By DAVID PIKE

In the 1960s Australian motorists had two additions to the locally-made car market which finally gave them a choice. First, in September 1960, came the Ford Falcon and then in January 1962 a new car which immediately won over the public with its combination of power, styling and luxury. That car was made by Chrysler and its name was Valiant.

When released at a price of $2598 Australians were introduced to a car with excellent performance, good fuel economy and stylish looks. The initial car was locally assembled from US parts based on a car sold overseas as either a Dodge or Plymouth. The standard model had a three-speed, floor-mounted manual gear shift whilst a state-of-the-art, three-speed, push button automatic transmission was available for an extra $272.

To give its car a marketing edge Chrysler released the new Valiant with a 3.69-litre engine featuring a six-cylinder overhead valve engine inclined at 30 degrees to the right. This `slant-six' engine produced 109 kW and 291 Nm of torque. Although Chrysler claimed a top speed of 150 km/h and a 19.5-second quarter mile, the new car performed better when tested by local motoring people and could touch almost 161 km/h and run the standing quarter mile in about 18.8 seconds. That made it quicker than either the equivalent Holden or Falcon.

At that time the EK Holden was still running the `grey' motor, virtually unchanged since 1948 which only developed 56 kW, just over half that of the Valiant, and although the standard XK Falcon engine was somewhat better, developing 67.5 kW, the Falcon had already acquired a bad name for durability. There was no questioning the strength of the large and solid Valiant.

Not everything about the new Valiant was considered perfect at the time of release. Things like the non-synchromesh first gear, the small 48-litre fuel tank and the lack of a heater were areas which motoring writers criticised.

Like its competitors, seats were of the bench type and instrumentation was pretty basic, with a speedo next to a matching dial containing minor gauges, both being set into an aluminium panel. Chrysler became the first of the `Big Three' to use an alternator instead of the then usual generator.

The most pleasing things about the Valiant were its looks, size and power. It was no surprise that the first batch of 1008 `R' models sold out within days of appearing on the showroom floors. Within weeks Chrysler put on sale the later US model - the `S' type - and the company was assembling these as quickly as possible. By year's end around 10,000 Valiants had been sold.