E38 R/T Charger Blonde Olive 'Big Tank'

The Valiant Charger was released in August 1971, two months after the release of the VH Valiant sedan and wagon. Its striking style made an instant impression. It was the right car at the right time and it had the benefit of one of Australia’s most successful television advertising campaigns.
“Hey, Charger!” was shouted by people with their fingers raised in a ‘V’ to the passing car or, in one scene, by a beautiful blonde smiling at the camera from the passenger seat of a Charger. It wasn’t long before everyone was greeting each other with the same phrase and gesture. Chrysler had the recipe for a great commercial success. The base model Charger was priced at $2,795, the cheapest of all Valiants. Other variants were the XL, with reasonable comfort, and the 770 with middle-class luxury and a conservative feeling. For sporting drivers, Chrysler offered the Charger R/T, which added a more powerful engine, better handling, full instrumentation and sports seats.
The sweep of the rear body line was highlighted by tapering black stripes from the centre of the door back and around the sharp ‘spoiler’ at the tail.The rear panel below the spoiler was black.There were ‘R/T’ badges on the front mudguard near the door edge and engine identifiers on the rear flanks below the spoiler.A black vertical stripe, highlighting the side ‘R/T’ badges, and black panels on the bonnet were options.
The normal Charger was available with a choice of ‘Hemi’ six-cylinder engines in 215, 245 and 265 cubic inch capacities, or 318 and 360 V8s.The high performance R/T was also offered with the ‘Six Pack’, a 265 with triple Weber 45DCOE carburettors and full exhaust extractors.At the time, these features had only been seen on European exotica such as Ferrari, Maserati and Alfa-Romeo. Even the ‘Six-Pack’ came in two versions; the E37, which had stump-pulling torque at low revolutions, and the E38 which was tuned for maximum top-end power.
The E38 engine was the heart of the competition version of the Charger, based on the R/T. This was the Track Pack, which added stiffer suspension, dual-plate clutch, a close ratio three-speed gearbox, a limited-slip differential with a choice of ratios, track-optimised non-boosted brakes with adjustable front to rear proportioning valve and finned rear drums. It was also fitted with a quicker 16:1 steering box, and with adjustable rear spring hangers to allow suspension settings to suit different tracks.
Following trouble with pressed steel wheels cracking during racing, the Track Pack Charger was fitted with very strong cast aluminium wheels; the first time for any mass-production car.A 160-litre fuel tank with fillers on each side was also available as an option, to save stops in long races. It virtually filled the boot and did not improve the handling, but 250 cars had to be made in this form to qualify for the Hardie Ferodo 1000. These E38 Track Pack Chargers were the pinnacle of the 1971 Chrysler range and a real bargain at $3,975.
Lifting the bonnet revealed the glittering Hemi engine with a ribbed alloy rocker cover and side plate, with the massive triple Weber carburettors with their chromed air cleaners dominating the left side, almost hiding the elegant aluminium-coated extractors. The E38 Track Pack was exhaustively tested for performance and durability under racing conditions.The original test mules were a pair of VF utilities, shortened and modified to simulate the Charger. Legends grew as they lapped Mallala Raceway for hour after hour, day after day, a couple of seconds under the series production lap record.
All this preparation meant that the car was very well sorted for the track, straight from the showroom floor. The worst feature of the E38 was the three-speed gearbox. It had very close ratios, which helped it in races, but meant that it was slower off the line than its four-speed competitors. The three-speed gearbox was used as Chrysler was struggling to achieve its schedule for 85% Australian content at the time, so had to wait until the Australian Borg-Warner four-speed box became available in 1972. So equipped, and with even more power from a modified camshaft, the E38 became the E49.

Item includes certificate with individual production number.