New Chrysler Pacer imminent

Chrysler Australia is now taking registrations of interest via its public website for a special-edition version of its 300 SRT muscle-car that will revive the hallowed Pacer nameplate.

Due to be officially announced next month, the new Chrysler 300 SRT Pacer is expected to get a range of added-value design and equipment upgrades.

No, the born-again Chrysler Pacer won’t come with the supercharged 6.2-litre V8 that produces up to a staggering 626kW of power and 1044Nm of torque in the Dodge Charger SRT Demon.

But it will be powered by the same beefy 350kW/637Nm 6.4-litre HEMI V8 under the bonnet of the existing Chrysler 300 SRT priced from $67,000 drive-away in entry-level Core form, which sees duty as a NSW Police highway patrol car.

Full details aren’t yet known, but the Pacer special-edition is likely to be based on the top-shelf Chrysler 300 SRT ($77,000 drive-away).

No longer available in wagon or diesel forms, the venerable rear-drive LX Chrysler 300 sedan range -- which opens with the 300C Luxury V6 at $61,900 drive-away -- dates back to 2004, was renewed in 2011 and last updated in 2015.

As we revealed in May, the Pacer nameplate is being dusted off by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Australia to celebrate 50 years since the esteemed (but only six-cylinder) Australian-made Chrysler Valiant Pacer was released.

At the time, former FCA Australia chief Steve Zanlunghi told carsales that reviving the long-lost badge from Chrysler’s past will demonstrate the company’s commitment to the aged 300 SRT.

The brawny American muscle car continues to be produced in right-hand drive from just for Australia, where it remains the only affordable large V8 sedan available, filling some of the gap created by the end of Australian Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon manufacturing.

“[Chrysler 300] is the only E-segment mainstream sedan with a V8. There is no end date to announce,” said Zanlunghi in May.

“We’re going to do a variant for the 300 off our Australian history. You can go back and see who’s having their 50th anniversary. So, there’s a 50th anniversary Chrysler 300 coming.

“With the Chrysler brand, we are trying to bring back a limited-edition run that we will see in the third or fourth quarter, which will be a special-edition, to celebrate the anniversary of a certain Chrysler version of a car that was built at the Adelaide plant,” he said.

“Stay tuned for some news, because we’re looking to revive a storied nameplate here from our Australian heritage.”

Chrysler Australia launched the VF Valiant Pacer in mid-1969 as a six-cylinder performance variant of the Australian-made Chrysler Valiant designed to compete with V8-powered Australian rivals like the Holden Monaro GTS.

Chrysler’s first VF-series Valiant Pacer sedan was powered by the company’s 225 cubic-inch (3.7-litre) ‘slant six’, before three different tunes of an all-new HEMI 245ci (4.0-litre) straight six were offered in the facelifted VG-series Valiant Pacer of 1970 – the first and last Pacer to be offered in two-door Hardtop body style.

When the first fully Australian-designed Chrysler Valiant appeared in June 1971, the VH-series Pacer packed a 265ci (4.3-litre) six that accelerated it to 100km/h in 7.6 seconds on its way to the quarter-mile in 15.9sec and a 185km/h top speed – making it the fastest Australian-made six-cylinder sedan for the next 17 years.

However, just 1647 VH Valiant Pacers were produced before production ceased in May 1973 with the arrival of the VJ series, by which time the new 1971 VH Charger had become Chrysler’s best recognised model.

Following Mitsubishi’s purchase of Chrysler’s Australian operations in Adelaide, which went on to produce the Sigma, Magna and 380, local production of the Chrysler Valiant ceased in August 1981 after 565,338 sales. It took the US brand almost 25 years to offer another large car in Australia.

Sadly, there’s still no sign of an Australian version of the Dodge Charger sedan or Challenger coupe that share the Chrysler 300’s LX platform, which started life under Mercedes-Benz’s W210 (1996-2002) E-Class in the DaimlerChrysler days.