1971 Chrysler VG Hemi Pacer Coupe

Chrysler's VG Valiant range was launched in 1970 and saw the arrival of the first Australian Hemi engine, replacing the old slant six. The new 245-cid engine was available in three basic levels of tune and was widely lauded by the press for restoring the performance edge of earlier Valiants. The styling of the VG remained largely unchanged from the VE/VF series apart from the adoption of square headlamps and a new grille, along with minor changes to the rear end. There was a choice of the base model, Regal and luxury VIP sedans on an extended wheelbase, a hardtop, Safari station wagon. The hottest version of all was the Pacer, first offered with the VF and readily identified by unique decals inspired by the high performance craze sweeping across the USA. The VG Pacer was sold in both hardtop coupe or sedan versions and in standard guise had the 245 Hemi with 185 hp with a two-barrel carbie, but could be optioned with a High Performance E31 version of the same motor, while the track-oriented E34 Pacer came with a wilder camshaft and four-barrel carbie, to give around 235 hp. All VG Pacers came with the standard Chrysler three-speed manual gearbox (hardtops could be ordered with Borg-Warner automatic transmission) and ventilated front disc brakes. The press loved the Pacer, with Modern Motor recording a quarter-mile time of 16.4 seconds while Wheels managed a 0-100 km/h time of 8.1 seconds - something few other family cars of the day could match. By the time production switched to the VH in 1971, some 46,374 VG Valiants had been made in total and relatively small number were Pacers. The vast majority of VG Pacers were four-door sedans, making the hardtop by far the rarest model and the hardest to come by today.