Growing up in a Charger
Ross Clark shares some unforgettable stories of the white VH Valiant Charger XL owned by his late father, Don.
The Chrysler Valiant Charger took Australia by storm in 1971. A brilliant marketing campaign for the sporty two-door hardtop saw cheque books waved at Chrysler dealers after its launch in August of that year.
A short time later, an early example off the assembly line found its way to Morwell in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley. At the time, Morwell was booming on the back of a handful of coal-fired power stations in the region that Ross’ father Don played central roles in.
Juggling the demands of four young children and his career, Don purchased a Valiant Charger and drove it back to the family home in Helen Street, Morwell.
We’ll let Ross take it from here.
The new wheels
“One evening in November 1971, Dad brought home a brand new white Valiant Charger XL. I might have only been 10, but I had watched the ‘Hey Charger’ ads on our black and white TV. Chargers were so cool. Even though we walked to school, we now couldn’t wait for rainy days so we could get dropped off at school.
“Prior to the Charger, we were a Holden family and had a 1965 green HD that everybody seemed to own. The Charger was such a step forward. It was new and different. Having a new car was one thing, but having a Charger was different. It was a status symbol. My primary school mates loved getting a ride in it with its dark red interior. Having only two doors was very special. You really climbed into the bowels of the Charger. It even had a rego starting with L, LAN 656. Until then, all cars had a rego starting with G, J or K. Of course, everybody we drove past did the ‘Hey Charger’ hand symbol.”
A family car. Or not?
“The Charger didn’t really suit us as there were four of us children and the Charger only had three back seats. Road safety rules were not big in the early seventies and back then, if you were a child, you didn’t have to wear a seatbelt. Dad built a small seat that fitted in between the two front bucket seats for youngest, Keith, once he was old enough to sit in a seat.
“As I remember, Dad even put in a seat belt of sorts for him. It was an early version of today’s booster seat, so perhaps Dad was ahead of his time. I still wonder what would have happened if we had an accident. I am sure Keith would have been safely strapped in the seat as it exited out through the front windscreen.”
The hunt for a hubcap
“Dad loved the Charger and drove it hard. We regularly used to drive from our home at Morwell to our holiday house at Mount Martha. There was no direct road, so we took the Princes Highway to Drouin and then back roads through the Koo Wee Rup swamp to get to the Mornington Peninsula.
“One day, Dad had the Charger wound up (as usual) and we roared across the railway level crossing at Koo Wee Rup. It had quite a hump requiring a slow entry and exit, but Dad took it at high speed. I swear that the car was airborne, and then there was this almighty thud as we landed on the other side.
“I then noticed a hubcap bouncing down the road and into a paddock. Dad was very annoyed that his Charger had ‘let him down’ and angrily stopped to hunt for the errant hubcap. His mood lightened when I was able to show him, and a friendly local drafted into the hubcap hunt, where the hubcap landed.”
Tree stump removal
“The Charger was quite a workhorse and regularly towed a trailer at top speed. That was because Dad had sold the Mount Martha house in 1973 and built a house at Barwon Heads in 1974. The trailer was always loaded up with materials. The only problem with the Barwon Heads land was that it was full of tea trees, some requiring removal. That left tea tree stumps, but this is where the Charger excelled. Dad tied a rope around each tea tree stump and connected it to the Charger’s tow bar. Then, there was a lot of revving, clutch slipping, smoke, wheel spin and this very strange smell that I have since smelt at car racing; clutch burning.
The Charger at Barwon Heads
“Most of the time, the stump came out in a spectacular manner. As kids, we loved watching the spectacle. I have emulated this feat only once with my old AU XR6 falcon. It’s difficult to do as the car can run away with tree stump attached. Keith has too, in a work car, and demolished his front fence when he powered through it with tree stump in tow. This proves that Dad and the Charger were well matched.”
A heavy right foot
“The 1970s and the energy crisis started the early period of public renewable generation awareness. At the age of 13, I became interested in wind generation and started making small “test” wooden blades that Dad and I attached to an old bicycle light generator (another item now no longer used).
“Dad encouraged my interest and initially allowed me to bolt this mini wind generator to the Charger’s roof gutter. The first test didn’t go well because Dad, as usual, had the Charger wound up to full speed and the wind generator on the roof was producing far more power than I had calculated. In fact, it produced so much power that it blew all the light globes on my homemade control panel that I had connected together as a load. As there was now no load on the generator, it spun faster and faster into oblivion, causing the wooden blade to shatter and flying pieces dented the Charger’s roof. On all future ‘tests’, the wind turbine was bolted to the trailer.”
Don, Ross and Tristan
Train chasing
“All the males in the family were interested in old steam trains and in 1974, the last train ran on the Morwell to Mirboo North railway. As it was a steam train, Dad thought that we should follow the train the Mirboo North and take photos of it.
“This went well until we got to the last section between Boolarra and Mirboo North. The railway runs through forests and to access the railway line, little used pine plantation tracks had to be negotiated. The Charger was ‘rallying’ along these tracks but somehow managed to slide off one and became totally bogged.
“No amount of Hemi 245 power could get us out of the mud. Dad calmly sent us off to get branches, while he jacked the car up, stuffed branches under the wheels, jumped in and then gunned the engine. Mud and branches were flying everywhere, but out came the Charger covered in clumps of mud. Off we went and resumed our train chasing in a now very dirty car. Dad was not worried about the mud because washing the Charger every weekend was a chore my older brother and I shared.”
Don with his hand-built miniature steam train
The next Valiant
“In 1977, Dad felt that it was time for a new Valiant. He reasoned that if the first model Charger was good, later Chrysler models must be better. Off he went to the local Chrysler Dealer in Warragul, Hotchkin and Boyer, to trade it in for a gold Valiant Regal. Unfortunately, he didn’t like it as it had a much softer suspension and sluggish performance, when compared to the Charger.
“He only kept it for a year before trading it in again at Hotchkin and Boyer, this time for a brand-new Chrysler Sigma SE. The Sigma was a brilliant car and Dad sold it to me in 1983. I finally moved it on in 2002 after 25 years of reliable service.”
The Clark family with the Chrysler Sigma
A huge thank you to Ross for taking the time to share these with stories us.
Tomorrow, we introduce a South Australian who was intrinsically involved in building the Charger’s performance pedigree in the early seventies.
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