This list of Australia's 10 greatest cars is missing the brilliant Charger R/T E49 😞
Scotty's done a bang-up job on this story.
But... I want the bloody Charger in there! And it is a Wheels Car of the Year, after all.
Leaving this off the list is like telling the story of Aussie music and forgetting to mention AC/DC. In the early '70s, while Ford and Holden were locked in a V8 arms race, Chrysler's Adelaide engineers sweated out a masterpiece.
They took a bog straight-six, slapped on a heroic triple-Weber carburettor setup, and built a lightweight 222kW/441Nm coupe that could show a V8 Falcon GT-HO the door in a straight line.
Amusingly, the engine at least made another Wheels list: The ten best Aussie engines.
Wheels editor Andy Enright also wrote of it with glowing praise in his obit for Chrysler when its shit-egg modern incarnation exited this land back in 2021.
Friends, listen. "Hey, Charger!" was a catchphrase for a generation. It’s a uniquely Australian story of doing more with less, and it absolutely deserves a spot.
I just don't know which of these icons should get spiked in favour of it.
But, if it has to be one, I think it's the Magna. My folks had that TM in wagon form and it's what I learned to drive in (terrified my poor mum), but is it more deserving of icon status than that Charger?
Yes, it won a major award, and it was a competent car that sold well. But was it ever an object of desire? Alright, also yes, that isn't what the list is about. Fine.
Look, it was important for Mitsubishi Australia's history. The story of its development and the sales it stole from Holden and Ford? Admirable stuff. But one of the 10 greatest cars ever built here?
I say we make it the honourable mention, so I can have my preferred outcome. Hey, it's my blog! 😂
But alright, I'll build out (belabour?) my point a little. The TM Magna was a well-executed appliance that met the market's needs and stole sales, which is a huge achievement from a business perspective. But its actual contribution to engineering, design, or the broader automotive culture wasn't profound. It didn't move the game forward in the way we saw with all those Holdens, the XR Falcon's V8, or the Territory's chassis.
Hell, should I argue against the Nagari instead? A brilliant thing, but fewer than 150 were made. Is it among the greatest or just the most ambitious? But, hey, I don't need Peter Robinson haunting my door. (Insert "I don't think of you at all" Madmen clip and picture me as Ginsberg.)
So, bugger off Magna, the Charger's here. In R/T E49 spec, of course.
Great story here 👇
PERFORMANCE GARAGE — 29/01/2024
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