My "other" Charger mini rebuild.

[doctor4766]

I'm sure a number of you are familiar with the Australian Charger.
After getting my Dodge on the road a couple of years ago I started to think back to when I was a kid and how a lot of my mates had the Valiant Chargers over here. Never got around to owning one myself at the time but with funds no longer pointed exclusively at the Dodge, I managed to pick up a 1973 Chrysler Valiant Charger (VJ model) a little over a year ago.

She's a 770 model with just two options on the tag.
D20 - 4 speed manual
E33 - 265 inline Hemi 6

Just a couple of pics for now as I gotta head off to work.
So here she is on her way home.

[Ghoste]

Nice.  There was a sunroof equipped 770 at Columbus a year or two ago.

[Cooter]

For some reason, those cars always seem to remind me of the Ford Maverick and i just love the small bumper Mavericks...

[Finn]

Sweettttt!!! I think the aussie chargers are so cool.

[LeeBoy]

very nice 

[doctor4766]

One of the first things we did was to pull the seats and inspect the floors for rust.





Not bad for a car of its age considering they're usually in need of at least some repair I was quite happy.
A good scrubbing and a coat of rustoleum type paint and she looked even better.

[bobs66440]

For some reason, those cars always seem to remind me of the Ford Maverick and i just love the small bumper Mavericks...

The lines are very similar. I like them too.

BTW, those floors are a thing of beauty. It's always a nice surprise when you don't have to do rust repair!

[mikesbbody]

  I'm guessing the Motor and trans are still with the car? (the shifter is visable in one pic and the front end is not sitting high)

[Bob T]

Good choice with the Sunfire final colour  in the pic on the other thread I looked after a mates VJ 770  for a year or so, came with the keys     fitted with 4 speed in the same blue and it was just a weird colour for a Charger  - never got used to it, looked good with the Star mags and drove nice but had blue interior as well. Must have been some old ginger haired aussie that ordered it for a laugh down at the dealers on his way back from the pub     had a D342 auto block in it as orig

What are the plans? Just cruise?

Few ones I have looked after for mates next to my old D20 X92 6pk Pacer

[doctor4766]

For some reason, those cars always seem to remind me of the Ford Maverick and i just love the small bumper Mavericks...

The lines are very similar. I like them too.

BTW, those floors are a thing of beauty. It's always a nice surprise when you don't have to do rust repair!

Yeah I'll say.
I got lucky with the Dodge too.
Zero rust anywhere!!

[doctor4766]

I'm guessing the Motor and trans are still with the car? (the shifter is visable in one pic and the front end is not sitting high)

Yes I have the motor, albeit non numbers matching and it's out of the earlier VH model, which I'm told is the more desireable motor to have.
I hotwired the car not long after I bought it and it seems to run strong and is quite responsive on the throttle so for now I'm going to just give it a cleanup before splashing out for a rebuild.

[doctor4766]

Good choice with the Sunfire final colour  in the pic on the other thread I looked after a mates VJ 770  for a year or so, came with the keys     fitted with 4 speed in the same blue and it was just a weird colour for a Charger  - never got used to it, looked good with the Star mags and drove nice but had blue interior as well. Must have been some old ginger haired aussie that ordered it for a laugh down at the dealers on his way back from the pub     had a D342 auto block in it as orig

What are the plans? Just cruise?

Few ones I have looked after for mates next to my old D20 X92 6pk Pacer

Some nice lookin Vals ther Bob!

I plan to just use this Charger as a cruiser, especially on those days I don't want to park the Dodge up out of site. It attracts more than it's fair share of attention already.
Should be a fun car to have around!

[doctor4766]

So it didn't take too long before we were into the bodywork.



Found a couple of better doors on the other side of town as mine had quite a bit of bondo in the lower sections and would have probably needed new skins. And at 500 bucks a piece plus shipping that just wasn't gonna happen.



Typically of these Valiants, there were areas in the plenum chamber and behind the door hinges that needed some steel plating to be done.
Unfortunately I don't weld myself but have a number of friends/clients who are panel beaters by trade, who were more than happy to lend a hand.





SO here she is after the repair work up front.

[Piston_Freddy]

Looks great doc!  There should be more non US mopar threads here.Time to time I'll go to FABO and check Brazilian and Mexican mopars there!

[greenpigs]

2 Silly questions.

What sort of doctor are you?

Can you send me the Aussie Charger when your done?

[doctor4766]

2 Silly questions.

What sort of doctor are you?

Can you send me the Aussie Charger when your done?

Actually I'm not a real doctor of anything although where I used to work I told some of those gyno jokes once and my bosses started calling me The Doctor. Yeah yeah, long story cut short but it kinda stuck and now I'm Doc to many. And the 4766 part is my birthdate, although we put the day, month then year over here. So I was born on 4th July 1966







And unless you have a fat wallet the car's staying here  

[mikesbbody]

It's coming along nice  "I hotwired the car not long after I bought it and it seems to run strong"
I laughed when i read that  just something funny about Hotwiring your own car 

[doctor4766]

Yeah I know lol
It's just that the previous owner had intended to rebuild the car and all the wiring including the ignition had been removed from the car.

So anyway, after a few months of my mate coming by on weekends and after work to make a mess of my workshop she was finally ready to jam in all the non exterior panels.
I was initially looking to go with alpine white as my colour but since I'd always loved sunfire yellow too, it was a hard call.
One of the guys on my local Chrysler forum posted up pics of his E55 Charger and from there on it had to be sunfire all the way.








And here she is off to the spray booth.

[doctor4766]

Couple of shots in the booth




And after, back at my shop.



A little silver paint on the rear..

[bobs66440]

Looks AWESOME!! 

[G-man]

Very nice car Paul.

I used to have a 1972 VH 245ci inline Hemi Charger in Vit C orange. It never looked right to me, i just had to have a dodge. I like the colour you chose. White interior with chrome wheels would look stunning on that colour charger. Seen one done that way and man it was a beauty.

Good job!

[doctor4766]

I'm looking to fit some W35 slot mags but maybe go for a 15" version and the interior is a definate black. Kind of over the light coloured seats of the Dodge thus far.
Dash will have the fishscale overlay and she'll be dumped on her arse as low as I can go.
No tripple webers planned at this stage so I'll be looking to fit up a 4bbl.
That and the 4 speed should get her up and moving fine I'm sure.

But who knows?
A warm 340 might be nice one day too.

[chargd72]

I'm really starting to like these Aussie Chargers.  They look kind of "Demon"ish.  

[doctor4766]

Mate I've loved them since I was was a kid.
There's a bit if styling from our beloved Dodge in there too but they're kind of unique in their shape at the same time.
The Charger made up 50% of Chrysler Australia's total car sales at one stage!

Here she is with some more hardware fitted up on the front end.



And some of the vinyl work that I've been tackling of late

[bobs66440]

I've never seen that before...vinyl on the doors! Different...Cool!