More Bloody Aussies !!!

Love the aussie mopars! The aussie ute's are unf*uckinbelievable! Even though the newer ones aren't mopars, they still rip-balls! For the yanks (Americans like me self)
who aren't familiar with the aussie car scene, they have a real unique classic muscle
car history. Can you imagine a 'four-door' musclecar??? Well, that's what the
Aussies were doin' in the late sixties-to-late seventies. Mopar, Ford and GM were the
big three back then in AU and for that time period they were all tryin' to 1-up each
other in the mucslecar scene... just like they were here in the US. One difference... they
did it w/four doors. Very, very few models were offered with 2 doors. GM's was the
Torana (me thinks), I'm not sure what model Ford offered (if anything) and Chrysler had
the 'mighty Hemi-Charger'! Not the Hemi-Charger we know in the states... the AU
Hemi was a SIX! And the charger was a short wheelbase 2-door fastback that looked like a
sawed-off B-body! The Hemi-SIX waisted
Ford and GM's V-8 offerings and sent them both back to the drawing board to try and regain
some degree of self-respect for their V-8's!
I believe (correct me if I'm wrong Ken) that AU's only true big-block came in the Ford
Fairlane 'luxo-cruiser'. I don't think GM ever offered one there and I know for
a fact Mopar never did. The A-body Darts we know in the states were called Valiants in AU.
They were 2-doors but they were NOT the Valiants we know here... they were the Dart frame,
wheelbase, interior and uni-body. The tail lights and front clips were pure Aussie though
w/single rectangular headlights! The A-bodies never got a factory convert. in AU but that
didn't stop the owners! I was amazed when I saw all the convertible A-body
Dart/Valiants there... damn its like every third one was a conv... and they looked cool as
any GTS Conv. in the states! Turning hardtops A's into conv's was very popular back
then and the survivors look just as cool today!
They never got the 70-76 fastback A-bodies like our Dusters/Demons.
Chrysler disappeared from Australia in the late 70's after the musclecar market turned
into oil-tankers w/four wheels like it did in the states. Although Lee Iaccoca was able
to convince the US gov. into helping Mopar out of its hole here in the US, the Aussies just
lost Mopar altogether. They're back in AU now though with the Neon, Pt's and
Vipers. Ford and GM stuck it out in AU and kept building 'utes! And they
never looked back man! Today you'll find the evolution of Ford Ranchero's (Ford
'utes) and Chevy el camino's (Holden ute) in AU with factory 'vette/GTO engines
topping (500 HP) w/6 speed trannies and state of the art brakes/suspensions! They put
'em in 2-door coupes now too (how do you think we got our new GTO in the states... by the way our GTO is de-tuned and nowhere as fast as the Aussie model).
It's a new 'super-musclecar' shoot-out happening in AU with Ford and Chevy and
it's just as hot there now as it was back in the hay day of musclecar era here in the
US! I was too young to catch it in the US but I finally got my visa to live in AU and
I'm gonna enjoy it there! Of course my '74 Ramcharger convertible 4x4 1-ton and
'72 Demon 340 will be what I'm cruising in Oz on the weekends.
again... correct me if I'm off about anything Ken but I was only in Oz a couple years. I look fwd. to getting back next week!