MIGHTY MOPAR!

CHRYSLER WAS THE LAST OF THE BIG THREE TO OFFER A HOT VERSION OF THEIR FAMILY SEDAN. AND IT WAS FABULOUS

- DAVE MORLEY/CLIFF CHAMBERS

Depending on who you talk to, Chrysler’s Pacer concept of the late 1960s was either A: A catch-up reaction to the success of competitors like Monaros and Falcon GTs, or; B: So far ahead of the curve that it wouldn’t be until the Falcon XR6 almost a quarter century later that a full-sized, six-cylinder performance car would match the Pacer’s intent and marketing direction. Or get anywhere near the Mopar’s cool factor.

But whichever way you cut the deck, when the Pacer we’re discussing is a genuine, numbersmatching Bathurst homologation special (in this case, an E31) even if it never won Bathurst, that distinction puts this car up there in the pantheon of Aussie homologation specials. Yep, as far as we’re concerned right up there with the likes of GT-HO Falcons, XU-1 Toranas and S4 EH Holdens. 

Don’t get us wrong, all GTs, EHs and Torries are cooler than a well-digger’s backside. But when they appear before us, bearing the option codes and equipment that stamps them as one of the 200 cars demanded by CAMS to bring those options to racetracks in Australia in the '60s and '70s, then we come to the overall opinion that we’re-not-worthy.

But let’s backtrack a little first. While Holden and Ford were making the '60s special by cranking out local hotties with V8 engine options and all sorts of stripes and lairy wheel-trims, Chrysler found itself standing at the edge of the dance floor, looking at its shoes. Its answer to all of this (and this is where the catch-up strategy theory emerges) was to grab a four-door VF Valiant, spice up the 225 slant-six a little and whack on some 100 mile-an-hour stripes.