was Chryslers last ditch effort to knock the mighty GT Falcon off its perch at Bathurst. The media started making noises about the morals of 155+mph street cars that Joe Average could purchase for not much coin. Afraid of a public backlash, the three major players Holden (GM), Ford and Chrysler backpedalled faster than a pre-schooler getting dropped off at "Neverland". Ford canned it's proposed Phase IV GT Falcon, Chrysler knobled the E55 with a hideous 3 speed Borg Warner Auto and dumbed down the performance. Instead marketing as a luxury coupe rather than the dragstrip killer it could have been.

Sad time for Australian car enthusiasts as it essentially killed the muscle car development.

[skip68]

Welcome to the site White trash.    Were those aussie Chargers ever sold here in the U.S. ?

[White trash]

Welcome to the site White trash.    Were those aussie Chargers ever sold here in the U.S. ?

Thanks for the welcome.

To my knowledge, most of the Aussie muscle cars were only sold in Australia, New Zeland and very limited numbers in South Africa. They never made them in left hand drive although if you tried hard enough you could convert to left hand using local parts. They also only built like 150 E49R/Ts for example, they're fetching over AUS125K now for a good one.

Another good car to do some searching on is the GT range of Ford Flacons, particularly the XY Falcon GTHO. This was the pinacle of Australian muscle cars and for some, the most desirable Australian car ever built. I hate the things because the Chargers couldn't quite ever beat them in Australia although here in New Zealand, our Chargers were untouchable. GTHO had a 351, shaker hood, 4 speed, genuine 155mph wrapped in a 4 door body you could fill with the family and tow the boat to the lake for a weekend.

Here's one

[skip68]

It would be nice to find one of those around.   

[Ghoste]

Weren't there a handful exported to the UK as well?

[White trash]

Yeah, they might've exported a few to the UK but there wasn't a hell of a market for those types of cars over there. They're all into European sports cars that handled well and stopped, rather than big cars with big power.

I was originally keen on getting another Aussie car to restore now that I'm not racing bikes anymore, but seeing as I've never had the good fortune of owning an American vehicle, I've decided that's the way to go. Something I can spend some time on with my new born son over the coming years and a little different to the norm here in NZ.