11th Jan 2003, 04:16
Unless your Charger is modified, the Ford Falcon XY 351 GTHO will always be a faster car. Period. As far as production cars go, the 351 GTHO was the fastest Australian car, and the fastest production 4-door car IN THE WORLD, except for the Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 6.3 litre.
2nd Feb 2003, 18:24
I have raced several stock (?) 351 powered Falcons in my UNMODIFIED STANDARD TWO BARREL 265 Charger, and have beaten them easily. The Phase III GTHO was the world's fastest FOUR DOOR SEDAN at the time. The E49 Charger however was the world's most powerful production six cylinder at the time, and I suspect still holds the record for the worlds most powerful production naturally aspirated six cylinder, though I may be mistaken as BMW or Porsche have some good high tech units. The Charger was up until recently Australia's fastest accelerating production car, and may in fact stiil be so as the road tests at the time used horrible skinny little tyres. There are many reports of E49s with modern tyres doing 13.8ish second quarter mile times. This always makes the Ford/Holden yobbos go into aggressive fits of rage and denial. Quite funny really.
15th Feb 2003, 01:54
And also back in those days, the 1/4 mile was a true 1/4 mile, not like today where it's only 400m long. So for a quick car, it could run the 400 5 to 6 hundredths of a second quicker. So the Charger most likely still holds the record of the quickest Australian production car.
Go the Charger.
6th Apr 2003, 21:18
The charger is the fastest all Australian production car by miles; it was only when Holden got there hands on imported Chev V8's that they where able to get a standing 400m time any where near that of the chargers.
14th Apr 2003, 00:57
Alright car buffs, the Valiant Charger E49 WAS the fastest Australian production car. This title was then taken from it, but it was STILL the fastest Australian production SIX up until very recently. Now Ford's BA XR6 Turbo is very, very narrowly (like tenths of a second) faster. So the 1973 Valiant Charger E49 is Australia's SECOND FASTEST EVER production six. Not bad for a 30 year old beast. Cheers :D.
17th Apr 2003, 09:14
Alright boys, The E49 Charger made 302 HP @ 5000 RPM (at the flywheel) out of a 265 cubic inch inline 6 (4.3 litres). It had three 2 barrel Weber carbys on it.
The XY GTHO Phase III's had a 351 Cleveland that made approx. 380 HP at 6150 RPM. It had one four barrel Holley carb on it.
You might think that would make the XY faster, but remember that the XY was longer (with 2 extra doors), heavier, and wider.
The E49 was the most powerful 6 cylinder Charger, and the engine also came balanced and with tuned-length extractors (the XY came with extractors too). With the saving on weight, plus closer gearing, it was faster than the XY "AROUND BATHURST ONLY". The E49 would easily beat the XY around the twisty parts of the track, and the XY would only come on song halfway down conrod straight, by that time it had caught up with the Charger, only to be confronted by more cornering.
The XY GTHO Phase 3 was a fantastic car, and bloody fast. But the E49 R/T Charger was also fast, handled better, stopped better, and was a lot lighter.
21st Apr 2003, 00:43
This is funny, see every one is saying that the phase3 GTHO pulled 15.2 seconds to 100mph and around the same in the 1/4 mile. But what's so funny is that it was the phase2 and the normal phase3 GT not GTHO that could only pull 15.2 seconds.
When the truth is said the phase3 GTHO pulled 6.3 seconds from 0-62mph and 14.4 seconds in the standing 1/4 mile, which is exactly the same quick as the RT/E49 Charger.
And the people who say the E49 pulled 14.1 in the 1/4, I think you well find out it did 14.1 seconds from 0-100mph and 14.4 in the actual 1/4 mile.
So when all is gone and said these 2 excellent cars have the same acceleration times, but different top end speed with the falcon winning that one.
22nd Apr 2003, 00:42
The E49 Charger and the Phase3 GTHO Falcon were equal in performance, from 0-60mph "100kph" in 6.3 seconds and 14.4 in the standing 1/4 mile only the E49 was a tad bit quicker to 100mph "160kph" with a time of 14.1 seconds, the Falcon pulling 14.6. But the Phase3 GTHO was a lot faster after the 160kph or 100mph mark, and also had a lot more top end pushing almost 140mph "224kph" at redline and could push 150mph "240kph" at 7000 RPM.
22nd Apr 2003, 00:47
Sorry I was wrong there, the Phase3 GTHO actually pulled 145mph "232kph" at redline and 155mph "248kph" when pushed to 7000rpm.
8th May 2003, 05:00
The E49 pulled mid 13 sec 1/4 mile times when placed on modern rubber; I don't think the GTHO's could do that!
The Charger has held held the fastest accelerating (Aussie) time for 30 years! You can't beat that.
GO THE MIGHTY CHARGER!
5th Jul 2003, 15:43
About the Aussie super cars of the late 1960's and early 1970's. I was fortunate enough to grow up through this era and have owned examples of many of these wonderful machines. I bought an E49 Charger from Sam Cali Motors in Brisbane in 1972, an XY phase 3 HO from Coachcraft Ford in 1971 and a GTS 350 Monaro from big John Zupp in 1969. I was also fortunate enough to work for the General at the Brisbane Acacia Ridge plant and worked on many high performance Monaros. As for which one was the fastest and handled the best. Take it from one who did it all, and saw it all happen. The E49 Charger could blow the doors off anything that was cheeky enough to take it on both on the track and street. The only reason the E49 did not win Bathurst was due too bad luck of breakdowns and blown tyres. These wonderful machines were killed off by the vote catching missions of politicians. Lets hope they keep their grubby hands off the latest efforts from GMH and Ford. As for what might have been-Ford managed to produce two examples of the Phase 4 HO in the XA GT which some really fortunate souls have now. And what was dubbed the E55 4 barrel Charger was originally destined to be the 340 6 Pack-stuff that dreams are made of. And who knows what would have happened in the future. Maybe the mighty 426 Hemi may have found a home under the hood of an Aussie Charger.
13th Nov 2002, 17:31
Sorry Ford fan, but the E49 Charger was the fastest Australian production car up until HSV got hold of the Gen3 a few years ago, and was only robbed of Bathurst success by bad tires and plain dodgy luck (rollovers when three laps from winning etc). If they had ever squeezed the legendary 340 V8 into a Bathurst pack I think Chrysler would still be a major force today.
Don't forget that the charger dominated the 24 hour races for seven years.
It is worth looking into the New Zealand racing scene of the 70's to see the real potential of these cars. They had a better network of dealers who were prepared to really develop the Charger into the lethal race car it should have been here. Just ask Ford GT legend Allan Moffatt, he took his phase 3 to Kiwi land to show up Leo Leonard in his E49 but couldn't catch him for quids. And I quote Moffatt from Street Machine Magazine "I just couldn't have driven any faster." And don't argue that Kiwi circuits aren't suited to GT's because they were ideal for that tank.
If you want to see how good a Hemi 6 can be, just go to hemi performance's web site (no I don't work for them)
It is true that the 351 GT was an absolute weapon (actually the E49 and Ph3 GT pulled the same 1/4 mile times - about 14.4 I think), but the charger was a full second quicker to 100kph (6.1 seconds),could out brake the GT in show room specs and was just as reliable, it also put out 300bhp and ate anything with a lion badge on it for breakfast. It took Holden thirty years plus the Gen3 V8 to reach these acceleration figures--how sad is that--even the HSV GTS-R (which is an ugly piece of junk) couldn't catch it.
Mopar or no car.