Way back when Americans still thought "high performance six" was a paradox, Chrysler of Australia took an abandoned North American truck engine and turned it into the hottest six around. The 265 Hemi Six Pack with its hemispherical heads and three two barreled Weber carbs, may have made Americans smile, they thought only the pounding 426 was a Hemi, and six packs were on the 340 and 440 V8s. Impressive as these engines were, none were as light or as small as the 265. The Australian 6 pack Hemi Chrysler Chargers would not only match the mighty US V-8s in a straight line; the lightweight, short wheelbase coupes would also blow their big American relatives to the dust around corners.

At the time of E49s release, it's 302hp treble Weber 6 Pack Hemi was the most powerful production 6-cylinder engine in the world. A factory option was a Bathurst cam, which upped the power to a rather healthy 325hp! The 265 Hemi 6 Pack engines also have a magnificent spine tingling howl all of their own.

Wheels magazines 1972 road test of the E49 recorded 0-60mph in 6.1 seconds, 0-100mph in 14.1 seconds, standing quarter in 14.4 seconds, top speed 132mph. This made the E49 the fastest accelerating production car in Australia and the fastest accelerating production 6-cylinder car in the world. Not bad for an early 70?s stock standard 6-cylinder Valiant! Today with modern tires, E49s have easily broken the 14-second barrier through the quarter and with higher gearing, E49s have been timed at over 150mph.

Wheels (1972) said of the E49: Where the Charger is absolutely unbeatable is in winding mountain country. We don't mean tight hairpin bends, though it is still horribly quick through these, but on fast open sweepers and meandering switchbacks. The raw quivering power is instantaneously on tap and with a ratio for every conceivable situation the Charger just storms through and it would take a Ferrari Daytona with Jackie Ickx behind the wheel to stay with one.

The Charger died in 1978, and took with it much of the Valiant's sales. Mitsubishi took over Chrysler's Australian operations in 1980.

Despite the chargers superior acceleration and dynamics it was never dominant on the high speed Australian race tracks. Notably Bathurst (Australian equivalent to Daytona) where the top end of the legendary ford GTHO?s V-8 proved a winner.

there were plans for a high performance V-8, but these were scrapped and the V8 was only used later as a status symbol in the charger.
many chargers 1 ford GTHO