Managed to catch a selection of Chrysler products loitering around Melbourne’s streets. They’re not uncommon here, but much more visible in their hometown of Adelaide. Let’s start with a 1966-67 VC Wayfarer. US-derived ’66 front clip is cleaner with our (less distinctive) grille ahead of an AP5/6 rear. I’m not sure if that’s a factory colour but it works. My favourite of our 60s Val utes.
1970/71 VG Safari coming home after a day at work.
VG Hardtop with homebake ragtop. I remember a rage for sawzall action on these back in the 1980s; a place down the road had a few of them as funmobile rentals as well as Beetles similarly emasculated. Shame, because the Dart fastback roofline combined with our VG front clip made this a great-looking coupe.
Rare on the streets is a CH Chrysler by Chrysler, as opposed to a Valiant by Chrysler. These got the loop bumper and a longer wheelbase than the VH Valiant with the same body. Super-rare is the two-door hardtop, which rivals the Fuselage coupes for deck/hood to cabin ratio. I see this one semi-regularly and it’s in nice curbside condition.
1975-78 KB or KC Centura. Probably rarer on the streets than the CH, these Cortina rivals derived from the euro Chrysler 180. Ours came with a two-litre four, or the 215 or 245 /6 versions of our ‘hemi’.
Rarer again would be this 1959 Imperial. It just glided on by one quiet Sunday morning.
Didn’t get the whole ute in our final shot; was too distracted by that smile.
Further Reading:
History of Valiant in Australia Part 1
I love all of these cars! And great shots, Don. I found that Valiant VG Safari particularly intriguing. Given that Chrysler reintroduced the compact wagons with the ’76 F-bodies (Plymouth Volaré & Dodge Aspen), I wonder if these would have done okay in the U.S. Market, with only AMC’s Hornet Sportabout as competition in the domestic compact wagon segment.
I’ve often wondered why Chrysler didn’t bring the tooling for them to the US after the VH replaced them; they could’ve reintroduced the A-body wagons in mid ’72 or ’73 at the latest.
The market for compact wagons in the US had evaporated in the mid-60s when there really wasn’t much difference in ownership costs and maneuverability between a compact and a midsize, but starting with the ’71 Mopar B-bodies followed quickly by the ’72 Torino and ’73 Colonnades, midsizes got HUGE. Just in time for the first gas crisis…
Chrysler was the first to drop the compact wagon. GM was one year later(last Nova wagon was 1967), and Ford kept building Falcon wagons through 1970, although from 1966 on they were actually Fairlane/Torino wagons with a Falcon front clip. Not sure the market for smaller wagons really dried up. The Big Three wanted to move customers to more profitable intermediates, yeah, but the Germans (VW Squareback, 411, Dasher), Swedes (Volvo 140/240) and Japanese (Corolla, Subaru) stepped into the void.
I really like the Valiant Ute .
Are they available in decent shape these days ? .
-Nate
Yep. Have caught quite a few utes curbside in great drivable condition. Story at some point in the future.
The CH Chrysler really looks like a 1972 AMC Matador with the loop bumper
Hey! I learned a new word today! I SO wish Chrysler had built that Valiant Ute in the U.S. Worse, they cancelled the Valiant/Dart wagon after the 1966 model year. Thanx for the glimpse of life down under, Don.
Ah I love it multiple shots of various Coburg Cadillacs, Very popular cars with Kiwis we loved em Aussies not so much, yet the ethnic express was a better car than some of its rivals, I was a multi Valiant owner good old cars.
As a non-wrencher, I agree. I’ve had more 60s Vals than Fords or Holdens because I think the packaging is the best. Just make sure the steering box is welded in.
Yeah frame rail cracking was a problem one of the few.
Great Don!
Australia is really a great melting of the best of both North America, Europe and Asia, blended in a very distinctive way.
When I get there, I’ll be endlessly pointing and asking, and then wondering……
Be sure to let us know when you’re heading down.
+1 if you swing by NZ on your way!
Thanks Don, Dad had an Aussie 66 Valiant 4 door 6 cylinder. Mum never liked driving solo in a left hooker so the Falcon was sold when it was new car( to Dad ) time. More Australian cars please especially 6s & V8s
I want that 1959 Imperial!
Say, Don. Not to make you the spokesperson for the entire Oz industry…One thing that I’ve always wondered is why the Chrysler utes eschewed the finished look of their competitors. While Fords and Holdens either bestowed on their utes a 5 window greenhouse, or rounded off the upper rear sweep of the door frame, Chryslers seemed to make do with an unadulterated sedan door and a chopped off top. Some of the late ’50s/ Early ’60s AP2s actually drew attention to this unfinished look through overwrought modeling of the back pillar. Even earlier models with radiused curves around to the back window had vertical door frames. Was it about production capacity? Or was it a way to fit in a longer bed? That Wayfarer at top has the look of an aftermarket cut and paste conversion.
