Another anniversary has slipped by.
It is the AP6 Valiant.
It was in March 1965, 60 years ago, when the AP6 appeared, just four weeks after the HD Holden.
The AP6 was a mild re-style of the AP5.
A new grille graced the front end, reflecting that of the US Plymouth Barracuda coupe.
Inside, the futuristic push button automatic transmission selector was replaced by a conventional column lever.
Mechanically there was a tweak to the engine’s camshaft.
The Valiant’s advertising also boasted about the introduction of self-adjusting drum brakes.
In the era before standard disc brakes, self-adjusting drums were considered a technological “advance.”
At the risk of boring Cars4Starters devotees, self-adjusters were designed to automatically maintain the proper gap between the brake shoes and the drum as the shoes wore down.
For the first time Chrysler offered a Valiant-based ute, called the Wayfarer.
The really exciting news about the AP6 arrived in August.
That’s when Chrysler announced it could be bought with a V8.
This got everyone’s attention.
The first Australian family-sized car with a V8!
Chrysler restricted the V8 to a top of the line luxury model, which they called the Valiant V8.
It filled a gap between the large American cars of the day and the “luxury” locals — the Premier, Fairmont and Regal.
Based on the Regal, the V8 featured power (drum brakes), a vinyl roof, bucket seats and centre consul housing the automatic transmission shifter as standard.
The V8 also came as a wagon, with roof racks replacing the vinyl roof.
Power steering was not available on the sedan or wagon, nor were disc brakes.
V8 badges were placed around the car, with one acting as a bonnet mascot.
The engine itself was Chrysler’s 273 cubic inch/4.5-litre engine, imported from the USA.
It was the smallest in a range of new, “thin wall” engines released in the USA in 1964
The V8 had the market all to itself until the arrival of the XR Falcon a year later.
The AP6 V8 is indeed a fabulous car — and rare these days.
The Wayfarer ute, however, is even rarer, given its work-a-day purpose and inevitably hard life.
David Burrell is the editor of retroautos
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