Aussie CHARGER racer RESTORED

Jason and the team at Muscle Garage / Tuff Mounts have just completed the rebuild of this amazing Australia VH Charger which was built, owned and raced by racing legend Clem Smith. Featuring some amazing technology for its time, it's a hell of a machine and it now back to complete fast laps of Mallala circuit again.
For more info about the companies involved, Aussie sports sedans and the track, head to:
/ musclegarageaus
/ tuffmounts
/ pfitznerperformancegea...
/ historic-sports-sedan-...
/ mallalamotorsportpark
Many thanks to Marcus Hintz and Ned Thomson for their help filming this video.
#hoontv #nascar #mopar

[@ldnwholesale8552]

That car was built from a brand new yellow VK shell from Chrysler. Clem was a Chrysler dealer at the time. For many years. It originally had alloy door skins, bonnet and guards pressed by Chrysler for that car and the McCormack Charger. This was the second Charger that Clem raced, the first was his E49 series production car much modded. VH? That is what Clem liked the best. The chassis at least in part was a Develco car. Adelaide built. Several were built, the Tony Ross 48 Holden, Clems Charger, The McCormack Jag, Parkinsons Commodore, Finchs Monaro. The car is being driven in the clip by Lui Deluca who also raced against it in period. As did I. Simon Pfitzner owns several cars, I asked him yesterday how many, over 10! including Thommos Benz. The Barry Bray Stanza and A30, the Tony Ross FX. Mick Monterossos Anglia and more. The Transaxle is a 4 speed Hewland IMCA box that is very strong and the original to the car. As is the engine, at least in part. Many parts were stolen 25 years ago. He got most of them back but not all. Both from the Charger and the two GpN Mustangs he owned as well. Though get the signs right,, it is T Shirt scene, Mike Finnis and Clem were partners in that. Edwardstown in the 70s and 80s and 90s was a racecar area. In 5mile radius at various times were Clems workshop, K&A engineering, Elfin, Develco, Stan Keen, McCormack, Jeff Grandsen, Peter Whitbread, Ken Leigh, Hawkey, myself Lee Nicolle and a few others. Now only a couple left. And we are all getting old!

[@HoonTV]

Thanks so much for the extra info!

[@waterbourne9282]

Excellent, thanks.

[@darrylcavanaugh9465]

Cheers from an American! Stumbled across this video, and good on ya! PURE symphony, PURE, no nonsense race car, when there were no nannies, saving your ass. LOVE IT!

[@allandriver2066]

I remember meeting Clem at Calder Park back in the 80's. A true gentleman and an unsung legend of Sports Sedans. 🙏

[@HoonTV]

A true Aussie legend gone

[@petergiourelas3753]

Charger best Aussie muscle car ever

[@Blackscorpion1963]

Phenomenal piece of 100% pure Australian automotive engineering genius make no error. In its day it was an utter beast. Clem Smith was an utter visionary pure Aussie mopar racing legend who should have received more recognition and accolades.

[@HoonTV]

100% amazing car and a very clever man

[@robertgilbert1987]

Was at Mallala All Historics on Anzac weekend. What a great meet it was and so bloody good to see Clem's Charger doing what it was built for! Also had the shivers down the spine with the gut vibration of the F5000's. Geez..take me back to the Seventies!

[@rosemaryenglert6278]

A perfect tribute to the Late Clem Smith. It was his wish that his cars be driven, not left in a shed

[@BuellDak]

That is bloody awesome!! What a tribute...the shot around the kink is great...Clem's memory lives on..

[@danielbrealey2924]

What an amazing build! Glad it got some love

[@tx5brent]

Wow, I never expected something like this to have a chassis setup like that, very cool

[@mustafa.d7488]

Aussie engineering is so underestimated!!!

[@catey62]

Yep..we can build cars just as well as anyone else.

[@7s29]

@@catey62 knoath!

[@68peterbilt68]

The coolest charger on the planet. Absolute beast.

[@tipeneuriti5489]

Awesome charger I've seen many variants valiants scuse the pun!?, latest slammer is Galbraith in his NASCAR engine charger 750 hp

[@chrisb9156]

Sports sedans,love them 👍🇦🇺

[@tipeneuriti5489]

The last race on Pukekohe race track twice his car dnf out after it t boned at the hairpin but he kept up with the fastest mustang of Hogg also huge horsepower equal to the racers of the category

[@waterbourne9282]

Fabulous, it looks so good. Such a shame the nana's prevented the next gen of these cars, we would have had an even more cool legacy of 70's muscle.

[@mattmisanthropy.]

Holy shit, that thing looks incredible

[@catey62]

Absolutely bloody awesome car. love it.

[@o8thman812]

Clem & his Vals Deadset Aussie legends

[@brianandglendaharkin9457]

MOPAR to the front . 👍🏻💯🇦🇺⛽️

[@lifelongbachelor3651]

how cool is that.

[@HoonTV]

Awesome car!

[@dacrd]

The Transaxle in the rear must give it nice Balance.

[@HoonTV]

cee dee and that amazing gear whine

[@jeffschmitt5977]

Great video of a great car. I was a flaggy during the era Clem raced it at AIR & Mallala. I remember him having some great dices with Mick Monterosso in the giant killing Escort. It would have been nice if you had asked for my permission to use my photo (with Unipart sign in the background) that I took from the flagpoint in the esses at AIR. How did you get this?

[@HoonTV]

Apologies Jeff, we just used the image supplied. Can we credit your website in the video description?

[@ripme6616]

It handles beautifully

[@thomasraftery409]

What Chrysler had hoped for with the introduction of the Charger was to eventually win Bathurst in a V8 from development from Pacers/6cyl Chargers. Didn't work out like that mainly due to development costs being the main reason

[@blackduck5726]

One word comes to mind (tuff💪)👍

[@HoonTV]

Doesn’t it sound unreal!

[@tanka5700]

Sounds rad

[@fullnoyz7670]

Wow what a car!

[@HoonTV]

Sounds as good as it looks!

[@ozzy1100]

World class mark....

[@tonyhammer3588]

Ugly car. Real racing Monza’s were the IMSA Monza’s. They were real cars that were made into race cars. Sorry, but that is an ugly car that looks like Hellen Keller built it.

[@HoonTV]

Disagree. Clem (rest in peace) built this car all by himself and it was amazing for its time. Also, any car built by Hellen Keller would have been a massive feat!

[@tonyhammer3588]

@Swan F 2000 Horsepower LS Camaros and Corvettes not for you guys. Can’t handle anything over 500 Horsepower. Give it a run and you’ll piss yourself.