This rare hunk of Aussie muscle could be yours—and it’s already imported to North America
We stumbled upon a Craigslist post for a rarely-seen Mopar for sale in Canada that grabbed our attention. Although a few do lurk in the shadows, a Chrysler Valiant Charger like this one, built and sold in Australia, is not a common find at your average American car show.
The Valiant Charger is a sharply designed coupe that doesn’t look too out of place among its American muscle car contemporaries. The sloping C-pillars give it a fastback profile, yet the rear window is tunneled between them; to us, the lines evoke a bit of ’68–70 Dodge Charger. One of the features that does distinguish the Aussie from its American brethren is the rectangular headlights, something we wouldn’t see in the states until the 1975 model year.
Besides the obvious right-hand-drive configuration, which clearly reveals that the Valiant Charger is not your average Detroit product, the interior design is familiar and muscle-car appropriate. The engine-turned dash, in particular, suggests some Trans Am vibes. The subdued color scheme—brown upholstery with black accents—is a solid choice, we think, paired with the bright yellow exterior.
Powering the muscle coupe is a 340 LA V-8 backed by an automatic transmission. The 340 was one of most potent small-block Mopars of the era and the same engine used in the AAR Cuda. We’re not sure how the 340 engines installed in Australia’s muscle coupes compared to those sold here, but we hope they resemble the early versions (from ’68 through the AAR ’Cuda) more than the final versions that came immediately before the 360. By 1973, a stateside 340 was only good for 240 hp—quite a disappointment when compared to the underrated 275-hp label applied to the earlier, high-compression, four-barrel 340s, not to mention the 290-hp-rated versions fitted with triple two-barrel Holleys.
The asking price for this screaming yellow machine is an eye-watering $86,000. That would go a long way in the current muscle-car market, but for the Australophile seeking a truly head-turning muscle car that would, most likely, never meet its twin at a stoplight, perhaps the distinctiveness is worth it. You tell us!
