The Chrysler Valiant Pacer is an icon of Australian muscle cars. So it’s fitting the company is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
When it launched in 1969 the Valiant Pacer was one of the big three locally-made muscle cars, alongside the Holden Kingswood and Ford Falcon. These days there are no more Australian-built cars of any kind, but our love of V8-powered, rear-wheel drive machines remains, which is why Chrysler still imports the 300 SRT Core; the only model the brand still offers.
It forms the basis for this one-of-a-kind tribute, the 300 SRT Pacer is packing the same 6.4-litre Hemi V8 as the standard SRT. That means it’s pumping out 350kW of power and 637Nm of torque, and transmitting that grunt to the rear-wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission.
To honour the original, this special 300 SRT features a full body wrap in the classic Pacer ‘Wild Yellow’ colour, with black side stripes and ‘Pacer 392’ badging (complete with period Chrysler logo). It rides on 20-inch black alloy wheels with a red stripe, another design cue taken from the ‘69 model.
“We’re excited to bring to life a modern interpretation of an Australian classic, the Chrysler 300 SRT Pacer tribute car,” said Guillaume Drelon, Director of Product for Chrysler Australia.
While, unfortunately, this is just a one-off celebration effort, Chrysler Australia has teased that a “limited edition production variant will be released soon.”
So if you’re a fan of affordable V8-powered, rear-wheel drive sports sedans you have something to look forward to.
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