World's Only South African 1970 Valiant Charger With a V8 Under Its Hood Is Up for Grabs

The moniker was also used for a Chrysler-branded vehicle named Valiant and produced in Australia in the 1970s. A two-door coupe by trade, it used the same platform that underpinned the Plymouth Duster or the Dodge Demon, among other things, and made quite an impression Down Under.

It did the same elsewhere as well, as the model was also sold in South Africa, but with one major difference compared to what it offered elsewhere: it didn't come with a V8 engine, but used slant-six ones instead.

As usual, South Africans immediately started dreaming of more, and those with the power to do something about it even tried to bring a V8 Charger to the local market. The man who almost did it was Keith Anderson, owner of local Chrysler dealership Anderson Brooker Motor Enterprise.

The man took a South African Valiant Charger from the first generation, the one called VH, and replaced the car's original 225ci powerplant with a 383ci one. A three-speed TorqueFlite automatic transmission was used to handle the engine's power.

The car in this configuration was supposed to become a pre-production prototype for Chrysler to start making V8 Valiants in the country, even in limited numbers. To make sure everyone understands the message, Anderson handed the car over to the people from local magazine Technicar for testing.

Back in 1973, the V8 Valiant was put through its paces. The unmodified 383ci engine managed to push the car over the quarter mile in 15.3 seconds, while accelerating from a standstill to 60 mph in 7.6 seconds. The two-way average speed stood at 113 mph (181 kph).

The man who built the car was not particularly impressed, so he set out to modify the engine. He increased the size of the engine to 390ci by boring out the cylinders, the engine block was cleaned, and he remade the bottom end of the hardware with new bearings to improve oil flow.

In a bid to give the engine better gas flow, the cylinder heads were ported, a new four-barrel Holley carburetor was installed, and both the radiator and exhaust system were replaced. As a final touch, a new cam was fitted as well.

The changes immediately paid off. Once again tested by Technicar, the Valiant managed to accelerate to 60 mph about one second faster than before (6.5 seconds), and shaved more than a second off its quarter-mile sprint time – the clock stopped at 14 seconds. The cherry on the cake, the recorded speed was now 140 mph (225 kph).

All of that should have caught Chrysler attention in a heartbeat, and it probably would have hadn't it been for the 1970s energy crisis that virtually stripped carmakers of any interest in making new high-powered cars.

That means the world never got a production version of the South African Chrysler Valiant Charger, and the one you're looking at now is the only one in existence, to our knowledge. And it's up for grabs.

The car is not in perfect condition. Its silver and chrome bodywork is chipped here and there, there are signs of peeling, and the whole thing looks a bit too industrial for my taste. But the right-hand drive monster on 17-inch American Racing five-spoke alloy wheels has plenty of things going for it as well.

First up, it doesn't appear to have been used all that much. The odometer reads 5,300 miles (8,531 km), meaning the 1970 vehicle averaged under 100 miles (161 km) of travel distance per year of life.

Then, it has been in the possession of the same owner for the past eight years. The Black vinyl interior with its grey fabric seats and wood trim inlays holds up pretty well, attesting to the car being used mostly for show and tell purposes.

Sitting 1.5 inches closer to the ground than it originally did and boasting wheels widened to 6.5 inches, the Valiant Charger was fitted over the past few years with a new starter motor, alternator, transmission shifter cable, and suspension bushes.

As said, the unique Charger is up for grabs. It was recently listed by Collecting Cars for undisclosed prices, but for one reason or another it failed to sell. There are, however, ways to get in touch with the owner if you're still interested.

You should know the car is selling complete with various magazines that featured it over the years and copies of the road tests performed on it. Why, there are even the original plates and keys, and official Chrysler mail.