Trevor Hardiesty 1977 CHRYSLER CENTURA

TAKING IT IN FOR A SERVICE ENDED UP IN OWNERSHIP

- GUY ALLEN

You could be forgiven for not having ridden in one of these. Chrysler's Centura of the 1970s probably scores as one of the lesser-known Aussie chrome bumper models. It was intended to compete in the midweight territory populated by Ford Cortina and Holden Torana and tended to be overshadowed by the full-size Valiant range.

In a feature on the series (see tradeuniquecars.com.au), Cliff Chambers unwrapped the origin of the species: "1970s Australia was a land of changing tastes.

We embraced pizza and KFC, our houses were getting bigger and being made from brick, our cars were smaller but with no less power.

"Holden started the trend by slotting six-cylinder engines into the shell of an elongated Vauxhall Viva, followed by Ford with six-cylinder versions of the TC Series Cortina.

"That left Chrysler, the smallest of our country's 'Big Three, with the choice of designing a contender from scratch or finding an existing design to fill the gap. It found one in France.

"The Chrysler 180 was a mid-sized sedan intended at one point to be sold in Britain as a Humber and use V6 power. Via Chrysler’s ownership of Simca it ended up being built in France with four-cylinder engines, then shipped to Australia to be united with some of our straight six engines.”