Random # 86: 440 4 BBL Valiant Charger

If UMPH were an American, rather than an Aussie, he'd refer to the magnificent beast of a Valiant Charger featured in the following photos as a bad-ass of a car. But he's not, so he'll use the local vernacular and call it for what it is: a bad-arse example of one of Australia's best ever, but arguably least appreciated at the time, muscle cars.

It isn't that there's not a huge fan-base for Aussie-built Chargers. There is and deservedly so. However, the Australian Chrysler line of vehicles was always less popular than their Ford and GM rivals, meaning that the Charger probably didn't sell as well as performance orientated Falcons, Toranas or Monaros of the era did, or as well as it should have done, considering how great a car it was.

Beloved Aussie sit-com character Ted Bullpit's (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingswood_Country) entrenched distaste for Valiants, in which he ascribed what might be euphemistically termed 'un-Australian tendencies' to owners of that marque, may have also contributed to their poorer sales . Either way, Chrysler was always our third brand and eventually succumbed to a takeover by the Japanese firm, Mitsubishi.

The car featured here wears a 440 4 BL badge, suggesting that it has a whopping 7.2 litre Chrysler V8 engine and a four-barrel carburetor. Reference to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Valiant_Charger) doesn't list that as an original option available on Aussie Chargers, so it was almost certainly fitted at a later date.

A load of work has clearly gone into the car's restoration and upgrade; the panels and paint are immaculate, the chrome gleams and the interior - featuring Recaro buckets - is extremely tidy, too. There also appears to have been quite a bit of engineering work done - probably to cope with the monster donk's huge power output - with massive back wheels, tubbed rear guards and possibly an up-rated diff / rear end.

That's a whole lotta cubes.

Serious rubber.

Vale, Ross Higgins.

U M P H

(uppermiddlepetrolhead.blospot.com.au .)

All iPhone images.

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