Solved NIC#767 - 1973 Valiant Charger Repco of John McCormack

[nicanary]

Some interesting shopping on the passenger's seat. What is this car, and who built it?

[nicanary]

Experts?

[tobytwirl]

Is it a saloon car?

[Willie McCrum]

Some sort of special saloon in unassembled form.  There's a chunky bit of Hewland visible on the back of the engine block, but it and its assorted bits wouldn't fit properly anywhere near where it's sitting in the picture.
Intriguing...

[nicanary]

Some sort of special saloon in unassembled form.  There's a chunky bit of Hewland visible on the back of the engine block, but it and its assorted bits wouldn't fit properly anywhere near where it's sitting in the picture.
Intriguing...

It is indeed a saloon car, not a Special Saloon as we in the UK know it, but nontheless very much a one-off. TBH I don't know the exact configuration of gearbox and transmission, but the engine is where it is.

[tobytwirl]

Is it British?

[nicanary]

Is it British?

No.

[Allan L]

As it's not a British Super Saloon I'll guess it's Australian.
Spent a bit of time looking at the DFVW and Skoda Super Saloons before I remembered not to - quite interesting though!

[nicanary]

As it's not a British Super Saloon I'll guess it's Australian.
Spent a bit of time looking at the DFVW and Skoda Super Saloons before I remembered not to - quite interesting though!

Yes - it was built and raced in Australia.

[tobytwirl]

It is, I believe, the Valiant Charger Repco built by Elfin and John McCormack's team in 1973. It has a 495bhp Repco F5000 engine/ Hewland DG300 box alongside the driver (McCormack) and was very successful in 1974-5.

[nicanary]

It is, I believe, the Valiant Charger Repco built by Elfin and John McCormack's team in 1973. It has a 495bhp Repco F5000 engine/ Hewland DG300 box alongside the driver (McCormack) and was very successful in 1974-5.

That's the car! Well solved.

Presumably it was an attempt to create a mid-engined car for optimum weight distribution. I think (without checking) that it raced in GT events rather than saloon car races.

[nicanary]

Here's what it looked like from the outside.