The Chrysler Valiant Charger has lots of fans, many of those are ‘across the ditch’ in New Zealand.
The performance R/T Charger models were imported fully assembled from Australia, though what you may not know is that the rest of the Valiant Charger range was actually assembled in New Zealand.
Todd Motors was home of assembly for Chrysler in NZ, and had been importing cars into NZ for Chrysler for many years. They began assembling cars in NZ in the mid-1930s. Todd Motors assembled nearly 45,000 supplied CKD (completely knocked down) cars from Australia between 1963 and 1979.
The pictured VJ Charger is believed to be the last Charger assembled in NZ by Todd Motors. This car was sold new by Todd Motors and was first registered on the 8th October 1976. The car was fully restored in 2006, and has travelled only 114,000km since new. This amazingly rare car was listed for auction, with the bidding finishing at $41,000NZD! A relative bargain for what is the end of a chapter of local vehicle assembly in New Zealand.
Source: Survivor Car Australia.