I was wondering the same think, Barko. While I really like the 66-7 VC Wayfarers, I’d like them a whole lot more if they looked like this crude photoshop I just did.
Not bad, Gene. It’s all they had to do to get a more finished look.
I tried it as an experiment and was really surprised at how much it changed the look of the car for the better. Also just by chance, adding the glass seemed to echo the reverse-taper “C” pillar that was such a hallmark of the ’64-’67 U.S.-built B and C bodied MoPaRs.
The 5 window local ute disappeared here during the sixties – our Falcon had sedan front doors with a shorter cabin than the US Ranchero and the Holdens were 3 window as well. IIRC the 5 window didn’t return until the 79 XD Ford, but John H will know for sure.
True, although the early FE-EH model Holden utes were technically a 5-window, because the rear windows were 3-piece (presumably due to manufacturing restrictions of the curved rear windows)
Forgot to add the photo
Almost all the Holden/Ford/Valitank utes used the same front doors and vertical frames as their related sedan/wagon counterparts. An exception was Ford’s XA-C Falcon ute which used the longer swoopier XA-C frameless coupe doors (albeit with unique, taller glass) to great effect.
The XC’s XD successor brought in the 5-window design – which brought added airiness to the design and allowed a better styling join between vertical door and ute rear. Of course the XD’s design was quite possibly accidental – the underlying structure of the floorpan, rear bulkhead and tray was largely XA-XC. So although the XD ute switched to the shorter XD sedan doors, using the previous tray/rear bulkhead structure meant the size of the side glasshouse could structurally be basically the same; instead of filling the unused part that had previously been door window, they just slotted the extra side window in. See pic below of XC and XD (trainspotters will observe from the fuel filler that the XD image is flipped!)
For all the Australian manufacturers I’d say budget size decided how well (or not) the B-pillar aft of the door was styled, designed and built. Also of consideration was how easily the ute could be built as a panelvan with sides, higher solid top and windowed doors.
Nice one. I agree that budget was the overriding decision for the sedan overlap, but the longer overhangs on the 60s Rancheros were not conducive to our terrain (urban and outback).
Even trickier Scott Holden panelvans in New Zealand as new cars arrived as utes and the roofs were fitted here to order. Only available HQ series onwards earlier vans were no remmittance imports
The simple answer as to why the Australian utes didn’t use a nice long front door like the American utes (Ranchero/El Camino), which looked so much better, is because there were no two door cars built in Australia, until the 70s or late 60s. In the US, these utes borrowed the longer doors from the two door sedans, but these weren’t built there. So they were stuck with the much shorter four door sedan front doors, which just don’t work well on a ute or panel van.
In the US, the two door wagons and panel vans also used those longer doors, which allowed better entry into the rear seat/cargo area, as well as looking much better.
The Australian market was considered too small to bother tooling up for two door sedans, or they had an aversion to them. I don’t think there was ever one built there, right?
No, we didn’t have two-door sedans for our standard-sized ranges. One other thing to consider is that the first Falcon was a last minute change from plans to use the British Consul. Maybe Ford Australia had expended too much on development for that model, leaving less money for the Falcon package as a whole range. And the Falcon set the convention for the big three over the 60s.
Ford AU submitted its own redesign for the MK2 Zephyr Consul Zodiac range it was rejected as the loline facelift was already locked in and the MK3 already on the drawing boards so they took the offered Falcon as their own car and the rest is history.
The Mk2a Zephyr redesign was being done in Dearborn, because when the head of Ford Australia was there for the final sign-off and did not like it, the Falcon model was in the studio next door.
There was definitely an aversion to large two-door sedans, in the sense that they didn’t sell, with the last available being the Studebaker Lark (large-ish) and I think most two-doors would have been sold to the police on the basis of keeping a prisoner secure in the rear seat. There were a few large coupes that mostly sold in small numbers, 64-66 and 72-78 Falcon, 68-76 Monaro, 69-76 Valiant/Charger.
No, there weren’t any run-of-the-mill two-door sedans, although there were the various Monaro/Falcon/Valiant coupes. As noted above, the XA-C Falcon ute did use the longer coupe doors, with excellent aesthetic results.
I knew I could count on you guys!
The “Eureka!” moment was when I realized that the dearth of 2 doors built in Australia may have contributed to the nicely finished backlight on many utes, since the shorter door took up less of the available length, and the bed could be less compromised by cabin intrusion. A restriction with happy consequences.
The other thing is the bed extends under the rear window, to a sloping front panel that uses all the space available behind the seat to maximise load space.
I have seen that 59 Imperial before, just the front only when I was stopped at traffic lights one day; it took a long time before I worked out what it was. I don’t imagine there is more than one running around at least.
A nice selection of what still seem to me like “alternate universe” Chryslers!