Joined: Wed Dec 21 2005, 10:03PM
Location: Vancouver, BC
Posts: 24
Yes, those Argentine Polaras are not C bodies, but A bodies. Neither the B nor the C was built in Argentina.
And to really play with your minds, Chrysler of Brazil built a Dodge Polara based on the British Hillman Avenger. You might remember it as the 1971-72 Plymouth Cricket. It was a popular and VW continued to build it for three or four years after they bought Chrysler of Brazil.
(Brazil was also the last stand of the Ford flathead V8 - the Chrysler Esplanada. Known as the Simca Vedette before that and Ford Vedette oriiginally.)
Joined: Thu Oct 27 2005, 04:58PM
Location: Australia
Posts: 411
Aussie Chargers were A-body derivatives and the "hot" ones had 265ci I6 "Hemis" .. they weren't real hemi's as the inlet/exhaust was in the same side (ie. not a crossflow), but they had a hemispherical combustion chamber which I suppose was enough from a marketing perspective. Over 300bhp from 265ci in the E49 model. At the time Chrysler Australia were determined to make it one their own, despite the fact they could have imported a lot of USA hardware and made it a real weapon.
As for RHD .. well we are sitting on the "right" side I just purchased a '74 AMC Javelin with is still LHD so it will be interesting getting used to driving that on the street .. but a lot of people do it here, so I suppose it's just something which is aquired? Rod.
Joined: Mon Oct 31 2005, 12:48PM
Location: Bakersfield, California
Posts: 1755
They do look like the Aussie Mopes.
As for name changes on differenet bodies, this seems to be a world pattern that has gone on for years. I was in Israel in 1996 and saw a Chrysler Cirrus - but there it was called the "Chrysler Stratus."
I saw a picture of a Diesel hauler in Turkey over a decade ago. What caught my attention was the pentastar on the front of it. Then, when I looked closely I was really amazed - the name on the truck below the star was "DeSoto." I kid you not.
By the way, both times I ahve been in Israel I have been impressed by the number of A Bodies running around there. A bunch of guys had their heads unter the hood of a Dart trying to get their slant six to run. I asked the guide if I coukld offer my help, but I was told no.
Too bad, we could have made International good will!