Pacer performer

In October 1969, when Ford’s new Falcon GT-HO and Holden’s Monaro GTS 350 super cars were on the verge of outright war at Bathurst, Chrysler Australia’s big ‘performance’ announcement for its new VF Pacer 225 was the results of the Chrysler-Mobil Performance Test, as published in the October edition of Australian Motor Sports & Automobiles magazine.
The economy run was held over a “devious 1290 miles route from Sydney to Adelaide” and the winner from the Chrysler range was the Pacer, with an average fuel consumption of 31.02 mpg from the venerable slant six engine.

Interesting, but hardly as exciting as 500 pedal-to-the-metal miles around Mount Panorama. Mind you, a privately-entered VF Pacer did front for the 1969 Bathurst bash, driven by Graham Ryan and motoring journalist Mike Kable. They finished fourth in Class C and 17th outright.
Still, you get the feeling, reading the 1969 issue of AM&S, that just about everyone knew Chrysler was gearing up for a serious assault on the muscle car market - and of course Bathurst. On the cover of the magazine, next to a photo of the brand new two-door VF Valiant hardtop is the headline: “NO, it’s not aimed at the chequered flag.”
AM&S editor, Peter Robinson (Robbo would later take over as editor of Wheels magazine with distinction), couldn’t hide his disappointment.
“I, and many other enthusiasts, had held out hopes that Chrysler, after making such a promising start with the Pacer, would attempt to market a potential race-winning car.” Obviously the two-door luxury coupe wasn’t it.
“There is no V8, let alone a version with a four-speed gearbox …” he adds. “All is not lost, however, for next year we can expect to see a 340ci hardtop with stripes and enough muscle to give the new 351 GT-HO and 350 Monaro a real battle at Bathurst.”
Nearly, but not quite. Next year Chrysler surprised everyone by launching the first of its fabulous Hemi-engined Pacers. And in 1971 it unleashed the amazing Chargers – but not a 340 V8 to be seen.