Collector Cars

[firko]

blame my old man, he had a couple of V8 valiants in the 70s for some reason, I thought they were great,at least until he bought a Plymouth Fury...

Derek..were those Valiants Aussie made items or US? If they were Aussie it might point that the VF Pacer I saw might have been a part of some sort of export drive to the UK by Chrysler Australia in the early 70's. I was watching an old episode of Minder once and the evil villain was driving a VG VIP around East London...white with black padded vinyl top .   (When was the last time anyone saw one of them on the road here? I had one new in '71 and the roof pillars had rusted by '74. The foam padding under the vinyl top held water and the rest was history.)

Did you import the Monaro yourself or were they released in the UK? I recall Top Gear doing a bit on them and Clarkson did his usual slag job while finally reluctantly admitting that it wasn't so bad (for an Australian car).

[shortshifter]

What about the 2 door VG hardtop with the extended rear pillars ?Mexicana?or some such name?I also seem to remember top gear did a "work truck shootout" with "Kenny"in a GTS ute and Clarkson behind the wheel of a Euro highside van with some kind of F1 engine in it.Needless to say the Euro van won.

[jimg1au]

a friend mine has a 1981 corvette which he wants to sell.
it was his late fathers and has gen 5600 miles on it.it is right hand drive and has a targa top.it is regoed in nsw and has never been out of rego.won lots of trophies in the 80s which will go with the car.
pm me for details
jim

[ksithumper]

Did you import the Monaro yourself or were they released in the UK? I recall Top Gear doing a bit on them and Clarkson did his usual slag job while finally reluctantly admitting that it wasn't so bad (for an Australian car).

Firko, it's Dick here not Derek, you are getting old and muddling your KSI's up!A few hundred VY and VZ Monaros, both Holden and HSV, were imported and badged as Vauxhalls over here. Madly expensive new, I bought mine 11 months old with 6000km on it for 60% of new price. Most of the lads seem to want to boost Aussie exports by buying all the Holden badges to go back on, but I can't be arsed with that- rather waste the money on fuel! Clarkson is actually big 'ro fan, bangs on about them regularly. Top wheels.
As for the valiants, no idea what model but defo mid 70s pure Aussie. One was bronze/copper colour with a White vinyl roof. Tasteless...

[jimg1au]

last month on the way from cornwall to cheltenham on the m5 a holden ss ute passed us and then it was gone pedel to the metal
poxy 4cyl couldnt keep it in sight

[Tony T]

I love this 'Beige Camry Free Zone' .
For some reason I've always thought Merc station wagons to much cooler than the sedans. That one looks pretty good Tony...Deisel?

`fraid not. It's a quite spritely 280 petrol. : -) But for a hundred bucks, I think it's ok....... 

Diesel's are cool, but soooooooo slooooow............
Gonna get my boy one for his first car! 2.5 tonnes and flat out at 90kph........... Perfect!!!!!! I

[firko]

Diesel's are cool, but soooooooo slooooow......

I couldn't agree more. A mate bought a deisel Mercedes...I think it was a '78 model, because his boss supplied subsidised deisel fuel for his Kenworth truck. Whenever he needed to top up the Merc he added it to his truck bill. That car was so slow it was totally tapped at 100kph on the Hume Highway on the way to Canberra. When it hit a hill it'd roll over and almost die . He ended up selling it to his son in law who stuck a 400 small block Chevy and turbo 400 in it.
That 280's a steal for $100 Tony. Try the small block Chevy option on it!

[Tony T]

That 280's a steal for $100 Tony. Try the small block Chevy option on it!

Wash your mouth out! 

[Tim754]

What??? you had to pay $100 to someone to steal it ??
Hey Tony has it got a poxy cartridge type oil filter? Used to service A 280 with one ,what a shit dirty set up! only thing worse was an old..ancient .. 190 diesel yuk stinking black poxy oil down your arm and in your face every time. Cheers Tim754

PS the 305 cid Chevy is the easy fit in the Mer suds (not the 350)

[firko]

PS the 305 cid Chevy is the easy fit in the Mer suds (not the 350)

Any small block Chevy fits the Merc the same.....easily, just like they do in my beloved Jaguars.

[Matador107]

DIESEL,the fuel of the gods. My 7.3 F250 doesn't know the word slow or one of our V6 7 speed diesel navara's either(8.2l/100 h/way). I know diesel is dearer,to buy but you go further and a lot of modern work utes only come as diesels.
I also think this payback period of "it's a diesel so it's more expensive so it will take a long time to justify the expense" is a load of crap.
It's written by motoring people who don't have to actually pay for a vehicle or pay for their own fuel.

The servicing cost are also ok providing you don't go to the ''approved''dealer and use good quality oil.

[firko]

DIESEL,the fuel of the gods. My 7.3 F250 doesn't know the word slow or one of our V6 7 speed diesel navara's either(8.2l/100 h/way). I know diesel is dearer,to buy but you go further and a lot of modern work utes only come as diesels.

I couldn't agree more, my next car/truck/SUV will probably be a diesel. The difference between these modern diesels and those old Mercs is down to two things...efficient computer engine management and a little thing called a Turbocharger. You couldn't give me a non turbo diesel .

[firko]

Derek's Dads V8 Valiants and my spotting of a Hemi Pacer in London has sparked up some interest in my finding out if Chrysler Australia officially exported to the UK. I found the following piece on
http://www.rootes-chrysler.co.uk/aussie-chry.html

[frostype400]

Back now and resprayed looking good I am doing something to it pretty much every night after work I have most the stainless trims on and the badges  I just need to get my wiring in and chuck the front end and the 360 in, thanks Michael.

[frostype400]

Got some more done to the charger 360 and 727 trans back in started to put some dynamat in all my chrome is back so I am getting that back on slowly have to be careful managed to get the motor in from underneath so avoided any scratches that way.

Will put the headlining in soon and start getting the interior sorted.