Saturday, May 14, 2011

Charger!

There are several people I know whose first name is not their christened first name. My dad was one. First name Robert, everyone called him Neil, which was his middle name. The driver of the car below was called, on the the day he was born, Ian Geoghegan, but to everyone who watched him drive very fast he was Pete. Not sure why that is so, but while trying to find out I came across this great obituary of the man who died in 2003. He was the first to win five touring car championships, a feat he achieved in the 1960s, mostly behind the wheel of a Ford Mustang.

However, in this photoshopped diorama set in the early 1970s, he's behind the wheel of a
Chrysler Valiant Charger RTE49. This 1:43 model is by Trax. Touring Car racing has long
been dominated by Ford and Holden in Australia, but the Valiants not only did respectably
well against their foes, they managed one feat that race wins don't guarantee: they became
a much-sought-after cult car. Aussie car buffs love a nice Charger. They're a good looking car.
Now, I wouldn't pretend to know all that much about Chargers in the technical way. Reading about them in Wikipedia taught me a stack I didn't know, but Valiants in general are still a daily event for me. They haven't made or sold them here for 30 years now, but there are still a few about. However, the Sydney nickname for the Valiant was always a "Marrickville Mercedes" due to the migrant community's love of Valiants, and Marrickville is about as migrant as a Sydney suburb gets (which is why I like living here). Marrickville is still a Valiant hot spot. There's a guy down the street with a nice V8 Valiant Regal, the one with the vinyl roof. There's a couple of old mint Valiants driven by even older Greek men at 20mph. I am sure their grandsons are waiting patiently for old pop to drop off the peg, so they can have his Valiant. And there is even quite a nice old Charger running around here too, and its owner doesn't drive it slowly, either. Good on him!

 

9 comments:

  1. Motorbikes are more economical. There is no parking fee for motorbikes, and road tax is much cheaper for them. Also, in places like London motorbikes do not have to pay for a congestion charge.

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  2. Anyone know if there are any diecast models around of any of the Valiant Regals, or the CJ Limos for that matter. Have a friend whose Dad had a VJ Regal,wants a model of same or similar. I see plenty of diecasts of the Chargers,have one myself,but the 4 door stuff hasnt been done

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  3. Top Gear has a 1965 Valiant Regal in Maroon. Here's the link, just type 'Valiant' into the search box and that will take you to the listing.

    http://www.topgear.com.au

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  4. Summer is finally here and with the warmer temperatures and longer days a number of guys are breaking out their motorcycles to enjoy riding in the comfortable.

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  5. An armored car generally has many features that help safeguard the passengers, driver, and possibly and valuables inside the vehicles.

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  6. It was a great adventure to take the pictures while driving, i also have this hobby to take pictures when ever i get on with my bike.

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  7. For me cars was the boy's best friend at any instance. And I can't blame them for that cars are very lovable.

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  8. Our car named Jojo. Same as your story, we love our car too very much. It was a great adventure when we do trip with him.

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  9. I had quite a few Vals back in the day. All sorts from Slant Six 225s to Hemis, to V8s. I am currenlty in the process of repainting a Trax Charger into my old Charger's colour scheme. I have never done this before so I am blogging my process in my blog, mistakes and all. Its a slight learning curve but lots of fun.

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