Mark Webster looks over a Valiant that makes him long for his Rambler

Henry West doesn’t tell a typical story of classic car ownership — he doesn’t seem to have petrol in his blood, as some do, and he didn’t have a relative with one of these models that he so admired when he was growing up.

He just saw it for sale in 2000 and bought it. “It’s the first classic I’ve had. I just saw it and had to have it.”

In 1966 this Chrysler Valiant Safari VC wagon was sold new in Invercargill, where it stayed 33 years, the original owner looking after it with garaging and six-monthly services. When it finally changed hands, a young mechanic from Warkworth flew down, bought it and drove it back North. At this point it had just 106,217km (66,000 miles) on the clock and was in very good condition.

The mechanic put a few things right, replaced the window seals and fitted new carpets, but had too much on his plate. A year after the long trip from Invercargill, the Valiant became Henry’s.

“It was extremely well looked after until I got it — I’ve just used it as a work vehicle most of the time as a camera assistant in the film industry.”

You might recognise the car from the Tip Top bread TV ad in which an excitable British tourist, driving the country in this distinctive vehicle, appears at various tourist destinations raving about how fresh his bread still is. It has made guest appearances in another couple of ads as well.

The car

When most New Zealanders think of Valiants they picture Chargers, but the marque has a lot more to it. The car first appeared in the US as Chrysler’s ‘compact’ (that’s ‘big’ by NZ standards), built at Dodge factories but soon marketed as a Plymouth (1961), maybe to avoid confusion with Dodge’s compact Dart. Everyone was making compacts by this stage — AMC with the American, Ford with the Falcon, GM with the rather too radical rear-engined Corvair, Studebaker with the Lark and so on.

The earliest Valiant, despite its length, was swanky and curvy with a somewhat extreme rearwards and down-sloping boot with a ‘spare tyre outline’ in chrome trim. The car was immediately available in station wagon versions in the US called Suburbans, built for six or nine passengers (with two or three seats respectively). A more performance oriented two-door coupe version was introduced on the Valiant platform, and this was the antecedent of the later Australasian Charger.

Chrysler Australia introduced the Valiant and put it into local production at Tonsley Park and, as Ford Australia did with the US Falcon, ran it through a ‘ruggedising’ development process to make it more suitable for Australian conditions.

By 1963, Valiants from Chrysler’s plant at Tonsley Park, Australia, were arriving in New Zealand. The first model was the AP5, which looked more like the original US Valiant. These are lovely, and rare as hell now. At first, as ex-Invercargill Todd dealer George Murdoch recalled in a 2000 interview, Valiants arrived CBU (completely built up) at the Auckland wharfs. Dealers used to fly to Auckland, collect them from the wharf, and drive them back to their dealerships.

Later in 1963, the Australian-sourced Chrysler Valiant entered local production in the Todd plant near Wellington, and the cars were soon outselling Ford Falcons here. The first model in local production was the AP5 model in Valiant ($2596), upmarket Regal ($3090) and station-wagon ($2796) forms — the wagons carried Safari badges.

Todd usually assembled the sedan versions, but imported some other body styles — including a few wagons — complete.

In 1965 the AP5 was replaced by the AP6, mostly distinguishable by a new front grille composed of three horizontally-divided sections (August 1965-1966). Then Chrysler embraced the slab-sided, razor-edge look we usually associate with the mid-’60s. The VC model debuted this for Chrysler in Australasia, a car with vertical taillights, and with the same six-cylinder 3687cc (225 cubic-inch) engine. Locally-assembled cars had sixes, but you could get an imported Regal with a V8 if you had the money. Transmissions were three-speed whether manual or automatic.

It’s hard to tell if Henry’s car was built here — actually, it appears from the engine bay that it was built in Australia and imported CBU, despite having a six-cylinder engine.

In 1966, the year our featured car was sold new, the New Zealand-Australia Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed to promote trade between the two countries — in effect, the more local content there was in the New Zealand assembled vehicles, the more special CBU models the companies could import, usually at a ratio of three to every 100 cars locally put together. That was  how models different to the standard sedans appeared on our market. The Valiant station wagon was dearer than the Falcon and Holden equivalent, but to be fair it was better specced and had a better standard of fittings. To my eye, it looked more stylish, too.

The VC was replaced by the VE (as many motoring journos have noted before, Chrysler wisely skipped a VD model) in 1968. The VE differed with a recessed bonnet, half-moon taillights and four horizontal bars for a grille. Late in 1971, the performance Valiant Charger coupe was released in New Zealand, and even assembled at Todd’s Petone factory.

Petrol prices

Chrysler Valiants were doing great business for Todd Motors, but there was trouble on the horizon: the oil shocks. From 1972, Valiants paid the price — Denford McDonald, a retired former director of Mitsubishi Motors NZ and a man who had started way back as a trainee engineer at Todd Motors, told me in 2000, “In the first oil shock, we went from 45 per cent of our volume at Todd Park in Valiants to, within three months, 10 per cent. Oil prices, petrol prices and the extra tax whacked onto them all added to that.”

However, by 1973, loyal customers were swapping their big Chrysler Valiants for more fuel-efficient Mitsubishi Lancers, Sigmas and Magnas. Valiant Chargers were assembled here until 1976; 1979 was the last year for New Zealand assembly of Valiants. The last assembled models were the CL Hemi 6 auto sedan and the CL V8 Regal sedan (but Todd continued to import built-up cars until Australian Valiant production ceased in 1981).

Storage

Henry tries to keep the mileage down — the Valiant now has 110,000 miles on the clock (177,025km), while Henry’s longest trip has been to Ruapehu. “I just love driving it on the open road, though.”

As a three-speed manual with a large six cylinder engine, the car is geared typically for Australian wagons of the era. It has a short range in first and a large range in second and third. “On the open road, I only have to change down to second if it’s an especially steep hill. Otherwise it just takes them in its stride.”

The car — probably thanks to its servicing history — has been pretty sound, requiring little maintenance beyond regular checks. But the front suspension had to be replaced about six months ago. “I couldn’t believe the difference. The whole ride changed. It feels much more positive.” His only real dread is breaking one of the rear side windows; curved by the tailgate, they’re rare and will be hard to find.

As he’s about to depart off for an overseas trip, the wagon is headed for a nice dry storage locker until his return. Then Henry plans to give it some love and attention. “I want to deal to any small traces of rust, repaint it and do the interior.”

Words and Photos, Mark Webster