early 1970s Valiant Charger (360)

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Shannow

Shannow

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This popped up in my feed earlier this week.

I nearly bought one of these (and the much faster 265c.i. hemi six at one stage.



But I was enamoured with the smaller Holden Torana (I had a bunch of those).

Back when I got the E30, I went on the hunt for some '70s muscle, and after test driving, had forgotten how horribly heavy they were to manhandle around pre power steering on a Corolla...oh, and how atrocious the brakes were.
 
Hahaha, my old high school buddy had a Valiant with a 225 slant six in it. It ran really well, actually had a great run with several cars that should have been faster. Brakes? What brakes?

Another friend had a Nova with a 250 ci sixer, his dad owned a machine shop! That car was genuinely quick, ran regular high 12's in a 1/4 mile.
 
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My grandfather owned a Valiant Rambler stationwagon. It had the push button automatic transmission. That thing couldn't get out of its own way.
 
Originally Posted by SteveSRT8
Hahaha, my old high school buddy had a Valiant with a 225 slant six in it. It ran really well, actually had a great run with several cars that should have been faster. Brakes? What brakes?

Another friend had a Nova with a 250 ci sixer, his dad owned a machine shop! That car was genuinely quick, ran regular high 12's in a 1/4 mile.


Had a '74 Scamp(same as Valiant)....drum brakes all around! Try hauling that down from 70...or even 50!
 
Steve,
it was interesting going back there early this century and finding out how bad they really were (or how soft I'd become)….reversing into a parallel park with no visibility and needing Hercules biceps...I got the E30.

Here's the Torana...my LH had a 253 V-8 and 4 speed and wheel arch flares...had the later model with 308, and quite a few sixes in the next model along.



BTW, the presenter, Peter Wherret is one of the most hated journos in Oz history...he was the propaganda behind getting the XA-GTHO, the high performance charger, and the V-8 XU1 essentially banned while they were in early pre-production.
 
Originally Posted by JLTD
Had a '74 Scamp(same as Valiant)....drum brakes all around! Try hauling that down from 70...or even 50!


My first car was an LC Torana 6cylinder (138 c.i) auto with drum brakes.

It would make it to 85MPH....but not stop from 85MPH
 
Huuuuge doors on the Charger. 20 years ago we did the mechanicals of a Charger resto....bleeding the brakes I was getting a bit wound up, my mechanic was pumping the pedal but nothing was coming out the rear bleed nipple. ''I am pumping ! and the fluid is going down!'' Then I noticed fluid dripping on the floor - the brake pipe was internal through the sill. I wander how many sills rotted out with brake fluid getting inside...and of course Aussie cars didn't have rust proofing.

I knew a guy who built a Charger for an underground race we had here, '80's or thereabouts - Auckland to Wellington, or the other way round. Cars and bikes, word of mouth, nudge, nudge, wink, wink. A turboed 265, before we knew what a turbo was, I saw the dyno sheet...either 550hp and 450 ft/lbs, or 450hp and 550ft/lb, one of which means it wasn't a revver, possible for a 265. A huge fuel tank behind the back seat so he could do the run on one fill. I drove it...yeah, it lit up the rear wheels in top gear....
 
You guy's got some pretty cool stuff back in the day . The 351 Cleveland stuff especially .
 
Originally Posted by Shannow
Originally Posted by JLTD
Had a '74 Scamp(same as Valiant)....drum brakes all around! Try hauling that down from 70...or even 50!


My first car was an LC Torana 6cylinder (138 c.i) auto with drum brakes.

It would make it to 85MPH....but not stop from 85MPH


So true!
 
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